The OnePiece pop-up shop lets you pay with your social media followers

It turns out that focusing on the number of people hanging on your every word or photo on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and the rest isn’t a completely shallow pursuit with no real-world applications after all. (I knew it!)

According to Engadget, onesie brand OnePiece has opened a pop-up shop in New York where people can get a discount based on how many social media followers they have. Based at 557 Broadway in Soho, the store will be the first to allow customers to pay with what they’re calling #SocialCurrency.

Until 17 November, people can connect their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine, Pinterest, YouTube and LinkedIn profiles to an in-store system called PieceKeepers which calculates the total number of followers, translating this into a discount. For every 500 followers, shoppers can get $1 off their purchase (up to $500). They can also get an extra $20 by sharing a photo taken in store and hashtagged #SocialCurrency.

After that, the shop’s open until January for people who don’t care about social media/leveraging their friends for freebies, and if you’ll be in the area you can swing by seven days a week from 10AM-9PM.

If you’re not in the area, you could always sign up for social media analytics service Klout and see what kind of ‘perks’ you get. Just maybe don’t hold your breath.

Want to read more? We’ve chosen our 20 favourite coats and 16 favourite ankle boots to get ready for the winter weather.

If you’re more interested in getting a new camera than new clothes this season, you might be interested in these camera accessories for your iPhone, which beg the question: Do you need a camera if you own a camera phone?

Diane Shipley