Social media’s shiniest new thing is relatively new. If you were to conduct a Google or Bing search, you might have to wade through results for a telecom company’s stock ticker (TSU) or Texas Southern University, before you surface Tsu.co. But that will change if this social network’s monetization scheme takes hold and starts attracting those social networkers who are tired of the current cast of big players taking home all those ad revenues generated by your content.
That’s because Tsu, which launched on October 21 with $7 million in funding from Sancus Capital Prive, is divvying up its advertising proceeds with its users. Yes, you heard it right. Their model is predicated on paying YOU for actively posting on their platform and inviting your friends to do so as well.
Pyramid Scheme?
To understand the payouts a user is supposed to receive on Tsu, it’s kind of analogous to a multi-level- marketing model, sometimes derogatorily referred to as a “pyramid scheme” a la Bernie Madoff.
The simplest form of a pyramid scheme is kind of like Feudalism from the Middle Ages, only with money as the bargaining chip, versus land. The guy at the "top" of the pyramid convinces a number of people to give him money for an investment (the investment opportunity may or may not even exist; that’s fodder for another post). Then he tells those people that if they can get more people to contribute money, they will receive a certain percentage of the return on the investment for each person they bring on board. Those people, in turn, will then go out and convince others to contribute money to them… and so on, and so forth.
That guy at the top of the pyramid now has a constant stream of people below him sending him money, and the subsequent people immediately under him are acquiring a percentage of what the people under them are contributing, etc. The fallacy is that the scheme could eventually break down for the people at the "bottom" of the pyramid – if they choose not to attract followers of their own, or because the prospects they seek bought in above them.
The Tsu MLM Modification
Now, not to be overly critical of the new kid on the block, while’s Tsu’s MLM has some similarities to what was mapped out above, it has one major differential. There is no up front out-of-pocket money required to engage in the Tsu-asphere — and it will pay YOU to play!
For starters, according to BizJournal.com, Tsu keeps 10 percent of all revenue it makes from advertisements, third-party applications and sponsorships. The other 90 percent is shared back to users via two separate pools of money, one for content creators and another for the network that recruited the content creator.
One pool, or 45 percent of the total revenue, is distributed based on page views generated by your own content. If you post an amazing viral photo and 25 percent of all of Tsu’s traffic that day goes to your page, then you get a quarter of the user-money pool for the day.
The other 45 percent pool gets a bit more complicated, by going out to the social network that helped bring the content poster into the site to start with, creating a recruitment incentive. For instance, if I don’t ever post anything myself, but I recruit Aston Kuthcer and he starts posting photos, I receive one-third of the proceeds generated by his pictures (and the person that recruited me gets one-third of what I get, and the person that I recruited gets one-third of what I get, etc.)
Who Wins?
Luol DengWhile there is an opportunity here to make some money experimenting with this site, those who are really going to make a killing are those with built-in large followings, such as celebrities. In the beta testing period, pro basketball players such as Luol Deng, Carmelo Anthony and retired NBA star Penny Hardaway have already signed up.
So who wins? The jury’s out, but my guess is that charities are going to benefit when these celebrity-early-adopters start donating their proceeds to their favorite causes. In my case, I’ve chosen not to give up my day job- but certainly would like you join me and become one of my “trusty lords or ladies,” under the “Ron Callari” banner. Hey since joining is by “invite -only,” I might as well put out the welcome mat to all my loyal and favorite readers, don’t you think?
