When, on Christmas Eve 2009, this credit card news blog reported on the launch of Blippy (Credit Cards And Lifestyle – Now You Can Reveal All About Yours), your correspondent was nonplussed:

“Want your Mom to know how much you squandered in a “gentlemen’s” club last night? Want your husband to know you just booked a motel room? Want your wife to know you’re charging $500 in Victoria’s Secret? Want your friends to know what your booze bill is?

Well, not all of those scenarios are a reality quite yet, but you could share with your family, your friends, and the world many details of your credit card use if you sign up for a new service called Blippy.”

Credit card news unleashed

Even in a world where many seem happy to expose the minutiae of their lives on Facebook and Twitter, the idea of a service devoted to bringing news of individual credit card purchases to a global audience seemed odd, at least to this blogger. Others disagreed, including the investors who put up nearly $13 million to fund the operation, and whoever at one point valued the business at $46.2 million.

In the wake of unwelcome publicity last year, when it was revealed that a few users’ credit card numbers somehow briefly leaked into Google caches, the company tried a new tack. It provided a forum for users to contribute reviews of goods and services. Blippy CEO Ashvin Kumar was remarkably candid when he spoke to a TechCrunch reporter on Wednesday, saying the review service was introduced to increase user engagement, but the effort was so far unsuccessful.

Credit cards should be personal

Sharing details of your credit cards and lifestyle online can be dangerous. Big organizations are often hungry for information about those with whom they’re thinking of engaging. Earlier this month, The Seattle Times quoted a report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling that said 25 percent of colleges now employ Facebook or search engines as “sources of additional information for critical decision making.” And, in an article headlined “Social media can wreck your career”, this month’s Hawaii Business says:

“It’s becoming more common for employers and HR professionals to conduct online background checks on potential hires before making a job offer.”

Credit reports an issue too

At a time when employers increasingly access applicants’ credit reports in advance of job offers (see Credit report inaccuracies can ruin your life), as well as trawling social media sites for lifestyle information, it seems crazy to volunteer further background details online. For most, the loss of Blippy’s credit card service was no loss at all.

Published 05/26/11