“Vibe” Provides Personal Info Based on an Email Address

Published on March 5, 2014

If your inbox looks anything like ours, chances are you get a lot of different email from a lot of different people throughout the day.  On occasion, you may receive a new "lead", introduction, or important email from someone that you don't know anything about (or at least very little.)

Here's where Vibe comes in.

"The fastest way to know your contacts" is the name of their game.  Vibe is an app and browser extension that provides you instant extended information on your email contacts simply by hovering over their email address.  This could include some, if not all of the above information:

  • Their full name
  • A picture
  • Their location
  • Their job information
  • A biography
  • Links to their various social media sites (including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and more)
  • A list of keyword topics related to their interests

Vibe has been designed as a Chrome extension and a application for Mac OS products.  The Chrome version naturally only works for email addresses found within the web browsers, while the Mac version works across the entire desktop.

How does Vibe find information?

Just like other similar solutions (like Smartr/Xobni, FullContact, Nimble, and Rapportive), Vibe searches for email addresses through APIs of social networks.  From there it retrieves links to profiles and homepages, and compiles short bios based on the information it finds.

As you could expect, this information is often not perfect.  Information can be incorrect, or no information will be found at all.  Those who are more active in online social communities, as you may expect, tend to have better results.

Nonetheless, it seems to be an app that is building a foundation of happy users.  After its launch around 2 weeks ago, Vibe has already attracted around 2,500 users.  The free version allows users 30 look-ups for the first month, and then this is decreased to 10 look-ups per month.  Alternatively, you can pay $5 for 1,000 in 30 days, or $25 for 9,000 look-ups in 180 days.

Tried it?  Let us know what you think!  We're curious.  Send us a message or drop a comment.