Fishbowl - What is it and how do I eat it?
The little anonymous coffee corner on your phone
Fishbowl, an app developed by Glassdoor is meant to facilitate communication among colleagues or for people of the same trade, entirely anonymously. If you wonder how the app works, what its purpose is and how to use it for employer branding -if at all-, allow us to provide you an insight into Fishbowl.
How does it work?
In order to use Fishbowl you have to register with your work or student email account. Furthermore, Fishbowl verifies your profession. During our test, the validation of the profession was conducted through LinkedIn.
This allows you, the user, to interact with others in three different modes:
Anonymously as an employee of a certain company
Publicly as yourself
Anonymously as a representative of a certain profession
In contrast to other social media and professional platforms it is not possible to simply post something. Fishbowl is divided into bowls -duh- and a user can only post within the bowl and its designated topic. It is, however, possible to chat with other users directly with the same level of discretion as described above.
There is a big variety in bowls and new bowls can be created by every user. However, the app clusters them into categories, therewith setting the tone of the intended interaction.
It is therefore possible to create bowls with the specific goal to debate certain aspects or to create awareness around a certain issue. However, the content of this bowl is generally available to everyone, but, in order to post something you need to be a member of said bowl. There is also the option to make a bowl which requires the applicant to be verified by bowl member, making it a more exclusive space. Just right so for some tea and banter ;).
Another exciting aspect of Fishbowl is the existence of company profiles allowing the user to see the content in all bowls where the company in question has been mentioned. Furthermore, it is possible to subscribe to create job alerts on Glassdoor through Fishbowl and thus remain up to date.
Conclusion
In comparison to traditional professional networks which follow a certain hierarchy Fishbowl seems very interactive yet poor in structure. The users have all the power, and hierarchies apart from job titles and employment are not existent.
During our test of the app it seemed that the app is mainly dealing with US content and only has some representation from other countries. However during our test and interaction with Fishbowl we started noticing that it is enthusiastically advertising its services on e.g. Instagram. As we are based in Stockholm, Sweden this shows that Fishbowl is aiming to grow outside the US and understands itself as an international platform.
It is worth keeping an eye on Fishbowl and its future development. The main potential in the app is nothing but a more radical open office culture in which certain topics may be discussed internally but also industry-wide without revealing one's identity. In a certain sense it reminds us of Reddit, however, with verified users and this makes a HUGE difference.
