Last week the folks at American Express introduced an interesting new program with Twitter, that turns customized #hashtags into savings :

American Express® Cardmembers can sync their eligible Card with Twitter at sync.americanexpress.com/twitter, and when they tweet using special offer hashtags, couponless savings are loaded directly to their synced Cards – no coupons, no print-outs. Then, when Cardmembers use their synced Card for qualifying purchases online or in-store at participating merchants, the savings are automatically delivered via a statement credit within days. Participating merchant partners include Best Buy®, McDonald’s, Whole Foods Market, Zappos and more.

The idea seems like a fair trade-off: You get discounts in exchange for marketing on behalf of American Express and its merchant partners on Twitter. Since I happen to have an American Express card, and a Twitter account, I suppose I’ll give it a try.