Since the inception of FIO, we’ve continually run into confusion with the “FIO Address” label. Contest after contest where we ask for people to provide us with their FIO Address, we get an overwhelming number of people who reply with their FIO Public Key instead. That’s the long string of confusing characters starting with “FIO…”. It may be that the cryptocurrency community thinks of the long string of characters when they hear about a cryptocurrency “address.”
We’ve tried collecting data on this through surveys, and the results haven’t aligned with our lived experience.
Those filling out the survey may think, “Yeah, looks like an email, so address makes sense” but those responding to contests with “Give us your FIO Address” are failing at this as demonstrated in this recent (and other) giveaways.
FIO Address wrong: 1111111111 (10) Exchange ID wrong: 11 (2) Both FIO Address and Exchange ID Correct: 111111111111 (12) FIO Name not available on mobile: 11 (2) Didn't reply with either FIO Address or Exchange ID: 1111 (4)
More than 50% (18 out of 30) not being able to follow the giveaway instructions is a failing grade. We must do better.
What we know: “FIO Address” creates confusion.
What we don’t know for sure: What is a better descriptor than FIO Address?
Surveying people on Twitter or Telegram doesn’t seem to appropriately reflect the confusion created in real interactions.
The current discussions with the business development, sales, and marketing teams have lead to the following outcome:
FIO Handle
If an integration partner does not want something branded with “FIO”, while we don’t prefer it, we suggest the alternative of Wallet Handle.
Why “handle” and not “name”?
Name implies your actual name (“Luke Stokes”). Handle implies your mechanism for being known within and interacting with a network (“Twitter Handle”, “Telegram Handle” etc). It doesn’t have to be your name and it can preserve your privacy. Handle is also already associated with the @ symbol.
But why not stick with address, like an email address? That also has an “@”.
As demonstrated by actual interactions with our target market, “FIO Address” has a failing grade. This has been the case with just about every giveaway and learn and earn we’ve done. We can either continually try to educate the cryptocurrency community that “address” doesn’t mean some long string of confusing characters, or we can own a new word like handle.
Why not “FIO ID” or “FID” or “FIO Account”?
ID or “identifier” hasn’t been tested in our survey, but closely resembles existing concepts like “DID” and, like account, reminds people of something assigned to them, not something they got to choose themselves and own in a self-sovereign way. It’s cold and sterile, not human and engaging.
Why not “FIO Username” or “Wallet Username”?
Username can create confusion as many wallets already have a username with password to login and in some cases encrypt their seed phrases.
What about “Crypto Handle” or “FIO Crypto Handle”?
We really liked this idea and had a lot of discussions back and forth as to whether “Wallet” (something made popular by the “Apple Wallet” which means you can assume millions of dollars in branding and research went into it) was the word we really wanted to connect to because crypto wallets aren’t actually “wallets” as much as they are vaults to secure your private keys. “Crypto” is a word rapidly growing in popularity with rapers, financial investors, pop-culture, and more. It also can feel “unsafe” for those who don’t get it. In the end, both “Crypto” and “Wallet” were dropped for just FIO Handle.
Why not drop “FIO” branding all together and own a generic and become like “Kleenex”?
We did discuss going with a generic term like “Crypto Handle” or “Wallet Handle” and owning it completely so all wallets could integrate it and, over time, it could become known throughout the industry as the standard. The problem with this approach is losing the percentage of people that want to know more and get more involved in the community. How can they find us? Including “FIO” in the identifier accomplishes this important connection to our community.
FIO Handle: The Parts
What makes up a FIO Handle? Two parts: a username (previously described as a FIO Name) and a network (previously described as a FIO Domain).
In a FIO branded context (such as a FIO Handle registration site), there’s no reason to say “FIO Username” or “FIO Network” as “FIO” is implied in the FIO Handle. In a non-FIO branded environment (such as an NFT marketplace), the network will be the only part traded separately so in that context it will be described as a “FIO Network”.
The result is username @ network.
This works for communities (luke@btc: luke as part of the bitcoin network), wallets and software (luke@edge: luke as a user and member of the Edge Wallet network), and exchanges (luke@bitmaxfio: luke as a member of the Bitmax exchange, quite possibly including special characteristics within that network such as KYC verification).
Next Steps
Gather feedback from our community of partners and users on this rebranding proposal to avoid confusion we’re seeing related to the FIO Address descriptor.
After a form of consensus is reached, set a date to complete the rebranding.
Identify all areas where “FIO Address”, “FIO Name”, and “FIO Domain” are mentioned and begin changing them. This includes things like explainer videos, demonstration videos, knowledge base videos, website copy, the registration website, integrated products, and more.
Things we will not change at this time: API and SDK endpoints and naming conventions. These are not customer facing and though they may create confusion for our developer and integration community, that larger concern for our marketing, sales, and business development team today is consistency of user experience for the end user of the FIO Protocol.
Why do this now? Because the feedback from our team working to promote FIO is loud and clear: This messaging confusion is a bottleneck for their ability to easily describe FIO and its benefits.