Soon online name and reputation management may see yet another twist as more and more startups are creating people search engines. Matt recently wrote a post about online name management and Joel at the Future of Real Estate Marketing reposted an original article from last year to kick start another discussion about managing YOU online.     This week at the Web 2.0 EXPO, SPOCK debuted with a new service that allows people to search for people. They claim that they already have 100 million people indexed in their database and over 2 billion elements collected about YOU – SCARY!

ZDNET ,  Techcrunch , Webware , and Tim O'Reilly have already covered what SPOCK may be doing in great detail, but I'm interested in the basic business concept as it is a concept that is very similar to what Zillow has done for homes. They are capitalizing on a very basic and natural human behaviour – CURIOUSITY.   Zillow has successfully shown that this curiosity factor is one significant element in driving traffic.

What Zillow and SPOCK have in common:

1.  Large database of information – Zillow collected data on more than 60 million homes at launch.  SPOCK has collected data on 100 million people.

2.  SPOCK raised $7 million even before having an alpha version.  Of course Zillow already was self-funded in the millions initially by its founders before developing the product.

3.  Zillow allows you to claim your home to make valuation adjustments or claim your listing to let others know it is for sale. SPOCK allows you to claim "YOU". 

4.  Plays on the curiosity factor – how much is your boss's home worth ? Zillow it!  Who is that new neighbor next door ?  SPOCK them! 

My guess is whether or not SPOCK will be successful in helping or hindering online reputation management, it will be successful in drawing lots of eyeballs.  Be careful – YOU WILL BE SPOCKED! 

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