Recently we’ve gotten a few questions from members who want to know how many member companies we have on B2BeeMatch.
We’re actually not going to answer that question right now! Instead, we want to tell you a bit about our fact-checking process. Bear with us, we think it’ll be worth your while.
As it says in our FAQ, we work to vet every company that signs up for B2BeeMatch. We look at a wide range of criteria to confirm companies’ legitimacy, such as corporate registration documents, ownership records, websites and awards. And we confirm companies’ claims. So, if a company says they’re woman-led, we make sure there’s at least one woman at the helm.
Vetting is not a fully automated process; we need actual humans to verify some of the claims our members make. As well, we give members 30 days to document their claims—it’s only fair. It takes time to do this, so the results aren’t instant. But our vetting process is what gives you the assurance that what you’re seeing on a profile is real, truthful information.
Why is vetting important?
Two-thirds of the links shared on Twitter are posted by bots. Nearly half of the tweets about the coronavirus are from bots whose makers may have shady motives. Facebook has disabled literally billions of fake accounts over the past couple of years. Instagram is constantly trying to turn the tide against legions of fake profiles. And LinkedIn also has plenty of bots and fake accounts.
In short, all the major platforms are full of scams and fakes—so much so that it almost feels normal. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
What do all these huge platforms have in common beyond countless fake profiles?
They don’t have a vetting process for people who want to join.
When they launched, their business models focused on rapid growth, and it probably looked pretty good to these companies and their shareholders when their numbers grew… and grew… and grew. If one of your main KPIs is “number of profiles” or “number of members,” fast growth means you’re succeeding!
But that approach left all of us with some well-known and very serious problems: the exponential increase of fake news, scams and spam galore, and an overall lack of safety and trust across the entire online world. The consequences range from annoying to devastating.
Here at B2BeeMatch, we have a different vision.
We’ve built a platform that aims to do a better job than what already exists. That means we have to do things in a way nobody else is doing them. For us, that means conducting a careful fact-checking process that makes it really hard to create fake profiles, right from the start.
The result? Real over fake. Verified over random. Quality over quantity.
We’re choosing organic growth over rapid expansion because we really believe that’s going to pay off for us… and for you and your business.
Just like actual bees, we want to make sure that we’re free of fakers and parasites. That means you’ll waste a lot less time sifting through false or misleading accounts, and you’ll get to spend your time on B2BeeMatch doing the important stuff: making connections that will help your business succeed.