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By Charlene Sadler
Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 11:24 AM
A couple of weeks ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg raised eye brows by saying people don't want privacy anymore.I've certainly noticed that privacy has become a currency of sorts. People seem quite willing to trade information about their purchasing habits for Air Miles points and other point-systems.
But I was wrong.
Some people just want to give it all away. With Blippy, a new social networking app that lets the world see every purchase you've ever made, no matter how miniscule.
Blippy went live last Thursday after "a much-hyped beta-testing period," according to Canadian Press.
Blippy describes itself as "a fun and easy way see and discuss the things people buy."
I checked it out and learned that philipwest spent $3.55 at Starbucks, that ashvin spent $450 at T.M.C.C. loan.
It's a strange little website. You just put your cursor on the scroll and watch people's purchases come up. It's strangely addictive, and certainly makes a non-spender like me feel superior. Okay, I spend but I wouldn't advertise it for free.
Two days ago, this ashvin fellow bought $62.36 at Pizza Chicago and then tweeted to his friends in his office to come over and join in the feast. They did, and they tweeted about it. Presumably he could've phoned them the invite or maybe walked over and tapped them on the shoulder, but that's so 2000 and late.
Despite the eyebrow-raising concept, thousands of users have signed up, the website says, and Twitter CEO Evan Williams is reportedly among the investors who have bought into the idea. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based site's owners insist their high-tech encryption will protect data from being stolen or reused, according to Canadian Press.
"In theory I would suggest people wouldn't be comfortable with it ... but the weird part about it is (Blippy) had an enormous interest in their beta and I'm not sure how to read that," said Mark Evans, a Toronto-based social media strategist.
"The only way to explain it is that we're living in this kind of share everything, everything-is-public age, and people are just riding on the bandwagon."
