TheWhuffieBank.org - A New Social Currency

How can we measure the reputation of someone on the social web? Based on the number of followers the person has? Based on the influence he exerts when it comes to spreading content? The discussion would be endless, and people are bound to try and come up with systems for measuring that, or at least providing the online community as a whole with a sort of framework for discussion. And that is exactly what the team behind The Whuffie Bank have done. In essence, it is a sort of virtual currency that showcases those who do good to others socially. These individuals are the richest on the site, and this reputation-based currency will eventually be redeemable for prizes both in the physical world and online.

A Whuffie value is arrived at by taking into account your interactions within the social networks of your choice along with the feedback that originates from your contacts. By tracking these two sources the definitive Whuffie value of any individual is obtained.

So, how do you think you will fare? Do you have what it takes to hit the Top 10 list that is displayed on the site? Check it out and see whether you stand upright or fall straight on your face.

“The Whuffie Bank is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a new currency based on reputation that could be redeemed for real and virtual products and services. The higher your reputation, the wealthier you are.
It’s in the same spirit of Creative Commons, an organization that’s changing the contract between our ideas and us; we want to build an open organization that aims to measure and enable the exchange of online reputation.”

It is an interesting way to weigh up how popular one is on the social web. It won’t necessarily work out, but it is a nice initiative.

In theory, what kind of items will you be able to trade your Whuffies for in the real world?