This is a question being posed by Wayne Sutton (@waynesutton) in his quest to purchase a new MacBook Pro.
It all started with a tweet from Wayne as Apple was releasing news on the new MacBooks for this year, a topic that got quite a bit of its own buzz on Twitter:
“Crap still $2000 for basic MacBook Pro I need a bailout make that a bail-in. Better yet 7,000 twitter followers, just $1.00 a follower :)”
Outside of that initial announcement, Wayne also created a page on his blog with information about what he was doing, what his goal was and why he was trying to raise the money. A timeline of 30 days was established with the goal of getting about 1/3 of his total Twitter followers (7,287) to donate $1/each. Also, to spice things up, the person who donates the largest sum will get Wayne’s old MacBook after he purchases the new machine.
It Actually Works, Sort Of
Much to Wayne’s surprise, he actually started seeing some money flow in through his ChipIn widget as a result of his tweets. What’s surprising to me is the amount of buy-in Wayne was able to create with little to no efforts of his own. Here’s what I’m talking about:
“Who is going to help @waynesutton reach $100 on his first day?” from @kbodnar32
“Ok folks… @waynesutton still needs $$ for his new MacBook Pro. Mine will be here any day now & I’m not sharing ;)” from jrmozart
“@waynesutton Interesting idea with the micro-funding. I’m so tempted to donate a lot to get your macbook!” from redaxelrod
“Can twitter be used for micro-funding? Help @WayneSutton get a new macbook to keep his evangelism going” from covati
Although Wayne only has a mere 5% of the amount needed for a new MacBook Pro (his current total sits at $100), this exercise does demonstrate how easy it is to set up a microfunding project like this.
How Could This Concept Apply Elsewhere?
People may not be so willing to fund the purchase of a $2,000 MacBook Pro for someone they have never met (though some obviously are), I can see this having much greater applications in things like fundraising for non-profits or foundations and social movements that users could really rally behind. Just imagine what might happen if Obama was to find a way to accept campaign donations over Twitter.
Rob is one of the founders of Microblink. His interests include how people are using microblogs and the community growing around them.
Mike writes and edits for Microblink day-in and day-out. He is known as the marketing guy and handles most of the microblogging accounts.
Mark writes development-oriented posts as well as news items. He's not afraid to dive headfirst into technical topics for the sake of the team.
I love the idea and think it could really be used for a lot of ideas.
I love the idea too.
Yesterday we launched our company called microfunding which works on many different levels - introducing managers and investors to fund new ideas and turn them into successful businesses. This works on different levels of funding and can be applied to any idea! Have a look at the website if you’re interested. http://www.microfunding.co.uk
@Helena I can appreciate the concept you are launching, with bringing the different groups together to raise funds in ‘micro’ amounts, but the type of microfunding we’re discussing here is more about integrating financing and fundraising with microblogging.
Do you see microblogging having an impact on how investors and/or managers may be sourced to participate in the triangle of idea funding through microFunding Ltd.?
Yes the use of say Twitter or Status updates on Facebook is one of
the many ways we will attract mangers/investors to new deals.
Just imagine having the idea for “a solar powered car made of paper”
you post this on Twitter to over 1000 business analysts who can
immediately evaluate their experience and their contacts and assess if
this is something that has merit and thus can be taken forward or just
binned.
Sites like HelloTxt make contacting a large number of interested
parties viable.
Has anyone got any suggestions how to reach a large number of people
with ideas?
It’s free at the start, to build up numbers. http://www.microfunding.co.uk
@Helena Those tools will indeed be of use to people looking to spread their deals, but how might it play into what microFunding Ltd. is doing at its core?
Also, at what point does using microblogging tools to promote deals looking for investments become bothersome or annoying to followers? I’d say it has the potential to break down networks of friends built up through microblogging because it becomes more about a constant sales pitch instead of genuine conversation.
Any thoughts?
I’m skeptical about the use of microfunding that Wayne is engaging in. It’s true, I’m not going to give my money to someone I don’t know just because they want a shiny new toy. As is the case with anyone who asks for money from me, you had better have a solid reason why I should give you money.
That said, if a charity on Twitter starts using this approach (I can’t find one now as search is down), I could see it being much more successful. Likewise, if Obama got just $5 from half of his Twitter followers, he’d raise over $250,000. I’m not saying the model won’t work - clearly it can if Wayne has already gotten money - I just think the applications for the model need to be justifiable.
If you use microblogging on your networking site that is specifically for that purpose, for example, microfunding has a linkedin and a facebook profile…if I write on the microfunding status ‘microfunding is looking for problems to find a solution to’ - this will invite inventors to look at the problems and people will comment and disguss…then phase two I would post ‘microfunding is looking for a management team to turn our invention into a business’, which would invite comments as the previous would, and perhaps begin a dialogue between potential managers etc, and phase 3 would say ‘microfunding is looking for an investor to fund our proven business’ which would invite comments…this is non intrusive and would only attract comments from people who are interested, otherwise the microblog would be ignored.
Therefore contrary to microblogging breaking down our networks it is much more likely to attract interested parties in a non-intrusive manor….
Although I do know what you men by a constant sales pitch being annoying - noone likes a product dump, or to constantly feel like they are being roped into something - however blogging and microblogging leaves an open forum for discussions that can be entered into if interesting to you, or not if found to be irrelevant…
I think Wayne’s experiment was an interesting foray into microfunding. I do think that it could probably take off more if marketed properly. Wayne should be mentioning progress and incenting people to donate.
However, I do think that the fact that this is a “Help me get a shiny new toy” request, makes it hard to be hitting people up over and over.
I was glad to give a dollar, I get more value than that out of Wayne’s posts. Do you? Have you given your dollar?
@Adam
“I was glad to give a dollar, I get more value than that out of Wayne’s posts. Do you? Have you given your dollar?”
What you’ve said there changed the way I thought about his approach. Your comment made me think that it’s not just about giving money, it’s more about putting value to what you’re getting in return. Wayne’s tweets are generally pretty useful and could be worth a small monetary donation. That really takes the focus off what he’s trying to get and puts it on what he’s giving you.
I thought I was a crowd funded journalist, but who knows, I’d be just as content to be called a microfunded journalist =)
http://twitter.com/MarkMayhew