Rippln Review: Get Paid to Share

Have you ever shared an app or a game with someone? What if you could get paid for that?

Rippln is about to launch and they will track the things you share and make sure you get paid for that. Check it out here.

Thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – of people got invites recently, mostly from friends and acquaintances, to join a new “mobile app gamification” site called Rippln.  What’s creating all of the buzz is the site’s claim to enable significant cash rewards to users when the site goes live.

A closer look reveals that Rippln employs a sophisticated multilevel marketing scheme based on invites and access codes to tease fans into growing their following on the expectation that earlier “players” will receive kickbacks and residuals for bringing in additional levels, or ripples, of players and teams, ostensibly to grow the site’s commerce ecosystem. However, there’s no guarantee that fans will become players, or that such an ecosystem will get built.

There are still many red flags to consider before you commit yourself to this venture. However at this point, everything is still free so there's no harm in joining up.

How is it not an illegal pyramid scheme?
It has to be the number one question on the minds of a lot of people. Rippln spokesman said, "No, it is not a scam. Rippln is a new and innovative company that is certainly pushing the limits on creativity. Such creativity will always be met with skepticism. Until fully developed, new ideas are not easily conveyed so that everyone can understand the full picture. We admit the Rippln is no different. However, Rippln has a corporate team that have worked with independent contractors and distributors for years. It is back my a team with great credentials who have all also put their reputations on the line for this concept. That includes an accounting, legal, marketing, and programming team with years of experience."

Zynga players on mobile platforms are proud that their game playing enables them to contribute to various social causes through in-game mechanics. For example, FarmVille allowed players to pay for the privilege to grow a specific corn crop that resulted in donations to Haitian earthquake relief. Zynga earns a win-win on this one. First, players perceive Zynga as being socially conscious. Second, and more subtly, Zynga’s charitable causes mechanism is training players to spend money on Facebook credits. They want to walk players through the process of purchasing Facebook credits to spend on Zynga games as often as possible. So that the act of purchasing becomes a mindless routine, a compulsive part of the gameplay experience. For some players, purchasing Facebook credits for social causes through Zynga gameplay will be their first introduction to the mechanics of spending real money on virtual goods. For other players, the social giving reinforces the behavior in order to lower the mental barrier for their next in-game purchase.

Rippln is claiming they want to do something similar to this. They plan to use a business model (like Zynga), charity notwithstanding, that rewards peeps for their recommendations in app versus only making the app developer money. To me, it seems a win/win. Let's see what develops. Join for free. No harm in trying.