Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a 2003 science fiction book, the first novel by Canadian author and digital-rights activist Cory Doctorow. In the novel, Whuffie, or social cash, is a constantly updated rating that measures how much esteem and respect other people have for you, and replaces money. It determines who gets the few scarce items. Unlike money, it never begets more of itself once in someone’s possession.

“Wiki-nomics” is the term used to describe some of the latest efforts to adapt such a system in reality. Yuwie is one example that attempts this without abandoning the notion of money entirely. It claims to be the marketing system of the future, paying users to blog, upload pictures, refer friends, chat, etc. Is it for real? It appears so, but details remain vague for now.

In a sense it seems unnecessary that systems like Yuwie would bring money into the picture at all. More than one blog post on social media as a marketing channel has pointed out that the transactions are valuable in their own right for the opportunities that connecting can foster. Social cash, in the form of online interactions like Friending, Digging, etc, may be a reality already, depending on who you talk to.

But to what extent can social cash replace traditional varieties? Is Marx soon to turn in his grave? Are economics really giving way to “Wiki-nomics”?

Far from it, say some adamantly. As the blog Now is Gone argues, at least for now, “there is no baseline for exchange rates. There is no common currency… The market is totally free – free for you to define, free for you to dissect, free for you to develop.”

But this answer is less than satisfactory as well. Just because a common exchange rate online has yet to be developed doesn’t mean it won’t be. What will be interesting is how to solve the inevitable issues of how social cash will interface with real money, assuming the latter sticks around!