PayPal's new service airs the public–and oft humiliating–dare
Jun 23, 2009 9:18 AM
To Jimmy C., the guy who publicly ate a worm in the Summit, N.J., high school gym in 1975 on a $75 dare, there's a new Web service just for you.
The site, a PayPal initiative called DoStuffForMoney, lets participants offer to pay other folks via PayPal to do small–and large–things that they either need to or want to be done, no matter how menial or questionable. "It's a fun new way to motivate people to do, well, pretty much whatever you want them to," the PayPal press release says.
Basically, you go to the site and write a message to someone saying what you'd like done, and how much you'll pay, through PayPal. Your can send the offer via Facebook, or via e-mail. If you choose Facebook, the message shows up on the person's Facebook wall. The offer also shows up on the DoStuffForMoney page for all the world to see.
The more mundane uses of this site are, say, offering your kid $5 to wash the car, or a neighbor $20 to feed the cat while you're away. But early adopters–or Paypal employees–were using the site today for more novel offers:
•Yusuf offered Mahmut Saral $50.00 to "If you shut your mouth, you will be awarded =)"
•I offered Mona $4.00 to "kill as many cockroaches as she can"
•Tash offered Nick $2.00 to "Assistance in forming a revolution against the wearing of pants."
The editors here forbade me from publishing the more lewd requests.
The editors here forbade me from publishing the more lewd requests.
In any case, this site certainly defines the word "marketing." It fulfills a niche we probably didn't even know we needed fulfilled.–Tobie Stanger
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