Twitter Currency: Paying For Items With Tweets Sounds Good To Me!

Sometimes it feels like social media is taking over the world. Is it the very beginnings of the augmented reality future we’ll all supposedly be living in one day? How far will it all go? For example, I think it would be fun to pay for things with Twitter currency, don’t you? We all know how important social media influence is (although some of the sites that measure it are skewed). In the future world, the people with the most social media influence could be the most wealthy people on the planet. It could be a form of universal money. Although that will most likely never happen, it’s fun to see that people are using Twitter currency as a creative marketing strategy.

I saw some people on Twitter talking about how Burger King in Mexico ran a promotion where you could buy a hot dog for a tweet. Yup, instead of paying with pesos, the customers paid with their Twitter currency. I couldn’t find anything online in English about it, but supposedly Burger King was trending within a few hours (obviously the tweet had a specific hashtag required).

A few months ago I also wrote about a vending machine that gave out free cans of iced tea in exchange for a tweet. You can read about that on A Twitter Economy: Pay For Tea With Tweets. So, as silly as this all my sound to you, it’s not a new idea. This example below is another one that’s been all over the Internet the past few days. It’s about a Tweet Shop in London setup by the brand Kellogg’s. It’s the first time an actual store has been set up to accept Twitter currency. The original idea seems to be evolving.

Now people can buy a bag of Special K Cracker Chips with their tweet. They have three tweets to choose from, and once the person sends it, they get their bag of chips. I know what you are thinking, and yes, they could delete the tweet, but that’s not the point. The point is there is definitely a monetary value to your social media accounts whether you realize it or not. What are the effects of this form of creative Twitter advertising? You can zip over to Twitter search and put in the hashtag #tweetshop to see for yourself. I especially like this tweet I spotted in the mix:

Unfortunately, this Tweet Shop in London closes its doors at the end of the day today. So if you are in central London, head on over to Meard Street and be a part of Twitter currency history. Hopefully Kellogg’s will publish a report about it when it’s all over. I can’t wait to see what brand tries this next. I’m sure some brands are already trying to figure out how to take this idea and make it even better. You can read more about this Tweet Shop on The Next Web, Creative Boom or All Twitter. I wonder what I could buy for two tweets, a pin, a Facebook like and a Google+ update. Hmm…We could all become social media currency whores in about two seconds with this concept.