National Lampoon has acquired a minority stake in the get paid to use if you give them money first social networking site Capazoo.
We first wrote about Capazoo December 10, when we explained the model which Capazoo claims in its media release is a “ground-breaking business model empowering its members and partners to generate real revenues based on their content and site participation.” To quote for the earlier post:
Where Capazoo differs is its offer to compensate its users for the time spent on the site and the activities they undertake. Members can tip other members using “Zoops,” Capzoo’s points program that can be redeemed for cash. Members also receive Zoops for inviting friends and posting content. It sounds good, but there is a catch: to redeem Zoops users must join one of Capazoo’s two premium membership programs which cost $24.95 or $34.95 per year. Users can also buy additional Zoops to give to others at the rate of $10 for 10,000 Zoops.
Under the deal National Lampoon will provide online video content and “branded marketing opportunities” to Capazoo.
There has to be some irony in a company known for comedy investing in a social networking site with a Web 1.0 multi-level marketing scheme as its business model. As I said in the previous post “a model that only pays out when you pay up won’t find millions of fans. With $25 million in the bank the site certainly won’t be heading to the Deadpool anytime soon but it will struggle to succeed;” given Capazoo has just taken on a new investor maybe it’s already struggling?
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I don’t like anyone who lampoons another!
fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
you’ve posted that retarded face steve balmer site in the comments for how many months now and it hasnt really done shit. Give it up.
yeah having to pay - to redeem , is going to turn off users. It would be better to offer no customer service than a ”fake customer service” …
- also - is the redemptive rate the same as the buy rate? ($10 per 10,000)
.rb
and the 4 level MLM scheme as well…
National Lampoon is publicly traded under the symbol NLN. Interesting comedy network they’ve put together.
@1, 2, 3 …
- It is kind of sad that his site has a PR of 5/10
- Then again this shows; that PR doesn’t matter …
3 facts that ”fake steve ballmer should realize”
1. its been done! ‘fake steve jobs’
2. Every other comment on your blog is resentment towards you
3. 90% of your traffic is probably from TC (and we don’t exactly love you)
thanks in advance for not quitting your day job, .rb
the company’s running out of money, this is probably a new way to raise money.
so lampoon has van wilder, vegas,europe and nw capazoo, damn them.
Shoot, I can’t think of anything witty to say. Except, all these online subscriptions, $25.00 here, $25.00 there add up quick.
I’m just a poor, humble, starving artist and I’ve recently spent over $75.00 on subscriptions. That’s alot of money to me.
Absolutely, do not tell my husband. He thinks all I do is sit around all day flittering around the internet. I keep telling him that networking is going to pay off “big-time, someday, baby”. He has such a cute, scientific, rational mind. Always wanting data and sources for my online addiction. Any-hoo.
I can’t afford to join. I gotta keep feeding the kids.
Sincerely,
angela hayden
art goddess
Ah, I see that the controversy is that you have to pay to play, making a slimy MLM type - I had missed that the first time around. But if someone wants to give me points (cash, prizes, whatever) for all the time I waste on the web and do their work getting people I know to sign up to their sites by being their viral advocate, go for it.
“If you don’t spend time on Capazoo, we’ll shoot this dog.”
“If Ted Kennedy had spent time on Capazoo, a young woman would be alive today.”
And the people who sign up for Capazoo will be calling Lemmings.
Sorry, I thought a little bit of 1970s publishing history was in order here. What’s next - Larry Flynt buying a casino? Oh, never mind…
So if it is not possible to vote any spam commenters “off the island” … how about into the “Dead Pool?”
What do you think?
That would be pretty cool … the next TechCrunch could be entitled “The Fake Steve Ballmer Just Entered The DeadPool!” …. and you’d hear a big sigh of relief …
“National Lampoon has acquired a minority stake in the get paid to use if you give them money first social networking site Capazoo.”
If you’re going to try adventurous grammar, please follow the rules (here, use quotes or hyphens). It’s tiring reading opaque prose. I would wager that no-one understood that sentence on first reading.
