Google is using its Google Moderator product to help people share ideas on how to save money in recessionary times. Moderator is a tool that helps groups determine which questions should be asked at all-hands meetings, conferences, and online Q&A sessions, among other scenarios. Google has set up a site called Tip Jar, which is powered by Moderator, to gathers money-saving tips in one place and allow visitors to vote and rank them in order of usefulness. The most popular tips will rise to the top of the list. And users can submit tips to the lists as well.
Google’s Tip Jar breaks down tips by categories, which include finance, shopping, food, vacation, family and others. A sample of some of the more popular tips include:
- “Go to the grocery store with your belly full. You won’t buy too many things because you just ain’t hungry.”
- “Utilize online bill pay with your bank. It keeps you in much closer contact with your money, as you can keep a very close eye on your balance and be in much less danger of overdrafting. It saves you money on stamps and paper checks.”
- “Buy a flask and carry your coffee/tea to work with you. Coffee and tea only costs pennies to make yourself, but costs $1 or more elsewhere.”
- “Eat out one fewer time each month. If it costs you $25 to eat out, but only $5 to eat in, then the $20 you save each month allows you to almost completely fund a $500 emergency savings account.”
Although Google designed the site to provide tips about saving money, there are many users who are making suggestions on other subjects, such as how to be more environmentally-friendly in everyday tasks. Those tips could easily be an entire separate site, so there is definite potential to create Tip Jars for popular and trendy topics.
Tip Jar is a good example of the power of Moderator. Google Moderator is a fairly useful tool to engage a crowd, whether it be within an organization or across the entire web. Google Moderator even caught the eye of the Obama Administration, which recently used Moderator to power part of its Open Government initiative on Change.gov. Moderator was built by Google Platform Engineer Taliver Heath as a side project on top of Google’s App Engine.
Google TipJar Cartoon – http://www.tips...tipjar-cartoon/
Interesting, but seems like an enhanced commenting system. Can do the same over Twitter. Thousands of questions are asked and answered every day over Twitter.
No community, no stickiness. Overall, Google engineers have too much money and time on their hands. Just an opinion.
comment unrelated to this blog post…
Hey Mike Arrington, can you get rid of that auto-refresh on the techcrunch home page? that is so annoying! I’m reading my way down the page, opening articles in tabs, and participating. When I go back to the home page, you’ve moved me back to the top.
First few times it happened, I left. Annoyed. I heard you left too. Well, I’m back, and it’s not fixed.
Maybe make it a user setting? Sooooo annoying!
I know it helps your numbers, but hurts your readers.
very interesting i was wondering why when i went to bed my pages of tech crunch always seem to changed to a new article being on top
I agree. I do the same. Open stories in a tab and wordering why the main page is after a short time reloading. You could reload when their is a new message. That’s a simple ajax request and that makes sense.
Agree too! Very annoying (and apologies for hijacking this post to make the point)
What kottke does is awesome. This, not so much.
I see alll BS there.This does not need a website and an article covering that. And comments.
We do the same thing with our http://www.dyna...e.com/cogenuity product. People solicit advice by posting a challenge. They sit back and watch the solutions come in. You can also rate the advice. So the wisdom of the crowd will most probably tell you that the most popular advice is usually the best. Why not do an article that features many advice based crowdsourcing products?
Even we have covered TipJar, read http://is.gd/lZHP
how nice that google can take the time to come up with solutions for the betterment of all mankind – unfortunately i can just see this becoming another seo back alley for the blackhatters
Oh dear. That’s bad.
They also use google moderator for ideas for google products – http://producti...eas.appspot.com
I love it. I think it`s a great way to use web 2.0 and I think that this concept will be very big very soon, this tipipedia thing…
yeah the domain name also had me thinking it was something else
Nice concept. Looks like a lot of crap ideas/suggestions to filter through to get a few gems, but it’s not a bad way to spend a little time.
I think the popularity of this service will lie in the fact that it is user-driven. It isn’t a website where the experts put in their two cents and that’s that. It’s a democratic website. Real people voice real concerns that other people most likely have as well. It’s a mutually beneficial service because the experts get their name out, and people get their questions answered.
I like how you put it, a ‘democratic’ website. Filtering through the mess is inherent in any group messaging system but since everyone filters by a different ‘algorithm’, it’s more or less inevitable. Should be cheap to maintain for Google and if organized/structured efficiently you could obtain a loyal group of members that contribute regularly. I’d be checking out the recommendations for new products/services/etc. with a digital security site like This though.
People have to think of themselves.
Interesting… how will they make money off this one? I suppose if you help people save money, maybe they’ll want to spend some of it with you.
Try the best homepage
Its nice initiative by Google, even if a chunk of people follow(in their daily life) the nice posts this initiative can save lots of families getting ruined due to slowdown….I strongly support initiative of Google.