[close]
The Call for Participation for Wikimania 2010 has been released. Submit your presentations before May 20.
[Hide]
[Help us with translations!]
Paid to surf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Merge-arrows.svg
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Paid To Click. (Discuss)

Pay to surf or is a business model that became popular in the late 1990s, prior to the dot-com crash. Essentially, a company uses income from advertising placed on members' screens to pay them for time spent surfing.

A pay-to-surf company would provide a small program, commonly called a "viewbar", to be installed on a member's computer. Advertisers' banner ads were then displayed while the member was browsing the web. Since the viewbar tracked websites that the user visited, the pay-to-surf company was able to deliver targeted ads for their advertisers. Advertisers paid the pay-to-surf company a small amount (typically US$0.50) for every hour of a member's surfing.

Members were usually limited on the amount of time per month for which they would be paid to surf (typically 20 hours). However, pay-to-surf companies also paid their members for each new user referred to the company (typically US$0.05 - US$0.10 per recruit). Thus, it was profitable for a member to garner as many referrals as possible, encouraging some users to recruit members using spam, though officially forbidden by the user's agreement.

The first and most well-known pay-to-surf company was AllAdvantage.[1] It launched in March 1999 and grew to 13 million members in little over a year with the multi-level marketing system of recruiting new members. The scheme capitalized on the notion that anyone could make money on the internet without much effort.

AllAdvantage’s success attracted many imitators. At its peak, there were several dozen pay-to-surf companies. AllAdvantage had US$175 million in venture capital; its imitators did not and thus their members were never more than a small fraction of AllAdvantage's.

After 18 months, even AllAdvantage ceased operations. At that point, AllAdvantage had paid out over US$160 million to its members. Many members of smaller pay-to-surf companies were never paid when the companies shut down.

By late 2001 with the dot-com bubble collapsed, very few pay-to-surf companies remained.[2] This is not surprising since 100% of the revenue came from internet advertising, which was the area hardest hit.

As with many Internet business models, pay-to-surf companies attracted people trying to defraud the company out of money. First, as noted above, the companies had to deal with spammers, often having to terminate member accounts. They were also required to get parental permission from members under the age of 18, many of whom flocked to these programs as an easy source of income. Finally, utilities started appearing which allowed users to simulate surfing activity.[3][4] Some users even created mechanical mouse-moving devices which ran around their desks, i.e. "JiggyMouse".[5] These programs and devices allowed users to get paid simply for leaving their machines on. This began an arms race between the pay-to-surf companies who built fraud-prevention software and fraud program developers, with each releasing increasingly sophisticated versions of their software.
[edit] External links

* Charles Enrique (2009-12-24). "PTC FOR PROFIT SECRETS". Fortune Magazine (USA).
* Rishi Jain (2001-02-19). "Want to be rich? Surf the Net". The Tribune (India). http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010219/login/main4.htm.
* George A. Chidi Jr. (2000-06-21). "Pay-to-surf stumbles". Infoworld. http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/07/21/000721hnpaytosurf.html.
* Tom Mainelli (2000-08-16). "Surf for Money? Better Hurry". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/article/18078-2/surf_for_money_better_hurry.html.
* Rachel Lebihan (2001-02-27). "Paid-to-surf cheques in the mail". ZDNet Australia. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/Paid-to-surf-cheques-in-the-mail/0,139023165,120205455,00.htm.
* Chris Alden (2005-05-04). "Why 'free money' is one idea that doesn't quite click". Manchester Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/jun/04/consumerissues.jobsandmoney1. and Chris Alden (2005-05-04). "How to play the system". Manchester Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/jun/04/consumerissues.jobsandmoney.
* "5th Annual Best Free Stuff Online". PC World. 2000-02-17. http://www.pcworld.com/article/15373-14/5th_annual_best_free_stuff_online.html.
* Carrie Kirby (2000-07-12). "Pay-to-Surf Not Paying Off For Web Sites". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/07/12/BU90515.DTL.
* Verne Kopytoff (2006-10-02). "Clicks that sting". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/02/CLICK.TMP.
* Sara Kehaulani Goo (2006-10-22). "'Click Fraud' Threatens Foundation of Web Ads". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102100936_pf.html.
* Mark Gimein (2000-06-10). "Meet The Dumbest Dot-Com In The World". Fortune Magazine. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/07/10/283752/index.htm.
* Tim Richardson (2003-09-08). "Surf ‘N’ Earn offers discount for loyalty". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/08/surf_n_earn_offers_discount/.
* Bertan Budak (2008-01-31). "Making social networking pay - for users". Manchester Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/31/socialnetworking.

