Will the public “buy” Blippy?
Today I stumbled upon a really strong example of how certain subsets of consumers are willing to sacrifice privacy in exchange for what I'll call "social convenience". Blippy, which is just in beta and was recently highlighted in a New York Times article, is an online social network that lets you share your recent credit card purchases with your friends. I haven't actually used the service, but from the description, it seems to do this automatically in a "Twitter-like" microblogging fashion - a type of passive, social information-sharing. There are, of course, ways to restrict what is shared with whom, but in general I think this is a step in the direction of transparency. The question is: will people find benefit in sharing where they are and what they are buying (and for how much) with their friends?
My guess is yes, but I am very curious about what the early adopters will look like, since users of this service will need to have, for example, (a) access to the internet, (b) a credit card, (c) available funds on their credit card, (d) an interest in shopping and purchase-related information, and (e) friends who possess characteristics "a" through "e". I look forward to seeing how this one pans out!
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December 17th, 2009 - 15:53
Next thing you know “Kathie had a colonoscopy” will be passively reported to all of my friends and strangers directly from my electronic health record. Some things may be better left unsaid.
December 17th, 2009 - 16:01
But what if it also reported to EVERYONE how much the colonoscopy actually costed!!!!!!
December 17th, 2009 - 16:26
I’m happy to share interesting stuff that I’m buying. Not willing to share that I had a colonoscopy.
December 17th, 2009 - 16:34
Dually noted, MissZizz! Is there a MissTerr to speak of? (Sorry, had to…)