Do you have $50? Do you trust strangers with it? Do you like paying for evanescent access to a service you may never use? Then App.net IHave50Dollars.com is the site for you. Not everyone has $50 they’re willing to push down a rat-hole in hopes of access to a social media service based on a promise by a man with a proven track record in being compellingly earnest on camera, but if you do, this may be your lucky day.
IHave50Dollars is a parody site, obviously (there’s an Easter Egg at the end) but it does offer a fairly poignant criticism of the bandwagon mentality in the Valley. Arguably, I paid my $50 just to see what will happen, but one of the benefits of Facebook and Twitter is that they’re accessible to all and hold few visible, external grandiose visions of a $50-based social utopia. While Biz and Ev saw their service as the pulse of the world, the average user sees it as a place to describe their kitten’s bowel movement.
But remember that some real luminaries supported the cause. Marco Arment notes that “Like all of the other smart people (who have $50), I backed IHave50Dollars.com” and Scoble opines (not really) “You know, for $50, what’s another username?” With guys like that on your side, who can be against you?