[edit] References

1. ^ "It pays to surf". BBC.co.uk. 1999-04-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/308723.stm.
2. ^ newmediaage editorial staff. "Yellowbubble finally bursts". http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Media/Articles/cb3df939c58544df9ba33c64dc3d076e/Yellowbubble-finally-bursts.html.
3. ^ Y. Peter Kang (2000-07-10). "It Pays to Cheat, Not Surf". Wired. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2000/07/37329.
4. ^ Ariana Eunjung Cha, Leslie Walker (1999-12-12). "Pay-To-Surf Pyramid Schemes Abound - And Work, For Some". http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19991212&slug=3000917.
5. ^ Lisa Guernsey (1999-06-01). "Can It Pay to Surf the Web?". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E6DB163DF932A35754C0A96F958260&pagewanted=all.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_to_surf"
Categories: Business models | Advertising slogans | Internet advertising and promotion
Hidden categories: Articles to be merged from November 2009 | All articles to be merged
Views

* Article
* Discussion
* Edit this page
* History

Personal tools

* Try Beta
* Log in / create account

Navigation

* Main page
* Contents
* Featured content
* Current events
* Random article

Search

Interaction

* About Wikipedia
* Community portal
* Recent changes
* Contact Wikipedia
* Donate to Wikipedia
* Help

Toolbox

* What links here
* Related changes
* Upload file
* Special pages
* Printable version
* Permanent link
* Cite this page

Languages

* Deutsch
* Nederlands
* Polski

Powered by MediaWiki
Wikimedia Foundation

* This page was last modified on 13 April 2010 at 21:57.
* Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
* Contact us
* Privacy policy
* About Wikipedia
* Disclaimers


Online Trading Academy - Home

Login Sign Up Contact Us

* HOME
*
* ABOUT US
o Overview
o Instructors
o Staff
o Company News
o Events
o Careers
o Partners
*
* LOCATIONS
o
*
* FREE RESOURCES
o Overview
o Free Online Courses
o Financial Education Center
o Lessons From The Pros
o Power Trading Radio
o Recordings
o Trading Blogs
*
* COURSES
o Overview
o Stocks
o Forex
o Options
o Futures
o Wealth Management
o Real Estate
o Specialty Courses
o Graduate Program (XLT)
o Education Path
*
* SELF STUDY
o Overview
o CDs
o CD Libraries
o DVDs
*
* STUDENT RESOURCES
o XLT Program
o Hour with the Pros
o Stock Picks from the Pros
o Master Instructor Blog
o TradeStation Platform Video
*
* FRANCHISING
o Overview
o Who We Are
o Leadership Team
o The Opportunity
o Evaluation
o Request Consultation

Take a FREE Online Course:

* The 7 Pillars of Trading
* Technical Analysis
* Nasdaq TotalView
* more

What You'll Learn:

* How to pick high potential trades
* The power of a Direct Access Trading Platform
* How to minimize your losses
* And much more!

Register Now!


Online Trading Academy has made multiple appearances on CNBC, Fox Business News, and Bloomberg.
View video clips



Online Trading Academy is proud to be financial education partners with NASDAQ.
Learn More
Get our FREE Newsletter

Published weekly, Lessons from the Pros is packed with timely trading insights across all asset classes.
Subscribe for LessonsFrom The Pros Today
Recent Articles:

* Feature Article: Where is the Stock Market...
* Stocks: I'm Glad Someone Realizes It!
* Forex: Trading Forex for a Living: What We...
* E-minis: What's a Good Time for You?
* Real Estate: It's Time Again to Look at the...

View All
Browse our on-location courses:

Online Trading Academy offers expert training in a live classroom environment in the following trading categories:
Stocks

We offer Stock courses that will prepare you to trade daily on the markets or sharpen your skills as an active investor.
Learn more
Forex

Currency trading has become a very popular asset class to trade. Foreign exchange trading offers 24/6 trading hours and up to 400-to-1 leverage. Learn more
Options

Options can provide a trader the substantial benefit of leverage over a position in an individual stock or basket of stocks reflecting the broad market. Learn more
Futures

We are the premiere school for teaching E-mini Futures Trading. We teach all aspects of this trading arena using the latest tools and software. Learn more
Real Estate

Investing in real estate allows you to trade for quick turnover or long term gain depending on your goals. Learn more


About Us | Free Resources | Courses | Self Study | Student Resources | Franchising | Affiliates
Find A Location | Careers | Contact Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Disclosure
Online Trading Academy - Home

Copyright © 1998 - 2010 by Online Trading Academy.