Reputation Economics: Why Who You Know Is Worth More Than What You Have

by Joshua Klein

Overview

As the internet has increasingly become more social, the value of individual reputations has risen, and a new currency based on reputation has been created. This means that not only are companies tracking what an individual is tweeting and what sites they spend the most time on, but they're using this knowledge to predict the consumer's future behavior. And a world in which Target knows that a woman is pregnant before she does, or where a person gets a job (or loses one) based on his high school hijinx is a scary one indeed. Joshua Klein's Reputation Economics asks these crucial questions: But what if there were a way to harness the power of these new technologies to empower the individual and entrepreneur? What if it turned out that David was actually better suited to navigate this new realm of reputation than Goliath? And what if he ushered in a new age of business in which reputation, rather than money, was the strongest currency of all? This is all currently happening online already.

Welcome to the age of Reputation Economics:

-Where Avis is currently discounting car rentals based on Twitter followers

-Where Carnival Cruise Lines are offering free upgrades based on a Klout score

-Where Amazon and Microsoft are a short way away from dynamically pricing their goods based on a consumer's reach and reputation online

-Where Klout scores are being used to vet job applications

The value of individual reputation is already radically changing the way business is done.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137278623
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/05/2013
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Joshua Klein is an internationally known technology expert who studies systems, from computer networks and institutions to consumer hardware. He is the author of Reputation Economics. His recent projects have included an acclaimed new television series on the history of innovation on the National Geographic Channel, called The Link, one of the most watched TED videos of all time (about a vending machine that trains crows to exchange found coins for peanuts) and the development of a cell phone application to create a virtuous cycle of education and employment in South Africa. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, O Magazine, and The Harvard Business Review. He has made appearances on MSNBC, NPR, and has spoken at conferences from TED to Davos, and presented in front of organizations ranging from the State Department to the Young Presidents Organization Global Leadership Congress, to Microsoft to Amazon. To find out more about Josh, his books, or his upcoming projects, you can visit his websites. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

1 What Is Your Mother Worth? 1

2 A Short History of Money 21

3 The Fractionation of Currency 39

4 The Rise of the Individual 59

5 The Panopticon and the Runaway Culture Ecology 85

6 Flies and Ointments 117

7 The Abundance Economy 151

8 Code Is Culture 167

9 Emerging Models… and Markets 185

10 A Potential Triumph of the Commons 215

Notes 237

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

09/30/2013
The first book from hacker and technology expert Klein is an ambitious look at how our traditional financial economy is being transformed by technology, specifically the Internet. The author asserts that the new world order online is creating a new type of value based on reputation. While his thesis has merit, the book may prove too amorphous for many readers. The dense, sometimes disjointed collection of chapters and sections cover countless fascinating new technologies and concepts, but fail to clearly show how companies and individuals can benefit from this new economic model. Klein jumps from topic to topic—such as Machine Learning and Bayesian filtering, copyright law, Intelligence Augmentation, and Bitcoin—and cites numerous established and emerging companies (Klout, Square, Simple, Planwise, Kickstarter.) While filled with noteworthy information on technologies, trends, and enterprises and provocative ideas about how consumers are changing with the times, the book may overwhelm readers. Agent: Mollie Glick, Foundry Literary + Media. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Reputation Economics peels back the onion to reveal the dystopia of modern commerce and the trends, tools, and technologies that allow individuals to take more control of their futures and render business as usual obsolete. I recommend this fascinating and instructive book to both the captains of industry and the folks who'd like to see them sink.” —Matt Stinchcomb, VP, Values & Impact, Etsy

“Josh Klein understands what is about to replace money. The extent to which you understand it, too, will likely determine whether you thrive in the landscape before us.” —Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc and Present Shock

“The global economy is in upheaval, and Klein details the technologies behind much of this change and the growing emphasis on relationships. He does all this with fresh and cogent insight.” —Don Tapscott, bestselling author of 14 books, including Radical Openness

From the Publisher