Hey everyone, before I start writing, I would like to say this is my personal point of view and I have no interest of calling everyone else to move away from the platform because I am still there; however I would like to hope that these platforms survives but I am not active as much on these anymore.
Almost every single time, I wished I could be wrong, I really wished that somehow, something like these kind of "reward to post" platforms will flourish when they rely on PayPal payment system, but so far, so many times I have seen it, I kept seeing the same issue, over and over again.
If you guys have seen the logos above, some of you would have find them familiar.
Yes. They are 3 different kinds of platforms, the first one was super popular in 2014 - 2015 before it got shot down, and the latter two are still struggling and pushing hard to survive, in the conventional way, but most of the time, I personally find it "scammy" (was never intended to be scam, but could have turn into a scam for some people's eyes) because of the system's vulnerability for manipulation why relying 100% on trust of the CEO / CTO / Company to keep it afloat.
These companies never intend to start / end / struggle in this way; however, looking at its policy and platform base, there are some things that always give me the red flags when I see it is built upon, no matter how much I love the community built in there, and hoped they will push through against all odds.
❗️🚩 When the platform is solely built on Paypal
I know paypal. The problem with this service, no doubt it still dominate in most online payment systems, its charging fee will always be the problematic hurdle for most administrative work from any company when they wanted to reward users on smaller scaled payouts. The service fee itself will kill the platform founder, hence there is ALWAYS A MINIMAL WITHDRAWAL stated in place.❗️🚩 Single way payout system.
Only the company will reward you, and I think for the latest TSU project they might be creating "stores" in order for people to transfer their earnings from one person to another; however because of the payment system still relies of central banking method and I am sure fees still applies nevertheless, it has created a "fake excitement" until the real money actually comes to the account.
Besides, this is create a "beggar mentality" users to flock in desperately to find ways to cheat the system for money.
(this happens everywhere to any social media platform that rewards people for engaging. Syndicates will come and they will try to trick the system no matter what)
❗️🚩 Centralised wallet
For a person who is not exposed to blockchain, they will not know the difference, but for a centralised wallet that doesn't easily allow you to move funds in and move funds out, this is definitely not the best way to keep the rewards going.
I personally can understand why there are minimal payouts apart from PayPal fees, because it is easier to handle, but for money wise, custodian way of holding funds and paying out later always have the probability that you may never get your funds out at all - period.❗️🚩 Solely running ads for funding.
If engagement rewards > ads funding, especially using those ads engine services, most likely this is not going to work for the long run.❗️🚩 Affiliate pyramid scheme with default % rewards
This happened to the first TSU before, when they had multiple layering affiliate programs. This actually creates a far much worse attraction because it becomes more like an MLM scheme than a social media experience for users.
With these 5 points that models a structure especially on a fiat rewarding system, if the platform is not well thought off it will easily wreck the entire company with too much debt to pay.
I actually thought that BlueFire actually created a "membership payment system", it's a good idea in the sense that if people are supportive of the platform they can donate in to keep it alive; however if the founder doesn't have a really deep pocket / big sponsor, this default rewarding system will not last a long time.
Creating social media platforms that involves money is never easy. I personally have benefited (and contributed) to other blockchain platforms that once were a famous but now too is struggling; and there are still many people out there who will keep grabbing more than contributing because to them is they are providing content and they expected to be paid in return.
It's a really messy business, but for once, I really hope that these platform would lay aside 100% fiat reliant once and for all, and maybe look into trustless structure like here in read.cash, noise.cash, HIVE, STEEM, BLURT and many more with continuous evolving to turn it into an commerce ecosystem to keep the whole thing running.
I truly wish these struggling platforms all the best.
But you know, frankly, there are just more and more people don't trust earn till minimal withdrawal to paypal platforms anymore.