Follow usExpanding on Hibe’s Public Facet
Earlier this month we announced our plans for the Public Facet on Hibe. As we explained, the public facet is a way of gaining visibility on the platform and on the Internet as a whole. The public facet also brings a deeper level of interaction that has never before been present on any other social network. To help gain a deeper understanding of the public facet and what it can do for you, we have created a few examples to explain how it may answer to specific needs:
Brands
On Hibe we strongly believe that brands should have a presence on our platform and have the ability to interact with their communities. The Public Facet will be the conduit for these kinds of interactions.
Communicate with Public
The public facet is a point of interaction between brands and the general public. How it could be used is completely up to the individual company. The public facet could be used to answer questions about an upcoming product, as a customer service platform or a marketing tool to reach those genuinely interested in your brand, or even on a per-product basis.
Reward VIP's or Evangelists
An advantage of Hibe's public facet is the ability to customize the way in which you interact with people in your community. While everyone will first see your brand through the public facet, after recognizing brand evangelists or VIP's you may want to interact with them differently. By using Hibe's private facets you can then add these groups of people into a smaller segment and reward them with promotions, a sneak peek at a new product or other content.
Organize Internally
The public facet is how the public will see your brand, but you can take advantage of the private facets to also communicate with others in your company. This can allow you to manage marketing plans or keep track of meetings on the very same platform where you communicate with consumers, while keeping both separate and secure.
Classify Sub-Brands and Products
Many companies have not only one brand or product, but several. In this case booklets and public groups come in to allow you to manage each, all through the same facet. This way a company like Coca-Cola would be able to fully communicate and interact through the Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite product lines, either by having a booklet or group for each.
These are only some advantages the public facet and Hibe can bring to brands, however we will be developing much more.
Celebrities and Public Figures
Managing identity online can be difficult. This can be even more difficult for anyone in the spotlight such as celebrities or artists who have to juggle their public image, but who want to have a private life as well. On Hibe celebrities can be free to interact with everyone fully.
Communicate with Fans
Hibe gives celebrities the ability to communicate directly with their fans. This can be done by posting updates for all your fans to see, as well as media or any other content.
Hibe also offers many customizations to the public facet to make having an online presence a little easier. One problem constantly facing public figures is being inundated with invites from fans and messages. With the public facet, when constantly approving and vetting invitations becomes overwhelming, you can auto-accept invites, or even turn off notifications altogether!
Share Contextually
Being a celebrity is complicated business. As many know, being a celebrity isn't as simple as being known for one thing. A singer may be incredibly famous, but have more of a following because of their reputation outside of their talent. Hibe takes these subtleties into account. On Hibe you can follow certain aspects of anyone with a public facet, meaning you can follow someone's music career, but choose not to follow other aspects of their public life, and vice versa.
Private Life
The big difference between Hibe and any other social network is Hibe recognizes that celebrities have personal lives, too. The public facet allows celebrities to communicate with their fans and admirers, however with the private facets any celebrity can equally share with their family and friends without revealing these groups to the public.
Communicate with Agent/Casting
A reality of being in the public eye is all of the work that goes on in the background. Celebrities and artists very often work with agents or casting agencies. Hibe allows for these kinds of sensitive interactions and just like real life they happen entirely behind the scenes.
As you can see, Hibe offers a place for celebrities that has never been present on another social network.
Individuals
While the public facet can benefit brands and celebrities, it can also do much for anyone interested in interacting publicly with others. As we see with many other social networks that operate completely publicly, the public environment opens up many opportunities such as networking and connecting with others through shared interests.
Be found by others
Building a network of contacts is an essential part of social media. The public facet on Hibe gives users the ability to be found, and to find others more easily. More importantly than simply being found by others, the public facet allows every user to present as little or as much information as they wish; meaning what people see is completely up to the individual.
Promote yourself
Another advantage of the public facet is the ability to use it as a promotional tool. You can use the link to your public facet and spread it around so that others can connect with you. The public facet, however is only the first way in which people will see you. When you receive a contact request, you can refine and customize how you want to interact with others and how you want them to see you.
Become an Authority
One of the strengths of Hibe and the public facet is the ability to contribute to a certain interest you care about. This is all possible because of booklets. On Hibe, you can contribute to a booklet and generate a rich history of content around one topic or interest. When combined with the public facet this means others can follow this booklet, giving each user the opportunity to become an authority on a certain topic.
