You can now add social links to your TrustedHousesitters profile

Sitters
#1

As you know, Team Trusted have been working hard to bring you even more new and improved features to the website. So, we’re pleased to share that one of our latest updates means that you can now add social links to your TrustedHousesitters profile.

Adding that extra element of trust and reassurance is key, which is why — based on your feedback — we’ve added this brand-new feature to the sitter profile page that will allow you to share direct links to your LinkedIn and Airbnb profile.

To find out how to add this new feature to your Trusted profile, click here.

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#2

Sounds like a great addition to the profile. We often sent copies of Airbnb reviews to prospective hosts when we were first applying for sits do should be useful.

1 Like
#3

I came to this post with other expectations. I’m not knocking the arrival of this feature but it seems to feed into the more professional, full-time sitting community (again, that’s fine, I wish I could be part of that!)
What I thought I would see were Facebook or Instagram links; things the more ad-hoc sitters would have & use. I know LinkedIn is a paid, professional service and I have no idea what an Airbnb profile is but I certainly don’t have either of them!
Facebook particularly is a double-edged sword but might provide the sort of insight that is gained from the Website links of full-time sitters (I clicked on one from the forum yesterday & :open_mouth:, that was an eye-opener).
Before I go off into rehearsing all the pros & cons as I see them, I can’t imagine that the @TrustedHousesitters team & @Ben-Product haven’t already considered and rejected the prospect. May we know the reasoning please?

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#4

As my profile on Linkedin is in french, few THS owners would understand ! They might be frightened to notice I was a journalist ???

For owners who give the link to Airbnb, because they rent their flat, it gives you the opportunity to see many other photos than the ones published on THS.
Many owners do publish on THS only photos of their pets, few of the bedroom or the kitchen where you will stay… May be they send more to the sitter selected ??
As a sitter I think it’s hard in a first mail to ask for more photos, even in a second one.

1 Like
#5

Hi @Saltramsm, we do plan on adding Facebook and Instagram to TrustedHousesitters profiles.

Regarding why we did LinkedIn and Airbnb first, earlier on in the year we sent out a survey and these were voted a higher priority. We will get round to adding the other two soon :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#6

Then if you add FB and Instagram profiles, the members full identity will be known for the ones who use christian and family names and not a nick name ?

On THS you see only the christian name, so there will be different names for the same person ??

#7

Well, firstly such a link won’t be compulsory so no one need add it if they don’t want to.
Moreover, in the modern Online world, I think we are all accustomed to seeing the phrase “I am on Facebook as CamelLover or DonutMonster” or whatever. Those of us who use our first (I don’t have a “Christian” name) and last (or family) names, or whatever non-patronymic identities as appropriate, do so by choice and some use short & snappy nicknames. I can’t imagine it would cause insurmountable confusion.
Additionally it could bring more transparency to communications and possibly solve a lot of the issues & niggles we have been musing about in these various threads.

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#8

Sorry for the expression, I thought the word “christian name” was the right word for "prénom" in french ! English is a foreign language for me.
In France until the 70’ you were obliged to use a name put on calendar (full of saints…), some parents faced huge problems because they wanted their kids have first names like “Liberté” , "Pomme" which were not on the calendar (not speaking about foreign ones…
Personnally I use my real first and last names on twitter, FB, digital nomads

Saltrams is what ? Your first or last name ? A nick name ??

#9

It’s OK, I’m not offended! :wink: Prénom is literally “first name” of course, which is perfectly correct for western-style names. The use of “Christian name” has fallen into disuse (other than amongst Christians, I suppose) because of the implication.
Anyway, Saltrams is a moniker we have used for 30 years since we spent a blissful day on our honeymoon at the Saltram winery in the Barossa Valley. Our THS sitter profile is in our own names Laura and Andy Powell. On Facebook, I started with my real name but after some unpleasantness (which didn’t quite amount to stalking) I changed accounts to another nom de plume and restricted the account to only friends.

#10

Thanks for your answer @Ben-Product (go on, change your ID to Ben-Hur, I dare you).
That will be something to look forward to and I hope it really helps the THS community become more open & communicative. Have you seen quantifiable results from the LinkedIn and Airbnb developments?

3 Likes
#11

Waouh, I see you know the meaning of pré- nom. I know that today we need to pay attention not to offend many people.
I appear on FB, Linkedin as Carine LENFANT and as Carine on THS

#12

Yes, I was also expecting to see FB/IG links. I can see why LinkedIn and Airbnb were added first, because LinkedIn is a professional network (so you can see what someone does for a living, gives more credibility that they’re a real person) and Airbnb is a vacation rental platform where you stay in other people’s homes, so people have reviews on there as to how they left the home, etc. I didn’t see it as only for full time sitters, anyone can have a LinkedIn profile. I don’t actually use mine though!

@Ben-Product Another addition that would be nice on this front would be a link for someone to add their own website. This wouldn’t just be useful for full time sitters, because so many people have websites these days, whether it’s for professional or personal reasons. We currently put our website link in our profile description but it’s not clickable.

4 Likes
#13

in reality “pré-nom” does not mean “first” but " before" name