Mpayy Widget Update - MySpace Approval, Embeddable Video Donation Widgets, etc.

Payment Applications Live on MySpace

Mpayy's global headquarters are a flurry of activity preparing for a relaunch of the website next weekend that will demonstrate Mpayy's utility in specific instances, and be a far more engaging website.

In the meantime, Mpayy has been making more headway with its widget. Last week, I announced the launch of the Lupus widget on Facebook.

Since then, Mpayy's Mpayyment Widget, and the Secure Lupus Donation Widget have received approval on MySpace. Interestingly, we do not see quite as much uptake on MySpace as we do on Facebook, and suspect that MySpace may have fewer "joiners" than Facebook where users are accustomed to amassing groups and applications on their profiles. However, MySpace does seem to be a more commercial site than Facebook, and we do have some expectation that the Mpayyment widget will experience greater usage on MySpace where people already sell music from their profiles. We'll have to wait and see.

I will share that the process for getting approval on MySpace was far more arduous than for Facebook. Fox Interactive Media's regulations of applications on its platform are more restrictive, specifically when it comes to payment applications. The MySpace Developer Terms of Service note:

7.3 If your MySpace Application collects any payment or account information from Users you must comply with the then current rules and regulations of all payment networks you use and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards available at http://www.pcicomplianceguide.org/pci-basics.html. Such collection of payment or account information may not occur on a MySpace Profile or any page within the MySpace Website, but may occur on your MySpace Application Canvas Page if the Canvas Page is hosted outside of the MySpace Website (e.g., i-framed displaying information from a non-MySpace website).. In addition, you must clearly and conspicuously disclose that any such collection is directly by you, and not by MySpace or FIM.

We were very happy when we saw this, because it lends itself to the security infrastructure of Mpayy, although it did require some modifications to allow us to provide a logo that demonstrates that Mpayy is unaffiliated with MySpace and Fox Interactive Media, delaying our launch for a few weeks. However, given the universality of payment widgets, when we created it, we specifically decided to NOT ask for a password until the popup enables the user to see Mpayy's URL and Verisign logo, so they can validate they are not providing their credentials to a fake widget masquerading as Mpayy.


Video Donation Widgets - Political Donations, Charities

Mpayy is pitching a number of charities right now, and we created the widget below to demonstrate the capabilities. This widget allows charities to embed a video for users to see that may tug at the heartstrings and drive viewers to make a donation. Mpayy adds another $1 to the ALR for donations from new accounts through that widget. I anticipate we will move to a model similar to this when we get better video for the ALR.

However, as the election season heats up, and down-ticket campaigners try to capture some of the magic that the 'Barama' campaign has found, they should consider embedding inspiring candidate speeches in a widget like this to help drive donations. Almost all campaigns' online donations are credit card only, and check donations come through snail mail. Mpayy allows these parties to receive check donations online with 50+% savings vs. credit card, and to put this donation capability anywhere on the Internet. If you know anyone running, send them our way!