You never really know someone until you talk to them at 4am, an internet meme has it.
Even then, I’ve had some early morning conversations with people who have turned out to be absolute coins.
Imagine if you had the huge responsibility to appoint someone to an important job. Yes, there’s the interview but I’ve known some people be brilliant at playing the interview game and then be shocking at the actual job.
There’s an AI for that. Of course there is.
This week, I’m trying out whitebridge.ai a tool that searches digital footprints online. It could be you, a potential employee or someone you are looking to meet.
As a wheeze I thought I’d try it out and then blog the results.
I could have done someone else but I wouldn’t have been 100 per cent on whether or not it was accurate. That hobby painting Napoleonic War-ere lead figures? Well they could I suppose but how do I feel about that?
The website
The website is pretty straight forward.
It searches publicly available records for the person with social media channels, public networks and other public records.
The results
So I dive in…
After two or three minutes it comes back with the report. And 307 data points checked.
Overview
The overview is a broad summary.
Dan Slee is a prominent figure in the field of public sector communications, known for his innovative use of social media and digital tools to enhance public engagement. He is the Director at Dan Slee and co-founder of comms2point0, a consultancy specializing in public sector communications, offering training and consultancy services1. Dan has a rich background in journalism and local government, having served as a Senior Press and Publicity Officer at Walsall Council, where he played a key role in the award-winning Walsall 24 experiment2. He is also recognized for his contributions to the Guardian’s Public Leaders Network and his influential blog, which ranked fourth in Cision’s Top 10 PR Blog list3. Dan’s recent activities include promoting the use of WhatsApp Channels for public sector communications and analyzing the impact of AI on media and public relations. His insights and practical advice continue to shape the landscape of public sector communications in the UK.
RESULTS: Well, it’s all factually accurate. The Guardian Public Leaders Network stuff was more than a decade ago so hardly topical. Nor is the Walsall 24 experiment.
SCORE: 3 out of 5.
About
They got the about right. I live in Dudley in the West Midlands and there’s links to some of my social media. Not linkedIn which is interesting.
SCORE 5 out of 5.
Career
They’ve got that I moved from journalism into the public sector and that I do thinks with public sector comms. I’ve worked in the West Midlands and London? Well, that’s half right. This is where serving on the Guardian Public Leaders Network comes in. It was a voluntary role. Things like this I can clear-up but others wouldn’t.
SCORE: 4 out of 5.
Leisure and hobbies
Apparently, I like making tea, creating musical duets and support Arsenal. I don’t mind a cup of tea, sure but Arsenal? Eh? This comes from a post about an AI-post about Arsenal player. That’s a big leap of faith I’m not that struck about.
As for tea, yes, I like tea but I wouldn’t like to be categorised as one of the nation’s tea drinkers. Had someone started a conversation prompted by the TikTok about tea making I’d be fine with that.
And as for the line about my liking to create musical duets they couldn’t be more wrong.
They correctly surmised that I like hiking from a TikTok I made of my son on the top of Catbells in the Lake District.
What seems to happen here is that the platform will take a fact it discovers and then draws a pretty hard and fast conclusion.
SCORE: 2 out of 5.
Negative media
This one was fascinating. It lists a series of scores around substance abuse, scandal and breaching professional standards. I was all clear on these and got a green tick.
However, one box needed attention. Looking into it it was because I’d blogged about the danger of a fake profile on Facebook. Interestingly, it flagged this up ‘for review’ without coming up with a conclusion. From a legal perspective, I’d be a bit worried if I was basing a decision on a conclusion made without context.
I’m also not on any global sanctions lists which is a relief.
SCORE: 5 out 5.
Gallery
It pulled together a stack of images. They were accurate but I’m not sure what there is here that a Googfle Images search would not have found.
SCORE: 5 out of 5.
Cost
From £21.15 per search so its not something to chuck around.
SCORE: 1 out of 5.
Overall conclusions
After running my search I ran a couple of other searches that drew blanks.
With more than 300 data sources there’s plenty of places to look. It will save time. There’s plenty to get your teeth into. But sometimes the extrapolation from very limited resources are slightly off the mark. It’s a starting point not the destination.
Probably useful as part of the recruitment process.
OVERALL SCORE: 3 out of 5