8 Ways Social Media is like Multi-Level Marketing

1. The people who get in first see the most benefits. The people who join later are lucky to get 10% of that.
2. One of your friends starts raving about how awesome Amway or MySpace or Twitter is, but you just can’t believe it’s as great as s/he says.
3. A small group of your friends keep telling you that you HAVE TO get in on it because it’s the next big thing.
4. They tell you that the key to success is building your network.
5. Once you do join, you agree it’s cool, but sadly, you don’t get from it what you were promised.
6a. It feels like a lot more work than you really want to be putting into something you had to be convinced to do.
6b. Or, you weren’t told how much time it would take for you to really be successful, so you find yourself neglecting it without realizing it.
7. Just as you’re getting settled, your friends jump ship and start making the same promises to you about some other new company/program/network.
8. Most people like it until some person or company comes along, buys it up, changes it, and squeezes every cent of profit out of it until you no longer recognize it as what you first signed up for.

Additions?

99 Total TweetBacks: (Tweet this post)

en: What makes a successful Graphic Designer - Natural Talent or Design Degrees?? http://ow.ly/gL8d 07/08/09 12:23pm
en: RT @The_Mad_Chatter: Is Barry Hall a thug or a legend? A good article on the career of Barry Hall at http://tinyurl.com/otbjen 07/08/09 12:23pm
en: Acute hives are typically treated with oral anitihistamines and in some cases oral steroids and H2 blockers like Zantac or Pepcid. 07/08/09 12:23pm
en: Bout to head to the "day job" sigh...nothing is ever new, different, or exciting around here... 07/08/09 12:23pm
: from the delicious @oatmeal 07/08/09 12:23pm
en: No clue how, but managed to live yesterday without falling into the temptation or going crazy. God knows how I feel. 07/08/09 12:23pm
en: In six thousand years what will this mean...words from the heart or a melody? 07/08/09 12:20pm
en: Rate or Slate: Megan Fox Vamps Up Armani Prive Show http://thefashpack.onsugar.com/3453381 07/08/09 12:20pm
en: whatever happened or still to happen, atleast MJ raised his children with respect. 07/08/09 08:05am
en: @Edward0Cullen your ex? you dont have anyone right now? and is that a good thing im like her or a bad thing? 07/08/09 08:05am
en: RT @danieldoyle #tcot #p2 I certainly dont see Cons debunking KO or Maddow as often as Libs kick the shit out of OReilly or Hannity reports. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: RT @GrahamCooper: Any good French tweeters out there can give me the phrase 'Corporate Communications' or equiv in the local lingo? 07/08/09 08:04am
nl: @domdingelom pics or it never happened !! 8-) 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @cyrille it could contribute e.g. by pushing driver devlopment and UI innovation. I guess it would be bad if they "hijacked" !kde or #gnome 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @karppi coming out end of year, or next year in: Deleuze and Contemporary Arts, ed. by O'Sullivan and Zepke. Will send you the version. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @sarahrosehurt When I return, You will have an email also. Please give me a minute or two. It's been an interesting life. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: wat hurt more razor blades n lemon juice or the blades n apple juice hard huh 07/08/09 08:04am
: u should listen to music or sumthin, that gets people unstressed, 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @bradwingquay can we pretend that we're going for longer and bring unnecessary stuff, like a hair straighter or a toaster or a tamagotchi? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: to build a true following on twitter it is not by following 50x the people that follow you or using a software program to generate traffic 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @SamL0BOSCO hmm ok i will research this issue further. Give me about a day or so. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Totallywild challenge comming up soon, get those bikes out, or you can run if you prefer 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Get your career into gear and apply to Peter Vardy today!! Please visit www.petervardy.com or send your CV to recruitment@petervardy.com. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Is it me or is the tennis shoe game falln off......? Hm..... Guess Imma have to switch up my style. Timberland Prada n Louis here I come! 07/08/09 08:04am