The public facet on Hibe gives everyone the ability to promote themselves as they choose and explore the things that interest them online.
As we continue to develop the public facet, we would love to hear feedback from our community on what you think the public facet can do for you, or if you have ideas on how to improve this exciting feature. If you do have comments, feel free to contribute in the comments below. For updates on Hibe and the public facet stay tuned here on the blog or on Twitter or Facebook.
Relevant Links
The Public Facet on Hibe
Hibe Launch
Why Hibe opposes SOPA, and why you should too
Piracy is a big problem on the Internet. For years now artists, governments and corporations have been trying to find a way to prevent the widespread distribution of illegal or illegitimate files. The Stop Online Privacy Act (or SOPA) is the United States' latest attempt to prevent these kinds of activities online and end piracy once and for all. There's only one problem: it will kill the Internet as we know it.
SOPA poses a much larger threat to the health of the internet and would undo our work in building a service that respects the choices of our users.
What Is SOPA?
SOPA gives the Department of Justice, as well as "Content Owners" the power to shut down any site that is thought to be hosting or distributing illegal content without the standard due process of law. For example, if Warner Brothers thought a site was distributing an illegal copy of one of its movies, they would be able to request that entire site be shut down, and it would be without having to go through the court system. SOPA also makes streaming copyrighted material a crime.
What is the problem?
There are a few key phrases from the above description of the act that are important to highlight; the first being "Content Owners" which for the most part are large media corporations. These corporations are part of organizations such as the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and RIAA (Recording Industry of America), who are lobbying strongly for SOPA to be pushed through in its current form. These groups are looking to protect the content that falls under their copyright, which is a standard business practice. However if SOPA were to pass it would damage the internet as a whole.
Freedom of Speech
Proponents of SOPA argue that piracy has very little to do with freedom of speech, but because there is very little oversight, abuses of SOPA could be numerous. For example, any person speaking out about the MPAA, or even the US government could have their site removed under the pretenses of SOPA without any illegal content present on the site whatsoever. Site owners have the ability to appeal, but in many cases the damage could already have been done. A right isn't something to be taken away and then appealed for- it is something inalienable that should not be taken away on a whim.
Content Online
Imagine the effect of SOPA when an entire site could be brought down because of one piece of "infringing" content was found present. Even if 99% of content was completely legal, what if a single image, video or piece of text was added that did not conform to the rules and the entire site was blocked? These are the kind of dangers with SOPA and it kills any site that encourages user generated content or contribution. Gone would be the days of collaborative creativity and artistic communities- because if SOPA passes one wrong upload could bring the entire site down.
Remember Internet Startups?
Currently, the Internet is a digital frontier where sites like Vimeo, Grooveshark, and Twitter can arrive and completely revolutionize a certain aspect of the web. With SOPA, it will be extremely hard for emerging companies to change things in the way YouTube did since they would always have the risk of a complete shutdown that could be caused by one transgression.
Government of the people, by the people, for the people
Is SOPA something Americans really are asking for? Is it representative of American ideals of freedom of speech, equality, an opportunity for all? Judging by the reaction of citizens all over the net, it is in fact very much the opposite. Since the proposal of SOPA, a grassroots movement against the act has begun to spread.Reddit.com and Wikipedia have shut down their service in protest today, with Google taking a similar action and changing their home page.
Click on the image for a larger version
SOPA is before congress because of lobbyists and special interest groups. This is a reality of the American political system that we cannot change. Since many members of congress don't fully understand the technology and culture behind the internet, we encourage them to heed the counsel of industry experts as they did with Facebook and Google, as well as the voice of the American people reacting against this bill.
Consequences
SOPA would turn the Internet into a McCarthy-era atmosphere. One where all it would take to bring a competing web site down would be to accuse them of piracy. If Youtube's biggest competitor is Vimeo, imagine if all it would take to bring Vimeo down is for a few illegitimate files to be found on their site.
SOPA (now PIPA in the Senate) was written by US media companies looking out for their interests, then lobbied to congress members who often don't understand the technology of the Internet. SOPA will break down the openness of the Internet and kill the flourishing and creative ecosystem we now have. Sites will be taken down without any due process and with very little oversight. In short, the content owners will have the power to decide what content is allowed on the web or not, and even shutdown website on a whim. This will create chaos on the web and will be the begining of the end of online sharing.
