Vanno Social Networking Meets Business Ratings
Vanno describes itself as a “Company Reputation Index” where people can rate businesses based on several criteria: Community Involvement, Customer Satisfaction, Employee Satisfaction, Environment, Patriotism, and Social Responsibility.
The sit is kind of a mashup of Digg and eBay’s Feedback system. Users of the site attach articles from around the Web, from blogs to news feeds, and give each article a rating category. Other users then can read the articles and vote them up or down, according to their agreement with the rating boost or drop for each of the six categories.
Here’s an example. The current #2 company on the list is Home Depot. They’re ranking is:
- Community Involvement 97
- Customer Service 58
- Employee Satisfaction 37
- Environment 99
- Patriotism 32
- Social Responsibility 95
Each of those six categories has sub-categories, which contribute to the total. Community Involvement, for instance, has Arts, Charitable Giving, and so forth underneath it.
The site is completely community-driven, so the more users who participate, the more accurate and useful the ratings will be. Since the site just launched, it is obviously not yet a real indicator of each company’s real ratings. Yet. With enough users and participation, it could become a great place to find out about the companies you might be doing business with.
One caveat that comes with any site such as this one: it could be easily manipulated by corporate cronies or spiteful ex-employees. This can be overcome when there are so many users participating in the site that it removes the possibility that these factions could do anything more than slightly change the ratings.
With its launch, Vanno is also able to share info you find there with your accounts on other sites such as Facebook and Digg. You can also integrate it with FriendFeed, Twitter, and your RSS reader. Participating in Vanno is free and the site itself is well put together, with easy navigation and fast load times.
