Summary: Today on the small WORLD we'll talk with Tara Hunt, the author of The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business. Unless you've read Cory Doctorow's novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, then you have no idea what Whuffie is. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom takes place in a post-scarcity world: energy is not just cheap, it's free, and all the necessities of life are also free for the taking. In the novel, Cory imagines that will all our basic needs met that a reputation-based currency emerges, and your worth as person is not measured by money or possessions but how valuable you are to society. Your value could be measured by how nice you are or if you are helpful to other people. Your value might also be determined on how much of a team player you are or how much of a team leader you might be. Each person's value goes up and down and that value can be tracked through their Whuffie, which is a general measurement of their overall reputation. Right about the same time I was reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom I was also re-reading Bruce Sterling's novel, Distraction. Hey, some people will watch movies or television shows repeatedly, I read books I like repeatedly. Any, while Distraction is similar to Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom in that there is also a reputation-based economy Distraction is different in that Bruce imagines a world where the US economy is in the toilet. nearly everyone in the country is broke and once again a reputation-based currency emerges. Like a lot of people, I wanted to see a world where something like Whuffie could exist. The thing is, we've always lived in a reputation-based economy in one way or another. The only difference is now we're using tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to express the values of authenticity, trust and engagement, not just in business but in our community, both in the physical world and the online world. And Tara Hunt explores these ideas n her book, The Whuffie Factor. To quote Tom Kelley, co founder of IDEO and author of The Ten Faces of Innovation, "Social capital may be the most powerful currency of the twenty-first century, and this book is a guide to its care and feeding. Bursting with energy and enthusiasm, Tara Hunt shows us how to win friends and influence people in a Web 2.0 world." Speaking of social networks, you can find me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/smallworld. We're going to close out today's show with a track by MC Lars and YTCracker called "Facebook," which is perfect for today's show.
