????Chirpify拒絕公布綠日樂隊此次特價促銷的銷量結果，并且，這條推文一到期就被刪除了。不過就在次日，媒體資訊網站Mediabistro對促銷結果給出了分析。促銷開始后的頭四個小時里，該條推文收到購買回復250次，被轉發1,496次，收藏596次。這意味著還不到午夜12點，就已有7,500美元進了這支樂隊的口袋。到活動第二天時，由于相關推文在Twitter上一次又一次地擴散傳播，它們的價值已經達到了Twitter官方推送的付費廣告的幾何倍數級。

????不過對于Chirpify而言，比收入更有價值的是，綠日樂隊的這條推文為他們的服務帶來了新的用戶。特索稱：“在綠日樂隊的推文下回復‘購買’字樣的全體Twitter用戶中（具體人數保密），95%注冊了我們的服務，成為了我們的用戶。”同樣，獨立搖滾人阿曼達?帕摩爾也辦過一次時間很短的T恤促銷，回復“購買”者有97.1%注冊了Chirpify并完成了這次購買。在阿曼達?帕摩爾和綠日樂隊的這兩次活動發布之前，Chirpify的注冊用戶人數一直保持著月增7%的成長率。如今，這一數字已經上升到了24%。

????不用說，Chirpify公司正在尋找更多有影響力的合作伙伴，以推動他們的改造進程。就像Twitter借助艾什頓?庫徹和布蘭妮?斯皮爾斯之力實現了強勁增長一樣，Chirpify也只需要隨便一張Radiohead樂隊的專輯，便能成為電子商務生力軍中的一員。該公司的企業結構十分精簡，全體人員加起來只有8人，盡管Chirpify在4月時已經獲得了第一輪投資資金的支持。投資者中不乏投資公司Voyager Capital的杰夫?恩特里斯、Facebook前任法律顧問魯迪?加德雷、社交媒體管理系統公司HootSuite的CEO瑞恩?高斯林這樣的業內人士，募得的投資金額總計達130萬美元。除了平臺本身的易操作性外，吸引投資者的可能還有Chirpify的盈利模式。

????Chirpify通過三種方式營利。其一為交易手續費——公司會在每筆交易結束后，向收款方收取交易金額的4%。其二為付費使用的企業級服務，分為月付29美元和月付99美元兩種服務套餐，可供選擇的套餐內容有專業報告、成交系統集成、為品牌定制的注冊頁面等。第三種收入來源則是付費才可使用的Chirpify服務API。

????目前，他們所有的交易都通過貝寶（Paypal）系統完成，因此，Chirpify在每筆交易中都要損失交易金額的2.9%（外加0.30美分）。不過這家初創企業最近已經與一家尚未透露名字的銀行達成了合作協議，未來將通過這家銀行處理他們的所有交易。算上由此可省下的相關開支，特索預計，Chirpify在2014年就可以實現盈利。

????如此一來，相信在Twitter、Instagram以及Chirpify今后將會支持的其他社交網絡上，網絡對話的性質將會發生巨大的改變。Chirpify平臺所具備的潛力將會催生更多的商品推銷和企業通信，更不用說各賬號之間顯而易見的金錢交易。而且，Twitter用戶的粉絲人數在以前似乎并沒有引起足夠的重視，而在今后，用戶的好友名單將被貼上隱性的價格標簽。諸如活躍度、轉發數、Klout評分（一種用來計算用戶賬號社區影響力的評分系統）等參數，也會影響用戶賬號的營銷力大小。“其中可能的一大障礙是，這位經銷商、作家或者藝術家在每次銷售活動中推送商品的推文頻度有多少，”沃爾曼說。“而你又要怎么做，才不會導致這種頻度下的Twitter交談在用戶眼中的真實性大打折扣？”

????另一項讓人擔憂的問題則是黑客。“我們對于詐欺的問題非常重視，因為我們做的是一個支付平臺，”特索說，他正在為Chirpify的下一輪聘用計劃招募安全專家。“一方面，由于釣魚行為的出現，Twitter賬號遭黑客盜取的問題的確變得越來越常見；而另一方面，用戶交易的對象及進展情況，也同樣變得非常公開，非常透明。”盡管事實可能確實如此，但對疲于為退款問題與銀行方面斗智斗勇的用戶來說，這卻無法帶來絲毫的慰籍。

