Blind: the app where Uber employees are gossiping right now
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has said change will come to his company after a blog post detailed horrific acts of sexism and repressive, Kafka-esque HR company culture.
Yet, it seemed that some found their last straw, and weren't willing to wait out the change. A rumor circulated that 118 people, based in Uber's San Francisco office, had resigned following that meeting.
This number is not true, according to an Uber spokesperson.
The idea had been posted on Twitter, but it had gained traction on an app called Blind, where techies can anonymously share grievances or just chat. Companies are grouped into private channels, and users are verified based on their work email addresses.
The rumor had been posted by someone at Uber who gave themselves the title of "HRinternal" on the general tech industry channel. The following screenshots from the app were provided by users of Blind who asked to remain anonymous.
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The post has since been removed. The app is community regulated, meaning that users determine if a user is factual and relevant and then can report. If enough reports come in, a post is removed. Less than 0.5 percent of posts are flagged and removed.
Blind was not aware of the post until Mashable reached out Wednesday because the app is not actively monitored.
"Either Uber users are saying it's trolling or it's wrong," said Alex Shin of Blind, noting that the company itself can't technically tell if Uber's human resources employees are targeting posts.
The app has more than 2,000 verified users from Uber. That's out of more than 11,000 Uber employees.
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While clearly not everything on Blind will pan out as fact, the uptick in activity on the Uber community board is definitely up. Activity from the Uber community on Blind actually tripled in the last week, according to Shin.
Blind declined to disclose user numbers but said that Uber is one of its most active communities out of the more 100 tech companies on the app. At Microsoft, LinkedIn and Yahoo 1 in 5 users are verified on Blind. There are thousands of users Amazon, Google, Facebook and Intel as well.
According to Blind, Uber has been the only company to make attempts at blocking employee access. The app does not launch when phones are connected to Uber Wi-Fi.
Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that claim.
Editor's note: This post has been updated to clarify that the app screenshots came from users interviewed for the story.
Topics Uber
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
