Gri.pe

Social networking may be great for maintaining a mind-boggling number of connections, but ultimately those friendships aren't worth crap if you can't use them to threaten others. Leveraging online relationships to make you the boss of commerce, Gri.pe

Touting itself as a "better Better Business Bureau", Gripe's a new app harnessing your online presence to get real-world complaints resolved by threatening to tell everyone you know about your disgruntling experience, assuming you're willing to admit you're duvet shopping. Link your Twitter/Facebook accounts, tag a list of sites you're a member of (TripAdvisor, Yelp, Foursquare...) and Gripe'll calculate your clout to two degrees of separation (as friends could conceivably re-post to their communities), prominently displaying said # on your screen; when it's complainin' time, just note where you are/the guilty party's position, provide a brief descrip of what happened, what would resolve the issue, and an optional photo, as they're "worth a thousand words", or in this case the free goddamn refill of coffee you were promised, Cassidy. Next, wave your power # in front of the offender's face and tell them you can either Gripe or publish a positive Cheer to your constituents, noting that either "will spread very quickly". Then take off your pants to prove you know what you're talking about.

On the fairness tip, they're hoping to get merchants to set up their own accounts to facilitate direct responses to wronged parties, because while bending others to your will is great, you don't want your contacts to watch you get bent over.