… this is a start, and I think we’ll see more of this in the future. I have been following TechCrunch TC50 and came across this:

The Whuffie bank has opened.

OK so the name might be a little ropey and it might not have the credibility of Coutts & Co, but then we all laughed at “twitter” but that’s come a long way, I think you’ll agree.

The way in which it works is by “banking contribution currency” (something that Vanessa and I have written about before), their algorithms pick up on the effort you put into the web and the effect you are having on web users, in the twitter case, via RT”s etc (facebook is coming). They then award you “currency” which you can exchange for “goods and services”.

Click here to learn more of how the “whuffies” are calculated.

Clearly this are early days and it’s probably not perfect, however, it’s a start, and with over 4,318,791 accounts already opened, who knows where it will go, PayPal started small and look at the size of them now.

Thought I would share this with you.

Regards
N
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Following the news that our Property Tribes forum on the free NING platform has grown 180% in the last three months (according to the Alexa stats), I thought I would also let you know that we have successfully monetised the forum through a sponsorship deal!

Over the last few weeks, we have been approached by several companies and “heavy hitters” in the property arena complimenting us on the forum and the amount of activity on it. Much of the increased membership and activity has been fuelled by posting links to the forum on Twitter.

Through Twitter, we connected with James Davis, the CEO of the lettings marketplace, Upad (www.upad.co.uk). James attended our Twitter Training and netwalk a couple of weeks ago and we used the creative netwalk as a opportunity to brainstorm how upad could get involved with Property Tribes.

Upad have now sponsored Property Tribes on (initially) a two week deal. We always seek to give massive value to our members, so we have come up with a special offer for them. If they purchase a Upad listing, they get another one free! It’s worth noting that Upad also allows you to list individual rooms, as well as houses and apartments, so if you are thinking of letting out a room in your own home, then do check Upad out. The listings are distributed to over 100 property portals and you pay a one-off fee of £59 until your property is let.

We will also be shortly introducing another monetisation of the forum, our new “Tribal Elders” programme. This is a paid membership for leaders of the community, and people who want to show their commitment to property investment and networking – much like BlackStar on ecademy. Membership benefits will include reduced entry fee to our networking events, special exclusive events just for Tribal Elders, bring a guest for free, and spotlighting Tribal Elders at our events and on the forum to give their own businesses enhanced visibility in our network.

If you have a property-related business and would be interested to know how to get involved with the Property Tribes forum, please get in touch.

Our next property/social media/and business networking event is on Sunday 20th September in Guildford. Entry is £10 on the door and parking is free. Please drop me an email at vanessa@4wallsandaceiling.com if you would like to attend and I will send you further details nearer to the time. Or you can register your attendance in the “Events” section of Property Tribes or via ecademy by clicking here.

If you would like to speak to us about monetising social media, please do get in touch or visit www.socialmediagraffiti.com for a list of our training and consultancy services.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank James Davis at Upad for sponsoring the Property Tribes forum, thereby demonstrating that he is a leader and an advocate of others. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesatupad

N

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