When interviewing social network users we discovered a phenomena: people collect snips of their favourite movies and clip them into their profile pages. We called this phenomena “snip clipping” and thus designate our Facebook app SnipClip. Snip clipping is all about collecting: bringing together what you like and showing the world that you like it. It’s not only about possessing things, but also about sharing common interests and exchanging things as a form of communication. In fact, snip clipping is above all a social activity and social networks like Facebook are the ideal environment for such activities.

Our app is not yet finished, but we are working hard on it. Thus, any feedback is highly welcome! At the left side you see our new logo. If you like or dislike it, drop us a message! We choose a squirrel as our logo, because squirrels are the embodiment of collecting. And here is a screenshot of our application:

If you like to take a preview on our application, leave us a comment. We’ll contact you!

Until then, have a good time!

Everybody collects something and everything is collectible. This is what we’ve learned from our interviews with collectors.

However, there are only a few people who collect digital things, mainly virtual items from computer games or virtual worlds. There are also a few provider of digital trading cards.

To explain what makes a digital collectible different from digital content we must first define what a virtual good is.

When we talk about content, we mainly focus on the consumption of the content. For example, you can not buy a MP3 on iTunes and then resell it to your friend. It is just for personal use.

There are three characteristics of virtual goods:

1. The number of equal objects is somehow limited. The number of copies can be limited, the price can be a limitation (not everybody can afford it) or it is limited in time.
2. You own it and so you can trade, resell or give it away for free. If the limitation is strong you can even sell it with profit!
3. It has a unique identity. The identity can be established by an unique object number or by an individual object history.

Digital collectibles are one type of virtual goods. Its key characteristics are:

1. There are different objects of the same kind, e.g. photos of celebrities.
2. The objects have a strong emotional value for its owners, i.e. people love celebrities.
3. You can show the collection to your friends.

Have a good time, while thinking about what you collect and why!

PS: I collect books, because each book I read enriches my soul and mind.