From Like This To Buy That

A while back I suggested that the web was NICE - New Infrastructure, Culture and Economics.  Well we’ve had a revolution in the first area with the arrival of broadband and superfast groovyware and in the second with the rise of the share-and-compare economy.  This year I think we'll see changes in the economic aspect of my NICE notion.  The problem with the desktop internet was that it didn’t come with a swipe card machine.  In the early days of e-commerce, paying online felt like handing your keys to a stranger in the street and asking him to park your car.  However, the world has changed.  Facebook delivers shopping tips from our friends, the pocket browser is becoming the norm, your phone is developing a sense of direction and we all want one-click commerce.  In short, the conditions for economic innovation look ripe.  And, of course, this year money is in short supply so commercial ventures need to be, err, commercial.  I have no idea what shape this economic change will come in.  Other than that it may appear quite strange.  For example, how do you fancy sharing your credit card purchases on Twitter?  A step too far?  Not according to Philip ‘AdBrite’ Kaplan, whose service Blippy, lets you share actual purchases with your social network.  Kaplan makes it sound like the obvious next step, not an open invitation to the world’s cyber-villains: “It’s just another way of saying, 'Here’s what I’m doing,' or 'Here’s where I am,' or 'Here’s a band that I’m really into' — obviously, because I just bought five of their albums."  Or how would you feel about letting your phone choose your lunch spot on the basis of who’s offering the best local deal?  The raft of mobile coupon start-ups aim to turn internet traffic into retail footfall.  Kerching!  Then there’s Jack ‘Twitter’ Dorsey’s Square service, which turns your phone into a credit card swipe machine, meaning anyone can retail.  Or check out mobile payment services GoPayForIt and Zong, the latter of which hopes to mobilise the FaceBook Credits service.  Both aim to make micropayments a cinch.  As ever, these Shiny New Things are only where the story begins. The end game maybe odd-sounding new virtual currencies, such as China's QQ economy, where bits can be turned into regular cash and used to buy (or steal) everyday items.  Or can even be taxed!  The share-and-compare economy is booming and traded opinion is increasingly the key to purchase decisions. The maturing of digital economics may turn this opinion data into the new ‘rivers of gold’ that the media industry so desperately seeks. Or maybe it will generate more Etsy-style traders whose business is based not on people hitting a ‘Like’ button on Facebook but a ‘Buy’ button on their smartphone.