en: ...thats nasty lol....mitch is danii bring the game over or not?...i though the arcade was like 199? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @tico_o why? are you getting married or something? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @gobansko Cheapest is DUB-SOF on http://sn1p.at/aerlingus. Else: BFS-LGW-SOF on http://sn1p.at/easyjet or BFS-LHR-SOF on http://sn1p.at/ba 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @aceisundeniable Most ppl dnt wake up til 1 or 2 in da summer anyway lol 07/08/09 08:04am
en: is going to kill @heyrbk the next time is goes, 'YO!' or, 'YO NAT!' 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Morning! Gotta go to work today! :( But this time its a 3 day stretch and then i get 2 days off! Gonna go to a rodeo or the fair? u decide! 07/08/09 08:04am
en: says i dont know if u're really nice or u're jst trying to be nice, coz you just often recognize people when u... http://plurk.com/p/17o93o 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Is that a #moonfruit, or are you just happy to see me? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Irony: my energy drink has "No artificial colours or flavours" but *tons* of artificial stimulants. #marketinggenius 07/08/09 08:04am
en: for a while I was drifting towards a sense of awareness I haven't known for months-- or were it longer? [cont.] 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @sowrongitsrach I know! Go watch the potter musical or Little White Lies. Did I mention Lauren Lopez is amazing? xD 07/08/09 08:04am
en: No need to credit me if retweeting that last one (or anything I RT, for that matter). @gracedent entirely responsible there 07/08/09 08:04am
en: purple or pink ? i'm kinda confuse 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @iamtaytae ITz ALL GOOD I AINT MAD AT U.... BUT U DO SEEM IRRITATED OR MABE IM JUST TRIPPIN 07/08/09 08:04am
The wi..: Winds are West at 4.6 MPH (4 KT). The pressure is 1016.6 mb and the humidity is 77%. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @Archimedies Marge was named a Maxim Girl for good reason. Or was it as People's Most beautiful? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: The bus head sign is not always the last stop. It could be A or B, it would be equally meaningless. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: I want one too ;) RT @tiffanylovebug: I want a travel size Onch or a grab and go Onchypoo. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @l0vekillss NEVER THATTT!!! >=[ haha everytime i see him or riannah i think about that haha im sure everyone else does too haha 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @LainaxBaina lol i will.....but nah i dont need to tell a shawtii that to get her...but damn what state u in cali or something where u work 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Gonna start second session of bball training at UCSB!!! Gonna get one or two more roomates today. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @mlambie thomas + sandwhich = smileythomas (am I simple or what?) 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Did that get your attention? Attract more customers and more sales to your business. Are you afraid of marketing or don’t know how? Watc ... 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @miafreedman I felt uncomfortable watching the Jackson family too... it all seemed a little contrived or something. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @asgark reasoning: facing discrimination or oppression doesn't justify their killing of innocents, does it? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: I'm in some deep confusion, somebody help me, preferably @riandawson or @jackalltimelow 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @MERC80 the store or the distributor dep on their terms, but in the end the label doesn't count it against the artist unless its large amts 07/08/09 08:04am
en: What's worse? Having lingering affection for the girls I had crushes on years ago, or feeling sad that I feel nothing now? Growing up sucks. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @stucampbell On it, or in it? :D 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @_jessica_smith is that a question or an affirmation? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @planetbeing never mind the hardware interface implications. Did the aliens have rs232? Or did they bring USB to earth? :) 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Luckily i'm on 4th floor, or i could drawn. Cant go anywhere. Shoes probably still wet from yday. Go away you rain! 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @clickmeee lmao yeah that actually is me minus the dog & the eating cause I'm too lazy too cook or even get up lmao womp 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @UncleCreepy I could. Cats are gods way of saying "I hate you". Or "Play with me and pat my tummy". Either way, god is weird like 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Innovate or identify market gaps...only way to succeed.. