Being a parent is the toughest job you’ll ever love. That is something we tell our own children all the time. Both of our kids are young adults now and don’t really “get” how stressful and hard being a parent can be (yet I wouldn’t have changed a thing).
I was a stay at home mom for eighteen years. We looked into daycare and it was just not cost effective for me to return to the work force just to have my entire paycheck cover the cost of daycare for two children.
Being with my kids 24/7 was a blessing. At the same time, it was great for my husband and I to get away together, even if it was for a few hours (“date night”).
Sadly, my husband and I didn’t get too much “couple’s time” when our kids were younger. That is because we didn’t feel comfortable leaving our children with strangers. The only people we felt comfortable leaving our kids with were family members (grandparents). Our children mean the world to us and we never felt comfortable leaving them with a babysitter. After all, what did we REALLY know about the person we are trusting with our children? Just because some seems great on the surface doesn’t mean that they truly are a wonderful person.
There is a new app available that can help parents weed out potential sitters in order to find the right one for their family. It’s called Predictim. It is the brainchild of Sal Parsa and Joel Simonoff.
The company’s first application is a solution to help people identify the most appropriate childcare providers. When it comes to caring for the people that mean the most to us, we want to find the best caregivers. With a few easy steps, a parent will have a better understanding of a babysitter, to identify the high-quality and trustworthy caregivers they want for their children, loved ones, pets and homes.
The typical caregiver apps and services people use today allow families to search for and find help, but they do not offer a full picture of an individual with just their simple review processes. The Predictim technology reviews a prospective caregiver’s online presence to assess personality traits and behaviors which cannot be discerned from these background checks. The AI solution scans an entire online footprint, going back years in just minutes, giving parents deep insights and exposing potential risks.
To give you an example. Let’s say you, as a parent, are considering hiring a new babysitter, “Jane Doe,” to sit for your child after school every day. “Jane Doe” comes recommended by a neighbor. By using Predictim you can have “Jane Doe’s” social media accounts analyzed for bad behaviors, such as bullying or aggressive/abusive behavior, to give you as much information as possible to determine if you want to let this person into your home and care for your child. You certainly wouldn’t want someone who spews nothing but hate on social media, cyberbullies, or talks about drug use on a regular basis, caring for your precious child.
When you initiate a search for a potential sitter/pet walker, or someone else you are considering letting into your home, Predictim searches their social media accounts looking for any “red flags.” Predictim will give you a “grade” based on the results they found. The grade will let you know if the person is a “low risk” or “high risk” (or some where in between) based on what was uncovered on social media.
The report summary lets you know if the person is of high or low risk based on their posts. The program will even provide you with a screen shot of the potentially offensive posts.
This same service can also help you decide on a pet walker/sitter.
The current background checks parents generally use don’t uncover everything that is available about a person. Interviews can’t give a complete picture. A seemingly competent and loving caregiver with a “clean” background could still be abusive, aggressive, a bully, or worse. That’s where Predictim’s solution comes in. By analyzing alternative data sources, including the social media sites, parents can get a clear and complete picture of the caregiver and be more confident that this very important person will meet your standards.
“The most important thing on the mind of any person is the safety of their child or loved one,” said Parsa. “Our goal is to erase worry by giving parents and guardians the necessary tools to hire the most trustworthy and reliable caregiver, piano teacher, tutor, soccer coach, etc, for their loved ones.”
So how exactly does Predictim work?
The Predictim AI technology is backed by scientific research and its algorithms use billions of social media data points to discover important personality traits. The technology continues to learn and improve with every report to identify potential red flags and provide parents with critical feedback about caregivers.
Here’s how Predictim’s AI technology works:
- Uses natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision to scan person’s digital footprint and draw unique insights.
- Proprietary algorithms analyzes a person’s social media use and history, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts.
- The process is very quick. In less than three minutes after a caregiver completes the sign-up process, parents/guardians will receive an overview of the individual’s digital footprint.
- Reports reveal how the potential caregiver scored on several relevant personality traits, such as bullying and harassment, disrespectful attitude, drug abuse, explicit content online, etc.
Honestly, I appreciate an app/service like this. There is only so much time in the day and who has time to scroll through potential caregivers or helpers. Aside from being a mom, wife and blogger, I also work outside of the home. There are some days I am so busy that I can’t formulate a thought, let alone have the time to look up social media accounts and scroll through each and every posting looking for questionable material.
I want to know everything there is to know about someone who is going to be around my family, my pets and/or in my home.
It’s true what people say… once something is put out there on social media, it’s there forever. That is what I tell my kids all the time. It doesn’t matter if you go on a tirade because you had a bad day at work, or you have an online “war” with someone you don’t like – all of those posts remain online, even if you end up deleting them.
“So much of our lives are online now. How we communicate, what we like (or don’t like), where we hang out, our hobbies, travel destinations, and so much more is all shared via social media. Whether we like it or not, we are creating our own digital footprints,” said Joel Simonoff, CTO and cofounder, Predictim. “Our innovative AI technology provides insights never before available. It is going to significantly help people make more informed decisions in many different arenas.”
You can sign up for a free account. Whenever you want to initial a scan there is a small fee. It’s worth every penny in my opinion because I want to be REALLY informed about a person, their character and behavior BEFORE letting them in my home or near my family (and that includes our pets).
If you would like to check out a demo of Predictim, visit Predictim.com. Up towards the top right of the home page you’ll see the tab for “How it Works.” Click on that to see examples of the types of information that can be discovered about the people you are considering hiring.
What do you think about Predictim? Does it sound like a service you would use for yourself and your family? Feel free to comment and share your thoughts. I always love to hear from readers.
Kimberly
*This is a sponsored post. Although compensated the opinions expressed are that of my own (unless otherwise noted) and not influenced in any way.