pricing transparency for variable priced services (comcast, gyms, etc.) could be very empowering for consumers. crowd-sourced fraud detection seems pretty interesting as well. and of course, discovery elements...
FTA: "And because the actual purchase prices are made visible, there are other interesting dynamics. For example, imagine being able to tell if you’re getting ripped off with what you’re paying for a gym membership or on your Comcast bill when compared to what your friends are spending on the same things.
There’s also the potential to have private accounts that maybe a businessman would only share with his assistant to let them know what’s being purchased and explain things a bit better in the comments. Again, yes the idea is controversial, but there are a lot of interesting things that could come of it, if people are willing to be this transparent."
If comcast publishes a list of their clients and how much they paid, I will make top dollar from Verizon and Cox converting Comcast's clients. Have you ever heard of a thing called list building? marketers make do with far less information. Buying habits are top dollar data, you don't just give that away.
Is more transparency always better? If every moment of your day was videotaped and catalogued for everyone to see, yes, it might be good (people might be able to point stuff out that you could improve upon), but would you really want that despite all the "benefits"?
This is one of the classic ways people hook you into giving up your privacy, by talking about only the benefits and not talking about the costs.
I don't deny that amongst the buried millions of transactions this system will most assuredly generate, some minute fraction may actually benefit somebody by showing Comcast shenanigans or something. But... at what cost?
Sure, consumers might get some small amount of "empowerment", and all it took was handing large amounts of empowerment over to Blippy and whatever "affiliates" they sign with next month. Wow, what a deal!
The really scary thing is that it would probably sell like hotcakes. After all, plenty of people seem to use twitter to show the world what they're thinking (and that seems to be for the most part complete rubbish).
As the cost of a bit goes down the signal-to-noise ratio seems to get worse. Broadcasting everyones spoken words is definitely in our future somewhere if the current trends continue.
This is the part where I find I need to admit that I'm growing older. I'm no longer young and hip, but part of an older generation of "unsocial" people that see absolutely no point in something like this.
To be frank, I don't give a fuck what my friends buy. I don't care what random thoughts they have during the day either, or how many fucking cows they bought in some stupid game I've never played.
I'm sure this will do well though. Just not with me as a user.
Its not just you, and its not about getting older. Its about being tired of watching a tread (the "social" web) beaten to its death. Its not a "great, controversial" idea, its just silly.
This is heaven for marketing, can't wait for it to get integrated into Facebook. I wont use it myself, but it's great to know what people are spending money on.
What comes after this? A tool for friends to share data about with whom they're sleeping? That would seem to take "making behaviors visible" to its logical end.
(Actually, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that something of that sort exists in the dark corners of the web.)
The only thing that would be interesting about this is if the Blippy card gave you 1% off of every transaction.
Suddenly you'd face a tradeoff between privacy vs. getting a discount[1].
That 1% could almost certainly be made up by analytics and viral referrals. If someone saw your stream and clicked on say an Amazon book, then Amazon easily makes that 1% back. In fact, for some companies the discount could be substantially more than 1%.
[1] Importantly, experiments have shown that privacy is dear but cheap. I recall an experiment where people stood in a busy area and paid people $10 for their username and password. Many took them up on it.
Is today April 1st? My calendar says 12/11/09 and there's snow on the ground, but it must be April 1st because there's no way this could not be a prank. Nobody could possibly think this could be popular.
I find it completely and utterly mind boggling that anyone would find this useful. Spending habits are private: tracking your OWN is useful. But sharing everything publicly? It's insane. Guaranteed you are going to be embarrassed after you reveal your $200 purchase at the Love Shack or once your friends realize you eat at McDonalds 3 times a week. What happens people start tracking down gifts or you blow the surprise on your engagement ring?
People want to share some of the things they buy to show off, but no one wants to share everything they buy. From the mundane to the inane to the embarrassing, it's a wide window into your private life that very few would feel comfortable opening.
The article covers this: you register one of your cards, and use that for public purchases. They plan to provide a sticker for that card to make it more obvious.
I predict that almost all of the reaction will be "oh, that's interesting, but I'd never use it." I also predict that CNN will at some point in the next week have this in their rotation of stories.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 79.5 ms ] threadno...I find it insane. How about an iPhone App that let's the world hear all of your conversations?
There’s also the potential to have private accounts that maybe a businessman would only share with his assistant to let them know what’s being purchased and explain things a bit better in the comments. Again, yes the idea is controversial, but there are a lot of interesting things that could come of it, if people are willing to be this transparent."
Owning this data is valuable.
I don't deny that amongst the buried millions of transactions this system will most assuredly generate, some minute fraction may actually benefit somebody by showing Comcast shenanigans or something. But... at what cost?
Sure, consumers might get some small amount of "empowerment", and all it took was handing large amounts of empowerment over to Blippy and whatever "affiliates" they sign with next month. Wow, what a deal!
As the cost of a bit goes down the signal-to-noise ratio seems to get worse. Broadcasting everyones spoken words is definitely in our future somewhere if the current trends continue.
To be frank, I don't give a fuck what my friends buy. I don't care what random thoughts they have during the day either, or how many fucking cows they bought in some stupid game I've never played.
I'm sure this will do well though. Just not with me as a user.
It will all end in tears.
Unless you're an attention whore or a shill getting kickbacks for marketing, I really don't see the draw.
It will middle in tears, anyway.
(Actually, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that something of that sort exists in the dark corners of the web.)
Suddenly you'd face a tradeoff between privacy vs. getting a discount[1].
That 1% could almost certainly be made up by analytics and viral referrals. If someone saw your stream and clicked on say an Amazon book, then Amazon easily makes that 1% back. In fact, for some companies the discount could be substantially more than 1%.
[1] Importantly, experiments have shown that privacy is dear but cheap. I recall an experiment where people stood in a busy area and paid people $10 for their username and password. Many took them up on it.
People want to share some of the things they buy to show off, but no one wants to share everything they buy. From the mundane to the inane to the embarrassing, it's a wide window into your private life that very few would feel comfortable opening.