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: singer i believe we all hve a song to sing we never know the day or the time when we will run out of breathe to no longer sing the lyrics 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @HelloHannie turn off twitter or your phone. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: managed to successfully avoid MJ funeral/memorial or whatever it was, but being force fed it this morning on news & radio - ENOUGH!!!! 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @kevjumba If Professor Oak ever cam to my home like that I would just take them all, like rob him or pay him off. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Get 300 followers a day. Once you add everyone you are on the train or pay vip http://tinyurl.com/nupaoh 07/08/09 08:04am
en: whether you are legal resident or visitor you are potential criminal. I will repeat million times. Find foreign criminal in link below 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Spelling doesn't count on here does it? If so I need a spell checker installed on Twitter or a LOT of extra credit! :o) 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Is there protocol/netiquette involved in building blogroll links? Should I ask permission to create link, or am I okay with just doing it? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Fav asshley i can pick em up from u tonight or u wanna do it later? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @RubberWhale do you believe in love at first sight, or shoud I walk by again? heh ;) 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Playing Xbox Cod4 or UFC anybody? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: Honestly... No i dont. All i gotta say is get the regular system for like 299 or something. Its the best deal 07/08/09 08:04am
sv: @karenmedusa it better happen or i'll steal it! Haha. 07/08/09 08:04am
en: @hottboiteezy 1 or 2! you've missed the entire day! lol 07/08/09 08:04am
en: love and lust: inseperable friends or distant bedfellows? 07/08/09 08:04am
en: http://tinyurl.com/mvh7s5 - Make $1600 in a week? or $500 to $600 a day? from home? Unemployed or even part timers.. 07/08/09 08:03am
en: JUST DANCE GONNA BE OKAY CAME HOME DRESSED IN CLOTHES NOT MY OWN OR SOMETHING DRUNK JUST DANCE I LOVE THIS SONG 07/08/09 08:03am
en: @siflnolly2k2 Twitter Virgin! Or should I say 40-year old virgin. LOL 07/08/09 08:03am
en: or ignore and end up with a complimentary "Killed to death by a fucking hippo" tombstone. 07/08/09 08:03am
en: @WHODAT407 @WESFIF IF A BITCH DNT WANNA FUCK JUJST SAY SO HOE DNT WASTE MY GAS MONEY OR TIME ! HOE ! POW ! 07/08/09 08:03am
en: @Coqui1219 Huge like "mount it as a pendant" huge or "paint it and sit it in your front yard" huge? 07/08/09 08:03am
eo: Is Jino a male or female name? 07/08/09 08:03am
en: Should i stay, or should i go? dreamz fm hits the spot. - http://tweet.sg 07/08/09 08:03am
en: is still choosing her club: Karate, Fashion Design, or Dance?? http://plurk.com/p/17o8x2 07/08/09 08:03am
en: @NYJuicyGirl dude! OHMYGOSH! i am meeting @jonasbrothers on friday or saturday! :D ahhhh 07/08/09 08:03am
en: @vanshe http://twitpic.com/9nmdw - Nice.... London or Australia? 07/08/09 08:03am
en: Stopping for the night. 60 miles outside of knoxville. 600 miles to go. Annapolis or bust! 07/08/09 08:03am
en: @CBCashProfit Are you still working on the site? The About Me isn't set up and your Contact page doesn't have any info or a comment box 07/08/09 08:03am
en: video games might be the death of me... or at least the main cause of sleep deprivation. 07/08/09 08:03am
starts @ 9pm-until...be there <b>or</b> B bored & hungry!!: 604 east 26st (btw farragut n glenwood) 07/08/09 08:03am
en: Lawks! I appear to be approaching 300 followers. Who are you people, and what are you doing on my lawn?! (Or, say hi if you haven't already) 07/08/09 08:01am
en: To gym or not to gym? Im worn put and its legs day. So i think 90% not. Hehe 07/08/09 08:01am
en: Although I'm not sure it's may be because of some palnetary or ET pressure. 07/08/09 08:01am
en: @Templesmith Powdered baby? Or baby powder? 07/08/09 08:01am
en: wait the moment!! who is my favorite song? maybe SHELF or HEY BABY =S but i love turn right- black keys and spanish eyes too! 07/08/09 08:01am
en: hello, my name is jessie. and i am not capable of human interaction or conversation. i am that of an asparagus, a vegetable, and repulsive. 07/08/09 08:01am
en: @madh78 Too young? Too old? Or are you allergic to the number 26? 07/08/09 08:01am
en: @licksharder who cares about my boss. She's just an old prude anyway or should that be prune lmao 07/08/09 08:01am
en: have faith or confidence in, be contingent upon (something that is elided). 07/08/09 08:01am
en: Q. What is your favorite thinking tool or technique for thinking round a problem?I use a lot of phrases/expressions to model chunks of ideas 07/08/09 08:01am