How to oppose?
Stop American Censorship allows you to get email updates to fight SOPA/PIPA at local town hall meetings as well as write an email to congress.
Get informed at the Electronic Frontier Foundation about SOPA and its consequences.
Introducing the Public Facet on Hibe
Since 2009 we have been working on a platform to help bring real life interactions online. To that end, we introduced Facets, which allow you to fully interact with each of your social contexts in a private environment. Hibe has built a reputation for being the privacy-aware social network, but our primary mission has always been to give people the choice in the way they interact with people around them. Just like in real life, many people interact with others not only in a private context, but publicly as well.
Today we are introducing the Public Facet on Hibe in order to reinforce our vision of a real-life social network. The Public Facet will allow people to have the choice to interact with others publicly, or on a deeper level through their private facets. Users on Hibe will have the choice to create a public facet, however any user will be free to continue to interact with their network on a completely private level and we will continue to develop this feature to facilitate private interactions. That being said, those who want to be found on Hibe, or have a place to stand out will have the Public Facet to fill these needs. Here is a breakdown of what the Public Facet can do for you:
Click the image for a larger version.
The Public Facet will be released in Q1 of 2012 along with many other great additions to the Hibe platform. In the near future we will be continuing our discussion on the Public Facet, for now if you have question of feedback on this post feel free to contribute in the comments below. As always, keep an eye out here on the blog, as well as on Twitter and Facebook for updates.
Relevant Links:
Hibe Launch Blog
Hibe at SXSW
Hibe has officially launched – for everyone
Last night on December 1st, 2011 our three years of work on the Hibe platform finally came to a peak. At our launch party our President, Jean Dobey, gave an inspiring keynote to investors, supporters and members of the press on the past, present and future of Hibe. This event marks an important milestone in our journey as a prominent social network because as of last night, Hibe is open to everyone, across the world.
To create a Hibe account, simply go to our home page (http://hibe.com) and use the sign up form to the right of the page. We are working on more advanced import options, but for now you can invite all of your contacts by entering their email.
From here our goals include continuing to improve and refine the product, listen and respond to the feedback of all our new users and prepare for the international spotlight as we approach SXSW and other key events in the coming new year.
As always, for updates on Hibe you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Relevant Links
Hibe in 1 Minute
Hibe at SXSW 2012
New Accounts Open, Pre-Registration Closed
If you have been following Hibe you will already be aware that until recently we had a closed, invite-only network. In August we began activating early registrations and since then have been releasing new accounts on a regular basis. This week alone we activated accounts for over 2000 new users.
In this exciting time before our public launch we will be focusing on polishing the platform, taking feedback from our new users into consideration and trying to make Hibe as great as possible for when we enter the market. In that vein, we are announcing today that early-registrations have been closed in order to focus on improvements with this limited user base. That being said, anyone receiving invites from current Hibe users will still be able to sign up as usual. We also may sporadically release a small group of accounts before launch to get new eyes on the product.
To get updates on when new accounts might be released or stay up to date with Hibe developments, feel free to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Relevant Links
Hibe on Twitter
Hibe on Facebook
Hibe in 1 Minute
Hibe at SXSW 2012
We have been developing Hibe since 2009, building a platform to give users the power of choice. We are finally beginning to approach our public launch and have been getting extremely positive feedback from the users currently on the platform.
The public launch of Hibe is an important milestone in our very near future. Today, we are happy to announce another milestone: that we will be attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference to showcase Hibe to one of the most prestigious tech events in the world.
SXSW is an annual event held in Austin, Texas during March (this year between the 9th - 18th) that features emerging talents in the music, film and interactive disciplines. It has been a launching platform for many successful bands, film-makers and startups. We are proud to add ourselves to the impressive roster of presenters and we have big plans for our presence at SXSW.
As always for updates on our plans for SXSW you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
If you're planning on attending SXSW 2012, stop by our booth and say “hi”!
Relevant Links
SXSW.com
Hibe in 1 Minute
Hibe – Changing the advertising dynamic
We are living in a world where increasingly we as people, and as users of online services, are being commoditized. Too many sites and services see people as walking, typing wallets as opposed to actual people and we wanted to take a look at this current dynamic of online advertising and where this might eventually lead.
