QotW4: Multiply

Gift Economy
A gift economy is an economic system founded on giving, whereby status is accorded to the biggest giver (Pinchot, 1995). Contrary to a market economy where wealth is increased by hoarding, wealth in a gift economy increases by giving (Pollard, 2005).

Generally, the gift economy is as hunter-gatherer societies. The hunter's status was not determined by how much of the kill he ate, but rather by what he brought back for others. (Pinchot, 1995)

On the other hand, this information age of ours brings forth the concept of the gift economy most aptly. Most of the internet thrives on gift economies. Contribution through "gifts" is what has made the internet flourish. These "gifts" include stories, blogs, conversations, insights, ideas, teaching, counsel, all of which fall under the broad term of "information". This very much composes our information age; the "giving" of all the information. Although a certain form of reciprocity is involved in this system, the amazing factor is that individuals still volunteer valuable information in spite of the relative or absolute anonymity of the recipient, whereby the giver cannot be certain that the gift would be balanced (Kollock, 1999). Nonetheless, the key to the success of the gift economy is a constant flow of giving and giving.



Multiply
As for me and the internet, I have a social network formed through Multiply. In contrast to the wide access that forums and the like provide, Multiply gives exclusivity to whomsoever you deem fit to receive your information. Multiply provides an easy way to set up your own personal web site whereby you can share all kinds of digital media, including photos, blogs, videos, music and more, all in one convenient place (About Multiply, 2007). Similar to an RSS feed, Multiply even updates you whenever something new is posted up. The clincher of Multiply is its ability to sort your social network from your contacts, to those which are related to your contacts either in a close or distant way - family member to colleague. You are allowed to choose whom to "give" to, and whom to "take" from.

In some aspects, Multiply is a gift economy because ultimately you give information on the site. Digital information is indivisible in that one person's consumption of the good does not reduce the amount available to another (Kollock, 1999). In turn, your network gives back information, either in response to your work, or through works of their own.

The interesting thing about Multiply is that it somehow boosts the gift economy for the customer. Multiply keeps track of whomever's site you visit and the site owner is notified of the viewer ship. In such a case, the irony is that the giving is as the taking. For example, when you post on your blog in Multiply, the motivation of your posting is for the receiving of the information by someone else. As someone else takes the information by viewing it, he gives as well, simply by viewing. In turn, you reciprocate by viewing his site, and this is how it works. It keeps the flow of viewer ship by the social networks. As such, Multiply appeals to people because it is an epitome of reciprocity. You give to receive.

In other aspects, Multiply limits the gift economy by providing exclusivity to the member to choose whom he wants to give to. I find this interesting as well, because Multiply wants to allow the member the option of either the market economy of explicit reciprocation or the gift economy which functions through implicit reciprocation.

This just goes to show how as people, we will go through lengths just to give ourselves the opportunity of choice. Even in the internet of "giving", we want to "give" to everyone, and yet we want to choose whom we can "give" to. Is this how we protect ourselves to ensure we receive no matter what? Because in the "giving", eventually what we want is the "taking". Perhaps this is how Multiply accommodates to our needs as people.


Conclusion
The internet is truly revolutionary in providing us limitless information. I believe the gift economy in the world wide web is how we maintain our individuality to be able to "give" as an individual. The internet provides a channel for the average person to "give" knowledge and is certainly beneficial to society.



References

About Multiply. (2007). Multiply, Inc. Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://multiply.com/info/about

Kollock, P. (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation. University of California, Los Angeles. Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Pinchot, G. (1995). The Gift Economy. In Context. Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

Pollard, D. (2005). The Gift Economy. How to Save the World. Retrieved February 9, 2007, from http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/04/17.html#a1114