Money Talks Like Never Before

by mjc746

Nothing sends a message like money, and in the digital age, it’s never been easier to put your money where your mouth is. By simply logging in to Facebook, one can see just how easy it’s become to spend money online, especially tied to some kind of sentiment. In the case of Facebook, that sentiment is the birthday wish. You used to have to run down to the mall to or to a retail location to pick up a gift card or certificate, but as social media is increasingly commercialized, that transaction has become part of the conversation. There’s nothing special about the Facebook birthday wish; it’s commonplace now. But in a few clicks, your wish has been supercharged with $25 bucks in Starbucks cash–or a gift redeemable at dozens of other retailers in spaces such as entertainment, retail, charity, and elsewhere in food & beverage. The wish + gift package can now be completely and conveniently digitized.

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Indeed, in the same way that the Internet has made it so simple for people broadcast their every thought, it has now made it nearly as simple for them to spend their every dollar, just as impulsively—-and not even just for commercial reasons. Need investors? A banner ad might help. Just ask Wikipedia. Anyone who logs on to the site and is feeling a little generous that day can support the wildly popular but financially fledgling nonprofit with the push of a button. I haven’t yet, but I’ve definitely considered it and can easily imagine making a donation eventually.

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Additionally, websites like Kickstarter.com allow creative, entrepreneurial individuals to set up online collection baskets that well-wishing citizens can pledge money to in a show of that most precious form of support–financial. Project creators who meet their fundraising pledge goals keep that money and are on their way.

I might sound flippant right now–and I don’t wish to contend that there’s absolutely something sinister about they way companies have been able to facilitate spending online. In the end, everyone has to make a conscious decision to give or spend. In the context of this blog, then, the takeaway is that as social media and digital collaborative platforms become increasingly commercial or money-minded, it becomes easier to recognize how those two components–social/collaborative and commercial–are becoming increasingly intertwined. It’s a matter of messages and money. That makes sense, as it’s nothing new to contend that the measure of sentimental seriousness is a financial one. What’s new is the form that this contention has now taken–digital–as the social media frontier expands. We broadcast and publish faster, we spend faster, we invent faster, we create faster, we financial pledge support in new ways, and it’s all intertwined. That’s increasingly obvious to me as I study messaging and media more and more closely.