The Whuffie Bank is launching the Whuffie, a new currency that rewards people for their positive contributions on the internet. Consider it an alternative currency, like the ones we discussed in our previous article.

Your Whuffie balance is calculated by tracking your online activity on websites like Twitter and Facebook and analyzing your contacts and feedback.

The more positive contributions you make to these social networks, the more Whuffies you receive. Conversely, if you do things that the Whuffie Bank considers detrimental to the Internet, Whuffies may be subtracted from your balance.

Future
Besides being a measure of one’s online reputation, the Whuffie has the ambition to become a proper currency. In the future, Whuffies can be used to pay for services. Say you need someone to help you out with a technical problem, or you want someone to design a new logo, you can compensate them with Whuffies. Perhaps one day you’ll even be able to buy a new t-shirt with Whuffies.

Of course, the success of any new currency depends on whether its value is widely accepted. In that sense, the Whuffie is a daring but certainly interesting concept. In a web 2.0 world of Tweeters, Wikipedia editors and eBay sellers, reputation is everything.

Source: TechCrunch.com