Micropayments: Where charity and social networks meet - BusinessWeek

Micropayments for microbloggers—it sounds like a no-brainer. In a community based on real-time content, social causes, and brand awareness, users will want to execute real-time transactions with the same enthusiasm with which they tweet about their favorite daily activities.

So goes the thinking behind a host of startups that aim to help users of microblogging site Twitter make payments and carry out online transactions as conveniently as appending 140-character updates to their profile pages. "It's about making a statement in the stream and telling everyone what you stand for," says Michael Ivey, chief executive of one such site, Twitpay, which lets Twitter users make online donations and pay for downloadable content. "When you donate to a charity or cause, you're making it public. Look at it as payments attached to our intentions and aspirations..."