Economic Theory

Left over from "artificial persons" days, when corporations worked for us, and not the other way around, the more profitable engines would plow surplus back into the community under the assets column of "building good will". These assets could offset some liabilities, thereby contributing to net worth.

One way of building good will was to simply donate to charity. Keeping good jobs available in a local community is another way to earn loyalty for one's brand. If a company earmarked some profit for charity, this could be claimed on tax forms as an alternative to government spending i.e. the artificial person could do its own earmarking.

Flash forward to the present day and you have ways to track nickles and dimes to the micro level. Charitable giving might be packaged to ride with a sale item as part of the payload, feeding a point of sale game system that encourages customer participation in charitable giving.

The company may pre-select targets in board meetings. Customers have a choice of games (as well as products) plus the option to let the charitable donation funnel to a default cause or charity.

Given this is turning into another description of the CSN business model, let's raise the objection that all of the above could be accomplished from the comfort of one's own dorm room i.e. purchasing on-line and getting to donate a portion of the profit to charity shouldn't require leaving one's chair (I've been getting that objection lately).

Answer: this is correct however it's not either/or. The CSN framework is suitable for use in a coffee shop setting, is geared for a kind of study hall environment (various degrees of freedom pertain, per other sketches). Some people are not looking for more time home alone and would welcome observing others at play.

Back to theory: we have "anonymous giving" in our model, however when it comes to building good will, both companies and individuals tend to want some way to make a link in the public mindset, thereby building brand loyalty and/or individual reputation. Having one's heroics as a game player on record is somewhat the athletic model, with sports champions role modeling their dedication to a walk and a talk.

Thanks to advances in record keeping, giving customers a way to scroll their play records for world-readable display is not an impossible undertaking, as it would have been just decades ago. These displays then become a part of the social networking currency, as parties seek each other out based on mutuality and/or complementary agendas and objectives. New companies form by this process.