American Express has launched a new service in the US which allows credit cardholders to get exclusive offers loaded onto their cards, thanks to a simple Tweet containing a particular hashtag.
What’s interesting about this service isn’t really the deals themselves, which come from some big brands such as Dell and McDonalds (see more brands taking part), but the fact that AmEx has decided to link a customer’s credit card with their Twitter account. Here’s how it works:
- Sync your eligible American Express Card with Twitter
- Tweet the special offer #hashtags to load exclusive Cardmember offers directly to your Card
- Save with an automatic statement credit when you make a qualified purchase in store or online with your synced Card
This makes it simple for customers to add the deals they’re most interested in to their cards, plus the deals will gain exposure as people Tweet them, and if enough of them do that the hashtag itself might even start trending, great exposure for the company offering the deal.
Whilst you have to sync your Twitter account with your card for this to work (and you won’t be able to take part if your Tweets are protected), American Express state that no card details or account info are shared with Twitter.
Using social media to promote your own or partners business / service by offering rewards. A simple, yet brilliant idea.
Given the weak/non-existent security on Twitter/Facebook linkinh any financial thing to them has to be the dumbest idea around.
Given that this not only identifies credit card affiliation, it makes every one doing this a potential victim of fraud/identity theft.
Keep them separate and keep your money.