????不過這種可能性并不會妨礙在線購物、拍賣以及團購網站的發展，也不會延宕Chirpify的改造進程。畢竟，只要能夠成功在Instagram上落腳，就等于Chirpify已有一只腳踏進了Facebook的側門。一次可以起到示范作用的成功——就像賈斯汀?比伯用一張專輯封面的照片來賣數字音樂下載一樣——便是這家初創企業實現一夜走紅所需要的全部條件。

????而這就是這家企業的辦公室會如此簡陋的原因所在。它的員工們并不需要費心去適應現在位于一樓的總部，因為他們知道，公司在下個月就會遷入一間高居十一樓的辦公室。屆時，那處占地5,000平方英尺的新場所將會帶給Chirpify更大的成長空間。

????譯者：薄錦

????Chirpify declined to release sales results of the Green Day sale, and the post has since been deleted, but the next day, Mediabistro analyzed the results. In the first four hours alone, there were 250 purchases, 1496 retweets and 596 favorites. That means the band pocketed more than $7,500 before midnight. And the next day, as the posts rippled across Twitter, they become exponentially more valuable than a paid Twitter-promoted ad.

????But more valuable than money for Chirpify, the Green Day post generated users for the service. "Of the x-amount of people who replied "buy" for Green Day, 95 percent signed up and converted," says Teso. Similarly, indie rocker Amanda Palmer held a flash t-shirt sale where 97.1% of all people who replied "buy" signed up and completed the purchase. Before Amanda Palmer and Green Day, the site had been growing seven percent month over month. It's now up to 24%.

????Needless to say, the company is on the hunt for more influencers to drive adoption. Similar to the way that Twitter grew on the backs of Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears, Chirpify is one rogue Radiohead album away from being a force in online commerce. With eight people on staff, Chirpify runs a lean operation, even though a first round of funding brought backing in April. Drawing from the likes of Voyager Capital's Geoff Entress, former Facebook (FB) general counsel Rudy Gadre, and HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes, the company raised $1.3 million. In addition to the platform's ease of use, investors were likely attracted by its revenue model.

????Chirpify makes money in three different ways. First is a transaction fee — the company takes 4% from the recipient's end of each exchange. Second is by selling enterprise-level features, which cost either $29 or $99 per month, and include options like advanced reporting, fulfillment system integration, and branded registration pages. Chirpify's third revenue source comes through selling access to the service's API.

????Currently, all sales are processed by Paypal (EBAY), so Chirpify loses 2.9% (plus .30 cents on each transaction) on each transaction, but the startup has recently agreed to work with a yet-unnamed bank to process transactions in the future. With the savings, Teso estimates Chirpify will be in the black in 2014.

????As that happens, expect the nature of conversation to change greatly on Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks that Chirpify comes to support. The platform's potential will lead to more product shilling and corporate messaging, not to mention visible monetary exchanges between accounts. And as if the amount of followers a user had weren't already important enough, friend lists will have invisible price tags attached to them. Variables like activity, retweets, and Klout scores will influence a user's ability to sell. "One hurdle might be how often a merchant, author, or artist is tweeting about their item per sale," says Wolman. "How do you do so in a way that doesn't contaminate the perceived authenticity of the Twitter conversation?"

????Another concern: hackers. "Fraud is something we take really seriously as we become a payments platform," says Teso, who is recruiting security experts in Chirpify's next round of hires. "While Twitter accounts do get hacked more often because people get phished, at the same rate it's really public and really easy to tell who you're dealing with and if something had gone wrong." While that may be true, it will provide no relief to users wrestling with banks to return money to their accounts.

????But that likelihood didn't discourage online shopping, auctions, and deal-a-day sites, and it won't slow Chirpify's adoption, either. After all, with the move to Instagram, the service has one foot in Facebook's side door. A demonstrable success -- like Justin Bieber using a photo of an album's cover art to sell a digital download -- is all this startup needs to blow up overnight.

????And that's why the firm's offices are so spartan. Employees didn't bother getting comfortable in their ground-level headquarters, because they knew the company would be moving to an 11th floor office next month. With 5,000 square feet, the new space will give Chirpify plenty of room to grow.