Moolala: Ooo La La?

Moolala is the most recent opportunity that I have been offered that operates like Grupon or LivingSocial Deals.  Businesses offer reduced rates on services or goods;  I am offered the opportunity to purchase them.  Grupon offers me $10 if I refer friends.  From Grupon’s website:

We’re giving $10 in Groupon Bucks for every friend you refer when they make their first purchase. It’s our way of saying “thanks” for spreading the word and increasing our collective buying power! Groupon Bucks can be used toward any Groupon purchase, and they never expire.

LivingSocial offers my deal for free if I share my purchase and at least three people buy it:

Share for a Free Deal
After you buy the deal, you’ll get a unique link to share. If three people buy the deal using your link, then your deal is free.

Here’s Moolala’s pitch:

There’s more – we want to help you make money, too!
We will give you 2% back on each deal you buy. And for each friend you refer to Moolala, you will earn 2% of every deal they buy. And that’s not all: we’ll pay you 2% for each friend they refer, and again for your friends’ friends’ friends and your friends’ friends’ friends’ friends. It’s a 2% five-level reward system. That adds up to lots of rewards for you and your friends.
Use your rewards to buy the Moolala deals you love or even redeem them for cash. It’s up to you.
So start inviting friends and earning rewards now.

There’s more – we want to help you make money, too! We will give you 2% back on each deal you buy. And for each friend you refer to Moolala, you will earn 2% of every deal they buy. And that’s not all: we’ll pay you 2% for each friend they refer, and again for your friends’ friends’ friends and your friends’ friends’ friends’ friends. It’s a 2% five-level reward system. That adds up to lots of rewards for you and your friends.

Use your rewards to buy the Moolala deals you love or even redeem them for cash. It’s up to you.
So start inviting friends and earning rewards now.

Whenever I see “we’ll pay you based on your friends’ friends” ,  I immediately think,  “pyramid selling and chain letters.”  It appears Moolala is an Austin based business that was formed in 2010.  Here’s the LinkedIn reference. I joined Moolala to help  my missionary, traveler friend receive his 2% should I make a purchase.

My least favorite is the LivingSocial offer.  I’m not sure I know three people that would make the same purchases as I would make.  My choice is between the immediate $10 of Grupon or a potentional stream of 2% commissions of Moolala.  The Grupon offer seems more bird in the hand to me, so I would choose Grupon.  Except, what if all of my friends have already signed up?  Then I think that there’s “no soup for me.”

It will be interesting to see which company is most rewarded by the market place.

Who’s up to date on your Facebook updates?

From American Public Media, Future Tense:

MP3 – iTunes

Facebook is about to change. Oh, you’ll still get surprising friend requests from obscure 3rd grade classmates but the site dedicate to public sharing is about to get more private thanks to new privacy settings that will allow you to decide, update by update, who gets to see what you’re doing.

It’s a valuable tool in managing your privacy, at least to a certain degree. At the same time, however, Facebook still has access to all your data and it pays its bills by tailoring advertising to you based on the information you provide. And if you install a third party app to play a game or something, those outside developers have access to your information as well.

Guest: Michael Zimmer, University of Wisconsin