Blippy: Twitter and Credit Cards Not A Good Mix

Social media networks and social sharing have spread like wildfire across the Internet. Technology companies and social media networks such as Twitter are always looking for the next big thing in the hot social media arena. Blippy, the fledgling social ecommerce platform that was backed by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, was one of these services. Blippy, however, is a service that is nearing its end.

What Was Blippy?

Blippy was a service that allowed users to announce their credit card purchases on Twitter. Users of Blippy could link one or more of their credit cards to the service. When they would make a purchase using the card connected to Blippy, it would automatically broadcast the purchase information, such as the merchant, product, service or item and the price. Blippy users could also log in and leave comments or reviews on the product, service or item listed. In turn, followers of the Blippy user could use this information to make their own purchase decisions and even chime in to leave their own comments or reviews on the purchase just made.

Blippy Comes to an End

If you're wondering why anyone would want to share their credit card purchase information with the world, you're apparently in the majority since the service never really caught on and is now being shut down. If you step back for a moment and truly evaluate the service, though, you can see that it is a powerful word-of-mouth marketing tool for the merchants that the Blippy users are patronizing. The service also features a built-in review system where the buyers and others can rate the purchase.

Safety & Security

In light of the rampant rise of identity theft problems worldwide, however, most credit card users are guarded in sharing their transaction information. Even though Blippy does not share personal credit card information with the followers, a security breach not too long ago did leak personal information.

Then again, simply updating your Facebook or Twitter status to announce that you are not home, but are in fact out enjoying an event or have “checked-in” at one of the local merchants, can signal that your home and its belongings are perhaps unguarded. While this could be viewed as a potential downside of reporting your every move on your favorite network, no one expects an early demise for these companies that have become social phenomenon.

Although the demise of the purchase-tracking service is imminent, Blippy's CEO, Ashvin Kumar, hinted that an entirely new product is in the works from the company. Kumar declined to provide any details on this new product or a timeframe for its completion.

Kristie Lorette

Kristie Lorette is an award winning credit specialist and an MBA graduate of Nova Southeastern University. Her lengthy tenure includes service at Merrill Lynch where she oversaw a $300 million dollar portfolio and 16 branches. At Merrill Lynch, Kristie specialized in consumer issues related to credit and mortgages. As a writer and researcher in personal finance, Kristie is also a contributor to Yahoo! Shine, Quizzle.com, Moneysmartlife.com and many other online and print publications.