Care and Feeding of Your Whuffie

A)  Kid’s toy?  B) Foreign curse word?  C) Porn name?  What in heaven’s name, you ask, is whuffie?  Well according to Tara Hunt,

Whuffie is the residual outcome – the currency – of your reputation.  You lose or gain it based on positive or negative actions, your contributions to the community, and what people think of you.  The measurement of your whuffie is weighted according to your interactions with communities and individuals. (at 4)

Originally coined by Cory Doctory in his sci-fi novel, “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom,” (free download – very generous, very cool), who envisions “whuffie” as the currency that replaces money and better reflects the “personal capital” money once represented, whuffie is gained – or lost – by the helpfulness of your deeds - or lack thereof.  Quoting Hunt again,

In the gift economy, the more you give away, the more whuffie you gain, which is completely opposite from currency in the market economy, where when you give away money, it’s pretty much gone.  (at 5)

Hunt uses this metaphor to discuss building a business through building relationships with customers and the communities they are part of via digital, social networks (Facebook, Twitter and blogging are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the various tools discussed by Hunt for building these relationships).

Hunt focuses primarily on businesses selling products on line, and her book is packed with interesting stuff.  However, reading the book has stimulated thought for me in a somewhat different direction.  After all, we’ve talked about my reticence at embracing social media tools.  Instead, I find myself thinking long and hard about ways I can connect and build relationships in my physical, local, “real” community.  After all, while my adorable town of Sonoma and surrounding environs are certainly not the only - or even primary - markets for my fledgling virtual and freelance paralegal business, they are the likely arenas for that part-time job I’m hunting for and the wine/food business I plan to start soon.  The people I bump into in my travels about the Sonoma valley could well be the ones with whom I will interact in those businesses some day.

So I’ve been making more of an effort to meet folks locally.  Mind you, I’m pretty good at that already – after only seven months here, I’ve made a number of friends due to my penchant for striking up conversations with folks I meet in restaurants, bars and tasting rooms.  Recently though, I’ve taken to wandering into the shops and businesses on and near the Plaza, less to shop than to talk.  I’ve been chatting with the business owners.  Meeting fellow shoppers and guests.  I want to know who they are, how they came to Sonoma, what they enjoy doing, what businesses they are in, what they hope for the future.  I want to find out what we have in common, whether I have information to share, whether there is a way I can help.

And if, in so doing, I manage to increase my “whuffie” within my local community, well, so much the better!

Got your own “whuffie” story?  Feel free to share it in the comments.  And meanwhile, if you see me wandering around the Plaza in Sonoma, be sure to stop me and say hi.

The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business, by Tara Hunt.  New York: Crown Business (2009)