Social Micropayments

...Show how much you ”like” with a cash donation...

Flattr, Rewrd and Kachingle are all social micropayment startups that allow people to demonstrate how much they like a website or content by making a small donation to that site or content provider by pressing a donate button. Those who wish receive peer-to-peer donations, sign up for the service and place one or more donation buttons on the sites.

People who wish to donate place a certain amount of money in their donation accounts each month via a credit/debit transaction or Paypal. At the end of a month, that money is divided equally among the web sites or content providers that a person “liked” during that month. More recently, rather than equal apportionment, a user could decide to donate a specific amount ranging from 2 to 50 Euros to a site or specific content.

There is a Flattr app that enables smart phone users scan a QR code off-line. The code is tied to a Flattr account, making it convenient for users to submit and Flattr content via a mobile device.

Sites charge a percentage of each donation to cover costs; provides an opportunity for casual commerce -- to donate for "likes" while creating a small revenue stream for digital content providers.

In another version, PayPal offers support for micropayments to merchants for US to US, GB to GB, AU to AU, and EU to EU transactions for Business and Premier accounts. This feature is offered at a special rate of 5% + $0.05 per transaction. I've seen several Silicon Valley blogs with a "Donate" Button.

Bling Nation Gets Friendly

...mobile payments connecting users to merchants using social media...well, this is the year of mobile payment systems..

Startup Bling Nation, a close partner of Paypal, is set to roll out its payment system in the U.S. sometime this year. Bling Nation’s method is to pair RFID-enabled stickers with a back-end system that charges purchases to credit cards (via PayPal) and sends text-message receipts to cellphones. This requires that the mobile phone have a Bling Tag affixed to it and that the user have a Paypal account which can then link to a major debit or credit card account.

While the current current system relies on business owners obtaining BlingTags and distributing them to customers, (which Bling Nation distribute freely to the merchants), Bling Nation is negotiating with handset manufacturers to incorporate the technology into the handset (and perhaps a Facebook phone if you’re into rumors?).

Bling Nation’s biggest online alliance is Facebook which will enable Facebook to observe the location and spending habits of Bling Nation users and takes the credit/debit card company out of the loop. As Facebook fans, Bling Nation users will be enticed to do many friendly things.