Let’s go back 20 years or so, in a time where the Internet was still in its infancy. At this time the main forms of mass media were radio and television. Both of these worked on a similar model: People were given access to a limited free number of channels for free or very limited cost and in exchange for the low price point were exposed to advertising. Consumers could also choose to pay a premium for channels with no advertising. This is called reciprocity, or exchanging one thing for another. In this example the exchange is simple: You are given a free service in exchange for exposure to advertising.
Fast-forward to the present. Many online services follow a very similar advertising model to TV and Radio. Products such as Evernote, Grooveshark and many others offer a free service in exchange for advertising dollars. Again, for a premium, ads can be removed and additional features unlocked. Now let’s look at another type of advertising model, one which demands a lot more from users, and gives a lot less in return:
Last year Google made 2.82 billion dollars in advertising revenue and Facebook made 1.86 billion. One cannot criticize these companies for making money, after all they are running a business. However one has to ask, what are these companies giving back to their users in exchange?
The most obvious answer to this question is that Google and Facebook give users access to platforms that allow people to connect to each other. But can Google and Facebook really be seen as providing a service, if all their users are to them is a source of data? In other words, should the mouse be grateful for the cheese at the end of the maze, if the cheese was bait for the scientists to collect data about the mouse?
The heart of the issue here is if users are nothing more than a source of data to Facebook and Google, who are they providing a service to exactly, aside from themselves?
Enter Hibe, a new social network that switches things up a bit. If you have been following us you already know that Hibe does not have an advertising-based revenue model. We do not sell, transfer or give out our users’ data to third-parties, which means there’s no need for bait, no maze.
Consider for a moment the power the consumer would have in an environment without advertising. Instead of the noise of ads alienating people from the services they are trying to use, users would actually be able to enjoy each other and the service. Furthermore, what kind of change would there be in the consumer/company relationship? Well in a world where the consumer isn’t being inundated with ads, the consumer would now have all the power. Suddenly the tables would be turned and the intent to buy, or the expression of brand loyalty would be extremely valuable. Picture a model more like the following:
Here we see that when you eliminate the noise of advertising that doesn’t really represent you as a person, suddenly the consumer has the power. As we can see in the second example, the user would have the power to express interest in a brand or product, and would be rewarded for expressing this. Throughout the whole experience, however, there wouldn’t be the noise of the entire world trying to target this person to buy things they don’t need or want.
Hibe is working hard to build a platform where this vision can become a reality. We believe that going further than the mere illusion of choice is key. Once the choices of users concerning who can see what are truly respected instead of left up to a series of default settings, we can begin to develop this kind of model. Another step is giving users true ownership over their own data and content. This ownership starts from the moment content is posted until the day it is deleted. Once data is deleted it is gone from our servers, in the same way that the entire time it is kept on our servers, the only ones with access are the people the user decides to share with. We are making a change to give users the power to make choices about who they share with, when they wish to communicate with companies, and on their terms.
As always, follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates and details on when you can get an account on Hibe.
Relevant links:
Why Facebook is selling you out – and Won’t Stop
Google doesn’t get people, it sells them
Hibe in 1 Minute
Hibe at the Montreal NewTech Demo
Yesterday we met up with members of the Montreal startup community for the Montreal NewTech Demo. We met up at 6PM at McKibbin's Irish Pub downtown and were able to demo Hibe in front of a really great crowd.
There was a total of 5 presentations. Besides Hibe the list included a secure chat service called Crypto.cat, the social movie service GroupMo, a location based sharing and trending service called HuWhere and the social media aggregrator Wavo.me. All the presenters had extremely interesting services and their demonstrations were a testament to the innovation that can be found here in Montreal.
During my presentation of Hibe I was able to give the group a quick introduction to Hibe and demonstrated the power of our faceting system. I explained to the NewTech crowd that on Hibe, Facets go deeper than just lists or groups, but allow you to create a different image for yourself for each of your audiences. Furthermore you can customize your contact and profile information for each facet and allow them to see you exactly how you decide.
As an example of the depth of Hibe's faceting, I showed how even though I may share something with all of my contacts, Hibe's faceting system still respects the contexts I create, and is able to take comments I may get from my family and keep them private from someone viewing the same post from my work.
Overall the Montreal NewTech Demo was an extremely satisfying experience and the crowd seemed extremely receptive. For those interested, the NewTech Demo meets up every month, you can visit their website for more details.
