Tipit, a startup that lets users tip website owners for their content, has launched integration with Twitter. Users can now ‘Tweet’ their tips to websites and Twitter users, even those without an account. There isn’t any kind of installation required: users simply tweet a message in the format “d tipit TARGET AMOUNT MESSAGE” (ex: “‘d tipit @Techcrunch 50″). Recipients can then collect the tips they’ve accumulated from the Tipit site, provided they know to go there in the first place.
Unfortunately, sending a Tipit message doesn’t actually transfer any funds. Instead, it sends you an email message telling you to pony up your money through PayPal, which is then directed towards the intended recipient. According to the company, over 70% of tippers wind up making good on their tips, but it’s unlikely these numbers will hold up if the service starts seeing heavy use.
The prospect of transferring funds over Twitter seems to be gaining some traction (surprising given the service’s remarkably poor reliably record). Last week Nate Westheimer described Twitter’s potential role as a micropayment system, explaining that Twitter’s many users are already used to the “machine language” that is required for mobile micropayments. He’s probably wrong about the need for such an archaic command system, but he does have a point - Twitter is big, and it is mobile. Tipit.to isn’t going to become a ubiquitous payment system by any means, but it’s a step in that direction.
Another startup in the tipping space is TipJoy, which we introduced last February.
I’m glad more players are coming into the field to give ol’ mighty paypal a run!
Next time I get shitty service in a restaurant I’ll hold up the whale sign when i’s time to pay the bill / tip.
Great service. I can imagine using this if somebody helps me out on Twitter with a good comment or suggestion, which I see happening more frequently in the last few months.
Can I get a tip for my comment ? Come on, it’s night service…
Maybe we can all tip Twitter themselves every now and again?
@Jonathan I think they just received an 8M tip. now let’s wait till they get the service right before we spoil the kid.
funky
although might not work when twitter is down…. another source of LS (LifeSux) stories : was waiting for 10 USD to pay the cab but twitter was down … ended up with a 30 USDbill .. LS 
http://lifesuxdaily.com
I think the fact that a tip doesn’t transfer money, but is only a promise to do so, is genius, and part of why their system might work. It is not paying someone, it’s promising to tip/pay someone. Promising is easier than actually paying, but once you have a few outstanding promises, you will be more willing to actually pay up.
Besides, there (still) is no good way of doing micropayments, and their system nicely works around it by agegating them. And since it’s not payments, but tips, there is less need for a 100% success rate.
It nicely works around the process of not opening an account and putting money in, untill you have made some tips, by making them less manditory.
When can I get my bank balance over twitter? And maybe some drug prescriptions. And insurance payouts. Can I pay my mortgage over twitter yet? Can I submit my taxes via twitter? Most likely they’ll send you your refund over twitter also.
This is dumb. Not only are they not transferring money, but they send you a message to tell you send the money via a third-party? So this is no different than just sending someone an email directly telling them to pick up money at paypal — oh wait, paypal already does that.
It’s the new middle man! I have a new platform that emails you to tell you to twitter to send someone money that emails you to remind you to use paypal. I also have a facebook app front end to *that*! And a desktop widget that interfaces with the facebook app. Next month, you’ll be able to access the desktop widget via SMS, just as soon as our outsourced programmers finish working on it.
Damn, it’s good to be a pimp. The johns can twitter money to my hoes, and I can collect from the hoes via twitter without even leaving my couch. Gas is expensive these days, and the pink caddy ain’t a sippin’ ride.
I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for this twitter today.
It’s very interesting idea to use Twitter for such things… I’m still trying to use it, but as I can see, I’m far way from this new times…
OK, this is an interesting new aspect of Tipit and there are a few possibilities with this. It’ll be intriguing to witness how this feature develops.
I don’t know what happened I click on the link but I somehow got this site - http://skitch.com/ -but that app is pretty cool…
I was watching the video on the site… pretty cool app… Anyway I found my way back to TipIt and the problem with this, or sites like this… is I need my own account… so I can put money in that account - let’s say $5 dollars…
Then when I’m surfing the net and I land on TechCrunch for Example, I will see a green button in the top right that I can click on to give a donation to the site.
It will ask me how much do you want to donate… $1.. $5 bucks ..whatever I click on it and then - I see donation made / Remaining balance for my account… and that’s it I’m done.
When it becomes that nice and simple, that’s when I’ll start giving money to sites.
TC must be worth $1 billion theoretical dollars….why the heck should i tip websites? aren’t they all getting sick valuations even though there is no plan to generate revenue.
phase1 - build site
phase2 - ?
phase3 - profit
Hey guys thanks for the comments. Keep them coming, we like to hear what you think.
@Crazyglues: This is in fact already possible. You can put $5 in your wallet and use our bookmarklet to tip any site you like. Your tips will be paid off directly with the money in your wallet. Simple enough?
I don’t understand twitter, which explains why I have no idea why you would want to use this.
So they must 1099 the websites at the end of the year? But I guess if they operate out of the country then I guess not? How can I even trust these guys to give the money to the people I’m tipping.
“Hey did you get my $2 tip” … “uhh no, I haven’t gotten any of those tips”
Design looks elementary and apparently the biggest tipper is the owner of the company. Sounds like a great business plan, give away your money not because you like the content but to build your business.
@Everett The article clearly states: “Unfortunately, sending a Tipit message doesn’t actually transfer any funds. Instead, it sends you an email message telling you to pony up your money through PayPal, which is then directed towards the intended recipient.”
So no, TipiT is not giving a PayPal a run for its money… maybe its feature-set but this is already possible via Skype and SMS.
Google has a patent in this area.
http://telephonyonline.com/sof.....nt_090407/
There is a facebook application that does this, but much smoother.
http://fliff.tv
“He’s probably wrong about the need for such an archaic command system…”
Not sure what you mean here. TipIt adds more syntax. You’re going to have syntax no matter.
What I proposed (p innonate $5) is the simplest you can get.
Not to be confused with the real Tippit, http://www.tippit.com
Mobile-based payments aren’t new. We’ve had this in the Philippines since 2001 through SMART Money.
See http://smart.com.ph/money/moneytransfer.htm
@ Alper
ok sounds cool then…
I’ll check it out then, didn’t know you had a wallet system in place, because when I looked at it, it was saying something about they will send a Paypal for you to pay later… but if it has a wallet ok, then that’s cool, I’ll look at it again.
A great way to get some traffic. Tip a few cents and your url will be listed on TipIt. It will stay longer if not many tipping.