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Social Networking and The Gift Economy

August 24th, 2008 · 6 Comments

Today sees Gnomedex attendees heading home and posting re-caps of event highlights. This morning, my buddy Dave Delaney summed up his Gnomedex experience by quoting Beth Kanter:

“Use technology for good and it will make you feel good.”

In case you missed it, Beth enlisted the audience at Gnomedex to demonstrate the power of social networking for non-profits by raising more than $2,500 in 90 minutes to send a Cambodian woman to university. Beth has illustrated on numerous occasions how individuals can make a difference using the reach of their social networks.

I am heartened to see more and more people using technology, specifically social networking and social media, to give. But giving is not confined to money, it can be help, expertise, advice or anything else that provides value to the recipient.

And so, I was excited to receive an invitation to preview Akoha this Thursday at an event here in Montreal. Co-founders Austin Hill and Alex Eberts started Akoha last year after attending the TED conference in Monterey, CA where the theme was “Ideas Big Enough to Change The World”. After co-founding Zero-Knowledge Systems (now Radialpoint), they’ve teamed up again to make a difference by pairing gift economies with the social nature of gaming.

Working in stealth mode with a small team for the better part of a year, Akoha received $1.9 million in angel funding last April and were named one of Canada’s 20 hottest innovative companies. Despite having a Facebook fan page and the the absolute BEST job descriptions, (like these for a Community Gardener and a Professional Vandal) complete with entertaining videos, Akoha has created buzz, yet very little is publicly known about how they intend to execute their plan to change the world.

Tara Hunt (a.k.a. @missrogue), co-founder of Citizen Agency and author of the forthcoming book “The Whuffie Factor”, interviewed Austin Hill about Akoha last December. In his own words,

“Akoha is based off Aboriginal gift economies and it’s a pay it foward giving game whereby you earn points based off how well you give to other people. So aside from the functional, this is a social network.”

The rest of the 6 minute interview is here:

I am looking forward to meeting Austin Hill and the rest of the Akoha team on Thursday evening to discover what will hopefully be a new way to use technology to truly make a difference in people’s lives.

One thing I’m interested to discover is if Akoha has plans for a businesses application. Many companies have corporate giving programs, but think of the difference an enterprise-sized solution could make by simply making it fun for their network of employees to give. I wonder if Akoha will be the one to make giving part of the social culture of work. Wouldn’t that be an amazing way to change the world?

Here are some more thoughts on that:

I’d love to hear what role you think businesses who are using social networking for marketing will play in the gift economy.

Tags: Social Media

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Keith Burtis // Aug 24, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    I really connect with this video. Thank you for sharing it. In the last year with my involvement in social media I have found a place to not only express myself but a place to give freely of my skills, brains, creativity and talents.

    At one point he says in the video that generosity and giving is something that people have. I cant honestly explain what that thing is that people have, but without trying to sound vein,I seem to have it.

    I have read articles about local artists in my area that are constantly being called upon to give to charity A and charity B. This makes it really, really hard for an artist to make a living giving away all that they do. The amount given never seems to add up in sales or even in getting their name out. To most people it just becomes another donated piece of art.

    However, I have found the opposite for me. I give frequently, and I give when the inspiration strikes. To me it’s not about giving, just to give, but rather to put behind the giving a true sense of love. When that love is imparted I see no way in which anyone can come out a loser. When Dave Delaney was going through a rough patch Inspiration struck me to help him. When Dave Fleet need to raise funds for his Boston Marathon Cancer Research project, I jumped in.

    Now this is honestly not about me, it’s not about the getting back, but somehow my life has become richer due to these acts. It’s not a richness in wealth, fame or any of the things many people would attribute rich too. It’s something un-named, maybe it’s Karma, maybe it’s something else, but giving it a name always seems to make it come along with baggage attached.

    I like to give. It makes me feel good. I feel that the world, my parents, my siblings and my friends have all been good to me. Why not give back not only “When you can” but “When Inspiration Strikes!”

    Thank you for this wonderful video, and I must now meet Mr. Austin Hill. Unfortunately my yearly travel budget is blown and wont be attending Podcamp Montreal, but maybe we can get him out to Podcamp Toronto next year :)

    Thanks Again — Keith Burtis

  • 2 Austin Hill // Aug 25, 2008 at 11:32 am

    Hi Adele,

    Thanks for the great post. We can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on with you.

    @Keith - I’m looking forward to meeting you one of these days as well. Hopefully on my next trip to Toronto.

  • 3 Tim (@Twalk Walker) // Aug 25, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    Interesting stuff, Adele. This is off the cuff, but I think that gift economics are a natural fit for social networks: both of them rely on interaction and tend toward transformational, not just transactional, interplay. And from a mercenary standpoint, gift economics stands to increase the stickiness of social networking apps. (Just look at all the activity on Facebook around the gifts you can give.)

  • 4 Beth Kanter // Aug 25, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    Thanks for this - I’m working on a meta summary - not only does it make you feel good, but brings good traffic
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/2797981823/

  • 5 Shhhh! Sworn to Secrecy // Sep 5, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    [...] ← Social Networking and The Gift Economy [...]

  • 6 Geeks competing to do good | The Woohoo! Report // Nov 20, 2008 at 7:50 am

    [...] Social Networking and The Gift Economy [...]

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