Germany-based myON-ID Media has raised an undisclosed seven-figure sum in a second round of funding from T-Online Venture Fund to expand its online reputation management platform. MyON-ID is actually more of a combination between a people search engine and an alert service for keywords mentioned across the web.
I quicky tried out searching my own name on the English version of the search application, and the results were a bit messy to say the least. From what I understand, all the engine does is perform a meta search on services like Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn etc. along with traditional and blog search engines like Technorati. MyON-ID aims to make money from offering a premium version and advertising on the free service.
I’m not so sure what prompted a reputable investor like T-Online Venture Fund and previous backer Nexum to fund such a simple service, unless I’m missing something here. The Munich-based company claims it’s very strong in Germany, and hopes to repeat this success with other localized versions (in English, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch, Spanish and Turkish).
There are far better tools out there for online reputation tracking and management, in my opinion. One example is Trackur, which offers advanced tools to monitor social media. Other providers off the top of my head include Brandseye, Radian6, Attentio, Buzzcapture and Chatterguard.
The people search engine market on itself is already a crowded one: alternatives include Wink, Spock, Naymz, PeekYou and Pipl.
I have serious doubts if myON-ID has what it takes to compete on an international level.