Hey guys! As you may or may not know, I am a member of of Influenster, a social media of sorts where you can share your opinion and thoughts on different lifestyle products and aspects. In return for your input, Influenster will reward you by sending you boxes filled with products to try out and then come back and review.
Recently, Influenster underwent a "makeover" which ultimately changed the way in which people obtain said "rewards". Overall, Influenster has become more exclusive, requiring invitations from current members, whereas before you could just go to the site and sign yourself up. I assume this means that Influenster has become so well-known that they can afford to do this. This doesn't necessarily effect me, since I was originally signed up, so I'm unsure how this will effect membership. However, in my experience with other sites that require invites to join, I have found that it isn't difficult to find a friend who is willing to hook you up. There is also a "score" you can achieve and I think the highest number you can achieve is 100. This score essentially dictates your "influence" among your friends, social media, and, I guess, Influenster itself.
Another of my general impressions involves the user-friendliness of the new site. In my opinion, I think it has become quite a bit harder to navigate. Not that you CAN'T figure it out, but it requires a lot more investigation to understand what you're doing, and what is required of you. In fact, I'm still not completely sure what it is that I have to do in order to either qualify for a box, or earn points, or whatever. I'm also unclear what writing reviews will do and the products they have you writing reviews are pretty random.
Influenster has also instated a sort of "top 5" program, which means you can invite your "most influential friends" and this will improve your Influenster score which, in turn, improves your chances for becoming a person who will test out products. They have made this aspect a little "highly charged" since they caution "make sure you only invited your most INFLUENTIAL friends, because you only get 5 spots. period." Honestly, this disclaimer makes me REALLY nervous lol. I thought Influenster was supposed to be fun. This just takes me back to the stressful days of MySpace when it was of the greatest social importance who was in your top friends. Not fun.
Ultimately, my impression is not a bad one, but I do think it has become harder to qualify for boxes as well as place a stake in the Influenster community. There is definitely more competitive awareness amongst members and its made it a more stressful atmosphere than it was before. One very good change has been the look of the site - Its very good looking and much more professional. As I use it more, my opinion will most likely evolve.
If you would like to join Influenster, click here: http://www.influenster.com/
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