Tags: Amway, multi-level marketing, multilevel, myspace, social media, Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Criticism, Ideas, Twitter, social media, social networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Colin Christianson

hahaha I like. I agree the hype is big. Although it will become a staple part of marketing so it is a must for not all but many companies out there. I see it's main roles as a feedback mechanism, HR and accountability tool. I am VERY excited to see the integrations into Google Wave.

As for content filtering, Social Media is the new layer that will become a platform for the rest of the web to grow on. It's an extension of SEO since there is so much content out there. From here new layers will form to add the next levels of the web.

Melanie Martin

This is so true, I have suffered from gottatryitfirstitis and gottahaveitfirstitis my entire life. We spent $1500on a state of the art VHS player, we were the only one's that had it. It did things that we didn't even know or understand, but we enjoyed it. Then how about the PC Junior by IBM. We bought into the one as well, for a cool $3200. NO PROGRAMS just the computer, our operating system was DOS. That was a total waste of money. but we had to get it first. :-) Still I keep jumping in on the first floor.

Dave Minella

Wow, Eric, you really fired up the people over at at Amway. Or was it Pre-Paid Legal? Vemma perhaps. What are the other big pyramid schemes going on right now? Herbalife? Mary Kay? Monavie?

Jeff

Eric,

It seems that you have not been successful in MLM to be making this comparison.

MLM is a vehicle and Social Media is a vehicle that works if the driver does something. There are many very successful MLMers and many very successful Social Networkers with a common bond. They both worked the vehicle, took it seriously and that is why there are some folks on LinkedIn with 1000++ contacts and why many folks in MLM work from home and do what they want to do when they want to do it.

We all need to work it each and every day.

The elevator to success is broken so we must take the stairs.

Jeff

Eric Pratum

Thanks for prejudging me without the least concern for checking up on my background, Jeff. I suppose that's how people make money in multi-level marketing, right? They get people to jump in underneath them without first doing all of their background research on what exactly they will be doing, no?

GI

Eric,
Ok, i will NOT prejudge you - neither will i take the pain of checking up on your background. I completely understand your sentiments about MLM, because that is exactly how i used to feel/believe (and hence think is true) about all of them. Then i was "sucked" into one of them a few years back - and thanks to my skepticism, i dragged on for more than 3 years, trying to find the truth behind it. Thank God i stuck around for 3 years studying the "Stupid" thing, i realised exactly what our friend Jeff had to say - "people who take it up seriously will make it". The part of taking it seriously includes "LEARNING", just as it is true of any other career. The last 4 years of learning and working at it seriously has earned my wife her "freedom" from going to a 10-hour work on daily basis, working for one of the top 3 global software giants as a financial consultant (she's done her MBA from a top univ); and with all my skepticism, i believe i can choose to "retire" from my job as a director of the world's largest enterprise solutions company (i've not been jobless either, nor do i lack the required academic credentials) by end-2009. Our income from the "stupid" MLM business is far higher than our combined multinational full-time jobs have been giving us and in the last 1 year (yeah, during the recession!!), we decided to double our income and have worked our way for that too. Now, if you are as skeptical as i used to be, i will help you with a couple of possible responses too:
i. "Ah! you were the lucky one" (we chose to work out the business during our free time, which is roughly about 14 hours a week, including weekends. yes, we were lucky to understand what we can do productively in our unproductive time")
ii. "You must've gotten in very early" (we got in after the company has been operational for more than 40 years!!. and fyi, there is someone who got in much after us, and who worked more harder than we did, and hence makes a ton of money more than we do!!)
iii. "You really took advantage of your friends/relatives" (oh yes, we did. we have taken advantage of them, and because of that, the people who chose to learn have a part-time income from the MLM business, which has supported them thro' this downtime). I am glad someone took advantage of us!
iv. (ok...ok...i will give you the freedom to choose your own words as well)
Eric, just because the majority of the people have chosen not to learn how to succeed in running a business, does not make the business any bad. Any substantial income cannot be built over a simple 3-6 month effort - i am sure you are intelligent enough to know that. And one cannot achieve something significant in a completely new field, without real learning either. Pottery, cycling, swimming - or building a MLM business - look very simple from the outside, but it takes consistent practice and willingness to learn to be a master at either. Just because my 4 year old son knows swimming, i will not assume that he knows everything Michael Phelps knows.
Feel free to negate everything on this reply - but the truth is that - what you dont know, you dont know. If you ever wish to learn, feel free to ping me as well. All the best.
GI

Dave Minella

#8 is so true, but that's a good thing. Every time some company comes along, buys something up and screws with it, it becomes the catalyst for a more innovative or more interesting "next thing."

Ambient Guy

The way of the modern world buddy! :O)

Ron Schott

That damn cat sold me a lemon just last week.

Seriously though, this is completely true. That sad thing is, even knowing this I'll STILL jump into just about anything new because I have a disease called "gottatryitfirstitis"

Eric Pratum

Haha. The cat got me too unfortunately.

I'm with you on the "gottatryitfirstitis". Seems like I'm always jumping into the next new thing and then trying to hold myself back from essentially selling it to my friends ;-)

http://ericpratum.com

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