Relevant Links:
Montreal NewTech Demo Site
Hibe in 1 Minute
So you just got a Hibe account, now what?
Whether you are a previous Hibe user, if you are new to the site, or even if you don't have an account yet; we have created a guide on what to expect when you log in for the very first time:
Creating Your Account
When you first open your account on Hibe, you'll be prompted to create your facets. Facets are how your contacts see you and can be anything from your family, friends, work, or any other context you can think of. Creating a facet is easy, simply enter a label for your facet (which is only visible to you), a name for yourself (which is visible to others), and your avatar. At first you'll just create two facets, but you will be able to create more later.
After creating your first facets, you can create a booklet to begin sharing your interests. Booklets allow you to share, organize and manage your content by subjects and choose which facets you share each with. You can add a title, description and cover image for your booklets, and choose which facet you want to share it with. You can choose not to share your booklet just yet, or skip this step altogether.
To finalize your account creation, you can invite contacts to join Hibe to begin sharing with them. You can invite individual contacts each by email, and eventually you will be able to import your contacts through various other services. If you prefer, you can skip this step and invite your contacts later.
Getting Started
After creating your account on Hibe, the first thing you will see is the home page. This is probably where you will spend most of your time on Hibe. From your home page you will be able to post your content and see what's going on with your network.
To the left of your home screen you will see all of your facets. Here you can filter your home feed by each of your facets, seeing only the incoming updates from that selected facet.
In the center of your home screen you can post anything you like, including text, photos, videos and links. To post an update you'll have to choose a destination; select either a facet or booklet to post to, and only the people with access to your destination will see your post.
To the right you can see recently updated booklets that others are sharing with you, allowing you to easily see what your people in your network are currently interested in.
Easy Access
The header allows you to quickly access all of your content on Hibe. From the facet and booklet dropdowns you can view your recently created items, create new ones or select “View All” to see more of each. There's also a link to the organize page to let you manage your booklets and facets quickly from anywhere on Hibe.
On the right, notifications make it easy to see recent comments on your posts. In the dropdown to the right there is a link to My Content (which we will discuss later) and you will be able to access your account settings including the ability to change your passwords and delete your account along with all of the information shared on Hibe.
Organize
The organize page allows you to easily manage what each of your contacts are able to see. If it is your first time on the Organize page, you will see the Organize video which will give you a quick break down of the functionality of this page. If you missed the video or want to see it again, you can always click on the icon on the right of the screen.
On the Network tab all of your contacts will be listed and the facets they have access to will be checked to the right. If you would like to add or remove a contact from a facet, you simply need to check the desired box and the changes will instantly take effect. If you're having trouble finding a contact, you can either search or filter to refine which contacts are visible. You can also add a new facet by selecting 'Create' from the right or add contacts by inviting them at the bottom of the page.
To change the way a contact sees you, simply select the link under their name to change their default facet. Your contact will see you through whichever facet you choose, and you can add them to other facets as well if you wish.
The Booklets tab allows you to view all of your booklets and which facets they are being shared with. Just like with your contacts, you can add or remove booklets from each of your facets by clicking in each box to the right. From here you can also add a new booklet and instantly begin sharing it with your contacts.
My Content
In the My Content section you can easily access all the information you share on Hibe. From My Content you will see the three main elements of Hibe, your Facets, Booklets and of course your Network of contacts. Clicking through to each will allow you to edit, add, manage and delete your content in each section.
Below you can also view any other content you share on Hibe including contact information, media and links. Here's some useful tips:
If you have multiple email addresses, add them all in the Email section so others can find and invite you on Hibe.
You can upload photos and videos without sharing them, and then move your media into different albums when are ready to share, or keep them private!
For each of your facets you can have different contact information. Just add your different details in Email, Phones and Locations and organize them accordingly!
Community Facet
In the Facets section of My Content you will find one additional facet not visible from your home feed. This is your Community Facet which is how Hibe will communicate with you. From here you will be able to submit feedback to our support center via the feedback booklet, as well as view any announcements from Hibe.
So there's a breakdown of your account on Hibe. If you have more questions or need more information, feel free to contact us on Twitter or Facebook.
New Accounts
As part of our roll out of Hibe, we are releasing 155 new accounts today. If you did not receive an account, don't worry! We will be launching more accounts in the coming weeks as we receive some feedback from current users. Stay tuned!
