Myspace is technically considered the biggest and baddest amongst the sites in the "Social media and networking" genre of websites today. Although it is so heavily trafficked and used these days, it offers very little incentive for its users other than a free spot to create a profile and keep in touch with friends. Myspace has also become over-ridden by spammers, advertising and Tom trying to promote new bands, music acts and concerts. (Although Myspace can still be a solid way to increase a site's traffic from a target audience). Facebook is starting to gain in popularity with all of Myspace's recent problems. Facebook also does not reward its users. In effect, both Myspace and Facebook use you the member to drive its traffic, page impressions and make them millions of dollars!
Aside from that bit of commentary on Myspace and Facebook, there are several sites where users are being rewarded for their participation and for referring others to the sites. The following 3, are three of the better sites for this on the net.
Here's 3 social media sites that will pay you:
1) Gather - The basis of this site is you earn points for doing several things including:
- giving and receiving comments
- referring new members to the site
- joining groups
The point system and formula for how points are scored is not presented, however the site is legit. With points accumulated you can cash them in for rewards such as gift certificats to Borders and Home Depot. Any member who can earn 3,000 points within 1 calendar month, may be invited to Gather's cash program and starts to earn money rather than points. Not too shabby just for commenting. If you belong to Myspace think of how many comments you may have left for friends. No incentive, but at Gather there is. The Monetizer has already received one $20 Borders gift card and has a $25 Home Depot card on the way. In addition, Monetizer is trying its best to get into the 3000 club for the cash.
Check out and sign up for Gather here.
2) Yuwie - The Monetizer has not fully tested or tried to promote this one as much, but has a good understanding of how it works. With Yuwie, you earn money based on referrals and page impressions. Basically, you have a 10 level referral system and that will help your earnings rise as you refer members and they refer members and so on. In addition, the more page impressions/views your network of referrals earns, the more money you can earn. Obviously, those who got in on this early are the ones benefiting most. The Monetizer has seen reports of people working their butts off and only seeing earnings of under a dollar so far. However, with the proper promotion and marketing you could start referring plenty of members to the site and potentially start to earn some good money here.
Sign up for a free Yuwie account!
3) Squidoo - On Squidoo, the idea is to choose a topic you are knowledgeable and passionate about and then make a Lens page. The Lens offers your unique view and insight/info about that topic. For example you can make a Lens page about Pets, if you feel you can offer great tips, info and advice. Or if you are gifted with art programs like Photoshop, you could present that on Squidoo. You can add all sorts of items to your Lens, such as Polls, comment sections, rss feeds and flickr photos.
The way money is earned is based on Adsense ads being run on your Lenses pages. You receive a share in the earnings, split with Squidoo, based on how many lenses you may have, or how successful and popular your Lens is.
The additional ways to earn money include Amazon Affiliates, where you can show products related to your topic that you recommend and Ebay ads, where you can choose the keywords for the ads. If a visitor to your lens happens to purchase a product from either, you will earn a commission from it. There are several other commission-type items you can add to lenses, including iTunes songs.
The Monetizer has earned a grand total of almost $4 with Squidoo, but feels with more work it probably could earn a good sum. Some say Squidoo Lenses get good search engine listings, which means traffic to your lens. Others say Google has not looked favorably on Squidoo lately.
Create your free lenses at Squidoo!
Of the 3 social media sites profiled above, Monetizer has seen the best results with Gather so far. It seems easy, if you have the time, to leave a large amount of comments, to receive points and translate them into rewards and potentially some extra cash. The 3,000 points in a month seems to take some major work, and if you have time, its possible as well. In addition, it's a spot to potentially market your own endeavors such as blogs, etc. Furthermore, with Gather, if you are a blogger, you could earn rewards such as gift cards and offer them as prizes on your blog to increase readers and traffic.
That's not to discredit the other two sites. With enough work, you could be making mucho dinero on one or on all 3 at once, while promoting other ventures with them! Always make sure to read and respect their TOS rules, because not doing so could result in you losing out on any time and effort you put into these sites.
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