Electronic commerce often starts with an Internet query through a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. eBay may also be considered a special form of search engine whose specific purpose is to help users make online purchases.
In each of these cases, the payment system attached to these transactions leaves much to be desired. In Google’s and Yahoo’s case, there is no associated system; eBay’s has an in-house system, PayPal. In all cases, the Greenlist system can augment these payment methods. Given Payment Pathways’ cost advantages, search engines that do adopt a bank-centric payments system will enjoy a significant advantage over less-capable systems.
UGC (User-Generated Content) refers to various kinds of
media content that are produced or primarily influenced by users as opposed to traditional media producers, licensed broadcasters, and production
companies. It reflects the expansion of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public. To further
lower the barriers to collaboration, skill-building, and discovery, UGC is often free or based on donations.
As with search engines, facilities and frameworks that adopt a bank-centric payments system will enjoy a significant cost advantages, especially considering that the payments will be small and any overhead considerably reduces margins.
Social media and networks describes the online technologies and practices that people use to collaborate and share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. A few prominent examples of social media applications are Wikipedia (reference), MySpace (social networking), YouTube (video sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), Digg (news sharing), Flickr (photo sharing), and Miniclip (game sharing).
Often perceived as leading the second-generation of Web-based services — Web 2.0 — these sites typically use technologies such as blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs to allow users to interact. The next step in the evolution of social networks will be payment transactions between two parties.
Complementing each social network’s directory of individuals will be a directory of payment addresses, the Greenlist, which identifies and validates each individual or commercial entity as real. This will allow consumers and businesses to electronically make payments or authorize account access through the social network.
To ignite the interest of our bank customers, Payment Pathways sees social networking as an ideal market to drive demand among a huge cadre of financially viable, young consumers. Social networks are ideally positioned, therefore, to be Greenlist distribution channels.