Yesterday I designed up to one of the most border communities, which I have participated in ... so far. Blippy.com lets you share your transactions with friends, acquaintances and strangers. This means that everything I buy on Amazon, Threadless, and iTunes will now be seen on my Blippy account . I had an American bank, I also wanted to link my Visa or Mastercard for the service. And also a few others - primarily American - services connected with such as Zappos, GoDaddy, Audible and Blockbuster and one can expect that more will follow as the site grows.
TechCrunch has made a video with CEO Philip Kaplan, who explains what the service is about and why he thinks it's a good idea for a community. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSibRDdKG04
Facebook tried real idea of Beacon . service was subjected to massive criticism and closed again in late 2009. In my eyes was the problem in the first place that people on Facebook were never asked if they would be with and that they had no control over the information that flowed between sites and other users. In the second instance can it discusses how much information people are willing to share. But although there have been some reactions to Facebook's recent changes to what information is private on Facebook, then it is my belief that it is not less information, which we are willing to share. Although Blippy just makes you think about privacy, I will not let this blog post about this issue further.
What is interesting is the relationship between transaction and the buyer and potential buyer.
Christopher Rolleyson writes in an article on the often interesting SocialMedia.biz that:
"Federated identity + social vil bli rapidly a mechanism for people to ask deres friends for input on buying beslutninger. It vil change how people buy. "
First Ordinary people's ratings and reviews has been one of the first steps towards services that offer social elements for the assessment of the product. We can in some cases be comfortable and get more valid information about a product or service when many people have submitted their assessment than when there was one expert's assessment. Similarly, Google's and Facebook's Friend Connect provide sites with products or services ability to distinguish between what close friends think and what the large amount of people have said.
Second Blippy makes product recommendations even more present. We do not evaluate everything we buy. And we do not tell about everything we use in our daily lives again and again. It is two sided: first promoted the specific product to friends. For my part, it applies if a new album has been released without my knowledge. It can also be true bargains for example. clothing. I do not fear that my close friends buying the exact same T-shirt on Threadless as I do. But they will certainly be inspired to buy a different product because of price. Second, services in which we organize our operations will be promoted. If I am interested in the product, so I know both how it can be bought and at what price.
Third When Jason Calacanis buying PacMan for your iPhone, then there will potentially be people who follow him, which goes out and does exactly the same. Buyer PacMan for the iPhone. Furthermore, it opens up marketing efforts in the form of sponsored purchase, because the penetration occurs through recognizable and trustworthy people - friends and influential or respected persons. It is not new, but it is more direct and easier than ever before.
4th The data I leave on Blippy are available to other people online. And businesses. These companies will be able to see me as a potential customer and may be able to find to market themselves directly to me. It might be very costly to market themselves to the individual, where the price for a product or service is low. But the company sells a product that requires fewer sales per month, to achieve a satisfactory performance, so it is perhaps interesting? More interesting, however, the problem of automation of the marketing of goods at a low price can be solved without it means that the consumer spammes with offers or feels his privacy invaded.
5th Being a service like Blippy, which has data on the user and to the products that are purchased can be a very profitable business. Not that my personal data be sold, but because they give information about buying patterns, geographic differences, trends, personal relations influence their structural development, etc., etc. It is not something reserved for Blippy and something I am particularly concerned about. We know today from supermarkets who make assessments on what goods and services which appear together in the merchant's shopping cart.
I am aware that my approach is too positive, carefree and naive. But I think decency about privacy can be a constraint to development. It's not a question of narcissism or to walk around in public without pants on. It is a matter of being aware of what data I leave where and to take control over it. Ultimately, my approach may leave as much information that I myself is an information overload? I say this based on the motto that if it looks as though no information about me is secret, then no information about me interesting. So far, one need not come. But I wish that others would think about is that the information can be found about me on the web is no different than those found for me in the physical world. The difference is perhaps how easily accessible they are.
What is the future for Blippy? We can expect that similar sites shoot up. Blippy already has 2,500 users and 10,000 waiting to be let into their beta version. I got my invite yesterday and has 20 invites back to where someone might want to try it. My account is here: http://www.blippy.com/scherz/