Bye Bye, Blippy: 'Twitter For Credit Cards' Shuts Down Service

How would you like to share each of your purchases on Twitter?

As it turns out, most users wouldn't.

Deemed the "Twitter for credit cards," Blippy, a startup backed by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, offered users a way to broadcast each credit card swipe on Twitter as a way of making shopping more social.

The company was worth an estimated $46.2 million in April 2010 , but TechCrunch reports that Blippy's shopping sharing service, which never really caught on, is being shut down.

In 2010, Blippy struggled with a privacy blip that exposed users' credit cards on Google.

The company--and the name "Blippy"--will live on as it attempts to create new, more desirable social ecommerce services, Kumar told TechCrunch.

Will you miss Blippy? What do you think of the idea? Weigh in below.

Comments

[YoureSoShain]

03:30 PM on 05/23/2011

What a dumb idea. As if my Twitter stream isn't polluted enough by FourSquare check ins at 7-11s. Why would anyone care where someone else is shopping without any context?

[DRaymond]

10:52 AM on 05/22/2011

I think I am going to make a new principle of the universe:

There is no idea so bad that somebody isn't going to think it is worth trying.

I call it the Blippy Principle.

[hswanson2]

10:03 PM on 05/22/2011

I second that and I just bought condoms at Walmart I am sure my mom wants to read that on my Blippy feed.

[twninja]

02:19 PM on 05/21/2011

I propose PeePee, so we can make our bathroom break more social!

[CaroleK1970]

10:17 AM on 05/21/2011

i find this facebook/twitter as dumb as this

[KarmaOfDove]

10:10 PM on 05/20/2011

This was the dumbest idea around. I wish F...Company was still around.

[littlebrowngirl]

09:33 PM on 05/20/2011

Dumb idea. Shocked anyone thought it was ever good.

[EricBishop]

08:11 PM on 05/20/2011

This was a horrible idea from the start. The people who tried to start it should have their heads examined.

[bigkendallas]

05:39 PM on 05/20/2011

I can't say that I'm surprised.

Just think of the idea:
The purchases you make are then shared with other people in order to make purchasing ...social ? Not sure how that was supposed to ever catch on. And if it did, the result would be little more than each member getting a ton of SPAM in their message inboxes.

The very idea is somewhat silly to begin with.

Alot of people have Facebook to have an online presence, and a good way to get info out is Twitter.....thats about as far as most social networking goes.

Here are a few tips for sitemakers:

1. Make, sell, or do something. Google is useful as a search engine, Amazon sells items, CNN.com gives news. "Sharing" and "connecting" isn't really doing anything, and can easily go out of style...remember MySpace anyone ?

2. Accesorize your site with useful functions. Gmail and Google Docs, can be easily accessed from Google's page. You may not be big as them, but you can utilise easy compatibility with these pages.

3. Better research. Blippy was, frankly, just a bad idea. It appears they apparently did no actual market research.

4. Make sure that there is a clear method to bring money in. Servers, bandwith, and site maintenance has to be paid for - there should at least be a plan to get to cash flowing in.

The internet has revolutionalized alot of things - but a little old school common sense still is usefull too.

[PathofTotality]

01:22 PM on 05/20/2011

Never heard of it until this moment and will forget it just as quick.

[bryanzth]

12:42 PM on 05/20/2011

Blippy, sounds like the Bing panel I scrolled past to get here. ;0)

BZ.

[arcanepsyche]

12:20 PM on 05/20/2011

What a dumb idea. Who wants to broadcast every purchase they make except the super-rich and self absorbed?

[Jack Daniels Esq]

12:51 PM on 05/20/2011

I am crushed

[saunieindiego]

06:24 PM on 05/20/2011

Why, were you a blippy user too?

[onlyahumanshell]

11:36 AM on 05/20/2011

Honestly, it feels as if the "new bubble" is bursting already. Not sure if it is because Facebook is being grilled in the Senate, but I have a feeling that when Facebook begins to lose its popularity, or U. S. regulator come down hard on Facebook, that's when we will see the end of the "internet bubble" for at least a few years. No, I don't need to share my credit card purchases nor should other people have to. This is borderline fraudulent and I'm glad this project did not succeed.

[ikoniqueOS]

11:08 AM on 05/20/2011

Something is terribly wrong with the tech industry when a company can fail but not close, instead just look for another opportunity.

Sounds a lot more gambling to me.

[PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS]

10:55 AM on 05/20/2011

Darn! Now I am gonna have to find another site to make it easier for hackers to hack into my credit card info!!!

[jaredbrain]

09:25 AM on 05/20/2011

So a company that no one liked or used was still worth 40 million dollars...yeah the social networking bubble is about to pop and it's going to be messy.

[Matt Raven]

10:51 AM on 05/20/2011

The new breed of Networking Moguls have obviously never studied the .Com bubble. I hope they are ready to lose it all.....

[jaredbrain]

11:00 AM on 05/20/2011

It's strange, the .com bubble just happened a few years ago. People accept the cycle of boom and bust and try to get rich during the booms, and deal with the busts later hoping they made enough to have some left over. This cycle of grow and crash is inherent to the economic cycle, but we make it so much worse doing things like this.

[Loxinabox]

11:54 AM on 05/20/2011

Why would Obama think he had the right to even commit on what other countries do? He has run America into a huge whole to the point where the whole world is laughing at him. Yet he thinks he has the right to even comment let alone suggest what others should do? Wow Obama passed Jimmy Carter long ago as the worst president in America history and he just keeps on building on his lead! I wonder if Libya would consider trading leaders with us?