Ashvin Kumar, CEO of Blippy says that he created Blippy because people love to share. Kumar says that he would share more often but he admitted he is flat-out lazy and that active sharing does not suit his personality.

Active vs. Passive Sharing

Active sharing requires the user to make a decision to share. They must physically open an application and check in to a location, set a status, upload a picture etc. This leaves holes in the overall experience, but also allows people to protect moments that they do not want to share like the trip Forbidden Fruit or visiting grandma’s house. Active sharing takes time and effort and, some might say “thankfully”, leaves holes in the story.Passive sharing happens on an event. In the example of Blippy, whenever you make a purchase on iTunes, eBay or even with your credit card, the purchase is shared. Graham Nelson revealed today that he bought the BMW of strollers for @twinliving via Blippy.

Graham won an auction and Blippy let us all know. He did not have to go to twitter, login and type HEEEY!!! LOOK WHAT I WON! Blippy took care of everything. It is fun to see what people are spending and it would be cool if this sort of technology could be integrated into sales automation tools, marketing automation tools and expense forms. Blippy-type technology could also be extended to things like medical records, web activity, blog activity, library checkouts and checkins and even your email. It could also be hooked up to devices that people use.

For instance an exercise bike could share the number of miles a person rides, time spent on the machine, calories burned or changes in their heart rate. A person’s vehicle could share speeds, fluid levels, oil change reminders etc. What about security cameras or web cams?There are all sorts of cool ways to mash this data up, but I think that’s a separate post. What about looking at macro level passive streams?

Michelle Feldman shares information on a recent run

Micro vs. Macro

Micro or personal streams are really interesting, but what about looking at activity streams from a public or macro perspective? That is when things start to really get interesting. What if public transportation activity streams were freely available? In Boston, they are. The MBTA decided to make bus, subway and commuter rail whereabouts data public when they became mired in trying to figure out how to economically produce installations, phone numbers or applications.

The result is a series of applications that make it possible for people to track problems with public transportation. So one forward thinking (or desperate) government organization is leading the way for passive sharing of macro level activity. And in reality this is late. Public transportation in the US is largely government owned and supported by tax dollars so it makes sense to have the data readily available, right?

Given that, how about public office spending as a stream? I would follow everyone from selectmen to senators to get an understanding for how they are spending our tax dollars. Political campaign spending would be fascinating. I could see it either becoming more discretionary or even more lavish as candidates would be exposing their moves to the public [including paying teams to analyze the others' data.]

How about payroll? Public payroll for teachers, public officials, police, firefighters and the like would be another interesting stream that would let us know if public people are being properly compensated and if they are getting raises.

What are some useful passive streams that you would like to see?
energy consumption? Maybe taxi and airplane whereabouts? Let’s get a discussion going.