GoHuman Blog

Whom do you trust most when making a decision to hire someone or buy something?

Most likely, you trust people you know: friends who have given you good recommendations, colleagues who have particular expertise, family, etc.

This type of trust has taken on a new form through the Internet and social media. Reviews for products and services are prevalent on GoHuman and elsewhere. These are useful, to be sure, but are subjective in nature.

GoHuman is allying with trusted organizations that promote local businesses. To represent this trust in a reliable and intuitive fashion, we have added a Trust Badge feature to GoHuman, which allows you to showcase your earned certifications, affiliations, and partnerships right along with your business postings, endorsements, and feedback.

Our first Trust Ally was the Green Business League, that provides Green Business Certification. We are working with several organizations to allow their members to proudly display their Trust Badges with GoHuman.

You can help by telling us about the organizations you trust and want to show off with GoHuman. We’ll work together to provide more exposure for you and all your fellow members.

Ultimately this will help your online reputation, which will lead to more trust, which helps get you more leads.

As Web development evolves with an increased number of technologies and skilled people, new companies such as Mashery.com are coming online to help companies tap into the teams of independent developers out there that have ideas about how to leverage their products. Most companies simply don’t have the resources or vision to recognize or capitalize on all the opportunities that exist within their networks, products, and technology. Companies that are willing to open themselves up to outside partnerships with shared revenue potential are paving the way for new ways to do business online.

According to Mashery.com, “By publishing your API, you give potential and existing partners the ability to create applications that use your data and engage customers in new ways.”

The trend is clear. Consider the benefits of developing an open platform to which many people can contribute or keep your secrets and watch the Web pass you by. Security and secrecy are, of course, important for any company with proprietary interests, and boundaries must be set. But businesses that have successfully employed open models such as eBay and Apple are reaping the rewards and even seeing a majority of their business created through alternative channels.

On the surface I’m a typical white American male. Dig deeper and you’ll find that I was born in Canada and have lived in 7 countries. Some of my formative years were spent in Sweden, a “socialist” country bordering on the Soviet Union, during the Cold War years.

We didn’t follow regional basketball and baseball, we watched Sweden compete in Soccer and Hockey with countries that had opposing ideological, political, social and economic systems. My Swedish cousin used to joke that the Russian ships patrolling the Baltic borders were Keeping people from flooding into the “Worker’s Paradise”. I am fascinated by these differences, how they affect the individual, and the societies they produce.

Throughout history people have tried a variety of economic models, social systems and government structures, with mixed results. The Internet has enabled new experiments that leverage the “voice of the people” and democracy in new ways. In the US the Internet has played an increasing role in determining who can become a presidential candidate and, most recently, who gets elected.

I believe in the power of the individual, communities, and nations to achieve self determination, create change, and control their destiny. GoHuman.com addresses change up and down economic and power pyramids. It provides new ways of working and being compensated at the micro and macro level. It provides new ways of connecting, working and relating – one-on-one or in larger circles, in new, innovative, and positive ways. And I believe that as its adoption rate increases, it will produce real, lasting change.

GoHuman.com is not just “social networking”. It harnesses the power of the latest technology advancements of the human race, and pushes the envelope of integrating these into our daily lives, our economic philosophy, and our social structure. GoHuman.com has the power to improve the equality and dignity of individuals and communities across socio-economic boundaries, while celebrating their unique and cultural characteristics.

I believe in GoHuman.com’s primary tagline – that you can use it to change the way your world works. As John Lennon said in one of his most famous songs, “Imagine” “You might say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.”

Wade Fransson
GoHuman.com Co-Founder

Me and my gal

We’ve just enabled Canadian postal codes so our neighbors to the North can get in on all the GoHuman.com fun. Welcome!

This world is critically unbalanced. I truly believe that GoHuman.com has the power to help rebuild local economies by rewarding the businesses who perform the best work and work to develop worthwhile relationships with customers. Large corporations can’t compete with the individualized and specialized service that a local service provider can provide, yet communities all over the country are feeding these huge entities with seemingly no way out.

GoHuman.com is a way out. But it’s more than that. It’s a way to collaborate and empower individuals who desire a flexible work life and higher quality of life. People with multiple skills and services can use GoHuman.com to represent themselves without creating multiple businesses or renting office space. As we build the site, we we construct tools that allow all independent businesses and service providers to convey their administrative and sales activities as professionally as they complete the quality work performed. We will help people form ad-hoc work groups as needed to perform any number of flexible tasks and projects. We give businesses a way to express themselves and build reputation unlike any other site.

GoHuman.com encourages a culture that doesn’t expect perfection, but understands we are all human and we all make mistakes. What matters is our willingness to make it right when things go wrong. To support each other and progress together. Those who provide value to this site and their community will be rewarded for their integrity, skill, and effort.

My entire life I’ve done what I can to fight against the prevalent greed in our society, believing that we can’t just chock it up to “human nature.” Recently I’ve become convinced that Web technology holds the power to re-distribute some of that wealth among people who need it the most. Finally I found a group of people who not only share this vision, but are willing and able to work with me to develop technology and culture to make a real difference.

Each of us has the power to change the world. I’m trying to do that through GoHuman.com, and I challenge each of you to do the same. Join us in the movement towards change and help make the world better for everyone.

Andy Swindler
GoHuman.com Co-Founder