Inside Social Games

With the growth of Twitter as a communications and application platform, new approaches to monetization are beginning to appear to enable users to conduct transactions through use of the service. Though we’ve seen Twitter-based games monetize through virtual currency, new startup SocialCord is creating a payment platform for content delivered directly through Twitter.

According to founder David Dundas, the idea behind SocialCord is to allow users to subscribe to premium services in order to receive exclusive information in the form of tweets or text messages. Supported by most of the major carriers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc.), users need only sign up by entering their phone number. Upon doing so they receive a text message containing a PIN that must be confirmed on the site, and will then receive any and all charges via their monthly phone bill. No credit cards are required.

As it stands, the phone carriers receive around 45% of all payments, with the remainder being split between SocialCord and the content provider. So, who will use such a service, and what will they pay for?

Dundas says that he wants to focus on Facebook applications wanting to charge for virtual goods or currency, musicians, and “special content providers” (i.e. stock analysts). However, tweets and text messages are merely compilations of 140 characters or so. The concern is there may be very little that people will actually pay for in that regard. Nevertheless, Dundas is hopeful, banking on music fans and other potential niches that would pay for things such as songs, live performances, and so on.

Whether this approach will work is yet to be seen, but it does feel like it could go either way. If Dundas’ assumption about loyal music fans is correct, then SocialCord’s new platform ought to do well. The company says it is looking for angel investors.