TURNING PURCHASES INTO CONVERSATIONS

Would you "share" your purchasing habits with complete strangers a la social media? Angus Davis, who runs Swipely, sure hopes so. Swipley is a new social media platform that touts "turning purchases into conversations."

Swipely's hook? Every purchase tells a story.

Davis, who sold his last idea, Tellme, to Microsoft for $800 million, believes that users are primed to link their credit or debit card purchases to Swipely thereby sharing everything they buy with their "friends" (other Swipely users) or across the whole web.


Swipely from Swipely on Vimeo.

According to Davis in an article published in the July 9th edition of the Chicago Tribune, "This piece of plastic [your credit or debit card] can be such a powerful communication tool to tell your friends what you care about."

Davis emphasizes Swipely's usefulness as a "products and places" recommendation tool to help you save money while "having more fun."

While Swipely allows users to share what they're buying with the world at large, what is it really saying about this seemingly increasing human compulsion to share every detail about our lives with, basically, strangers?

I love the idea of social media and use it for all sorts of reasons - personal, business, marketing, communications. But I also believe that exposing too much of yourself isn't the most healthy habit and Swipely just seems downright bizarre.

In its beta phase, Swipely has thousands of users. Will the platform be embraced once it goes public? Maybe. What better way to brag to your "friends" about what you're buying, especially when purchasing is so closely linked to status?

Swipely accounts can be integrated with Facebook and Twitter and other platform features include VIP lists, scoreboards and spending maps. Swipely assures that this platform is secure and safe.

So if you truly feel the need to keep up with the Joneses, Swipely may be perfect for you.