Quote:
Originally Posted by matted
Michael - Can you just confirm that this app is viral? So friends of friends... of friends... etc (infinite levels)... all get tagged back to my original installation and thus the links are the ones i set up?
I just dont see any documentation which would confirm this...
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Matt,
The application is viral, but not to infinite levels. I'll explain the ways in which it is viral below:
1. If you say that you visit an online gaming site, then the links to the online gaming site provided in your profile (which can be viewed by your friends and by others in your regional network on facebook) and the links in the Places I've Played notifications facebook sends to your friends will all carry your affiliate codes (assuming you have provided them), so you will earn 100% of the revenue on those links.
2. If someone signs up to use the application based on your invitation, or based on a link you provide on your website or in an e-mail, then their links are considered the same as yours as indicated above. So, if you consider these folks to be first level, then the notifications to their friends, and views by their friends and others in their regional network (the second level) will all carry your affiliate codes, so you will earn 100% of the revenue on those links.
3. In addition to the affiliate links going out to a second level as specified above, there is also promotional activity for a webmaster's website and any facebook group or fan page promoted by the webmaster. Players that visit the webmaster's website or that join the webmaster's facebook group or become a fan of the webmaster can then be signed up to use the application as identified in point 2 above, extending levels further.
4. The exception to item 2 is that is someone is a portal webmaster registered on the GPWA website who signs up and associates their facebook account with the application then they will carry their own affiliate link after that time. Simply put, we can't give 100% credit to two different webmasters at the same time, and didn't want to get bogged down in a lot of additional application complexity to handle this situation in a more elaborate fashion.
My thinking has been that the application, with the current levels, allows a webmaster to cast a net that propagates links to friends of those with whom they have a current relationship with 100% credit, and then to further extend relationships based on the extended circle that they attract to visit their website.
We do keep track of signup relationships, so we could do something at additional levels in the future. However, it cost a fair amount to develop this infrastructure, and there will be continue expenses to support and maintain it, so we need to have some way of recovering at least a portion of our expenses. To go out more levels than those already provided we would need to move to a model where things were shared, and the complexity and development costs are something that will only make sense if things unfold over time in a way that too much of the value happens at levels further out. Right now we think that won't be the case, but until we have some data about the application and how it spreads it will be really hard to know for sure one way or the other.
Michael