Today, social tipping platform Grow! made its official launch in Japan. We have previously covered Grow here, as a platform that allows users to donate money to publishers. The Grow button has been placed on more than 3,600,000 pages as of January 6th, 2012.
There are some key differences we see about the newborn Grow, one being its website design. User can see the archive of all contents that they ‘Growed’ (Grew?) in a timeline format. By following other users on Grow, you’ll see what kinds of content people feel is worth paying for. So it can be used as a highly curated information website too.
I have Grow button placed on my personal blog TechDoll, and I have received 7 Grow points so far. Until now these points were just applause for my content because I couldn’t do anything with it. But now, Grow points can be exchanged to Amazon gift certificates. For now, for every 10 points, publisher receives 600 yen worth of Amazon gift certificate. At present this feature is limited to publishers in Japan.
To see how Grow works, please see the image below. Publishers can place the Grow button on their website, and users who want to thank those publishers can create an account on Grow and use it to reward them. If you run into an inspiring article with a Grow button, let the author know by pushing it to leave a tip.
The team is planning to officially release the platform in English this March. They are working on preparing more options for exchanging Grow points. Outside Japan, it may be transferred to your Paypal account or may even be withdrawn as money. If you have any suggestions, please let us know!
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