I think once again you are mostly all missing the point of Capazoo.
First, it is FREE to join, and NO ONE ever has to pay anything. You want to join for free and stay that way forever, fine with them.
FREE members earn Zoops and if you want to cash them out OK, and if you don’t OK… there is never any requirement to pay anything at all.
Second, if you want to cash out the points you’ve earned, when you upgrade you get a debit card exactly like your bank card and you can go to an ATM and cash out your points in cash.
So if at any time you earn more than $35 worth of Zoops (their points) you can use these to pay for your upgraded membership (which makes it FREE!) and then you can cash out anything you earn in points. So what’s the problem here? If you get the facts, this looks like a good deal. Never made a single cent at MySpace - did anyone? or YouTube either.
Before you start trashing these people who at least recognize that we have some damned value as a member get the facts. The site is cool, and the possibility to make some money is great.
So Duncan: did they piss you off somehow? Everything you write about them is negative and mostly factually wrong. Have you ever spoken to anyone there? Before you use your power and credibility here to poison something maybe you should do some research not just some knee-jerking boo-hoo..
I think it’s fantastic that TechCrunch told the Capazoo story on their powerful network, outstanding. This is a site that really does get the message out and influence the online world.
However, whenever the story is told, it should probably be complete.
I am the Director of Communications for Capazoo.com and would have gladly made our President available to Duncan prior to his posting. Capazoo’s referral program is real and it works. We would be happy to discuss it with any journalist that comes calling - but they have to come calling in order to have the discussion. Calling something a scheme without all the facts is simply not an accurate report.
My nickname is ‘Matthew’ on our site if anyone wishes to get in touch with me.
Thermal pollution happens when water in rivers, lakes, the ocean, and streams experience a harmful increase in temperatures. This temperature rise can have a negative impact, killing the native fish and plant life. If the temperature does not kill them, it will drive them out in areas they should not be.
As long as a site is quality then Revenue sharing with users is a great idea. Newsvine is one of my favorite sites to use and they send me money every month too.
I wish more were trying this model
I love responses like the one from Matthew. Gee, we can ask the president for his take on things? I wonder if he’ll give us the straight dope about Capazoo’s burn rate, how potential investors feel about the number of small investors are already involved, how many actual users they have, the dirty dealings of their senior managers (who worked in online gambling before), how their employees and ex-employees feel (especially the ones who were let go and their contracts violated), why they felt the need to pay FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for a hosting solution, etc.
Matthew, I’m sure you’re a nice and smart guy. The reality is that people that read Techcrunch are smart people, and they can put 2 and 2 together. Tthey know that the president of the company is going to give them all the blahblah he can string together (which, when you’re an ex-footbal player, is probably somewhat limited, thankfully). So they make their own deductions and judgements. And they’re often right.
So if you want to tell the complete story, tell it. Answer all the questions in my post. Put your money where you mouth is. Or should I say, your Zoops…
Tech Crunch is a very influential and vital part of the online world and yes, most of its readers are quite savvy tech-wise. You’d be hard pressed to argue the contrary.
We prefer to talk about the positives and the ‘now’ of Capazoo. As we have stated prior, trial and error is a part of any new entity and we are no different. You try something and it works or it doesn’t. You pick yourself up and re-focus if something doesn’t fit.
Well, fortunately for us, we have hit the right combination at the moment, of resources, technology and marketing strategies and it’s full steam ahead in the next few months.
In order to accomplish what we have set out to do, we required an instrumental force like Savvis to back us up and give us scalability. Moreover, in order to achieve what we want to achieve, we have hired those that fit perfectly with what we are currently focused on - and we see nothing wrong with that.
Judge us on the Web site and what we intend to do with it in the next few months, nothing more or less, and I am confident you will find that Capazoo.com will be a force in the industry.
Rumors, speculation about past errors, to us, are not part of our mission or focus. We deal in the now and how we will execute in the near future. Looking back is only fruitful for learning from mistakes. Looking back to comment on situations that currently do not exist is not altogether productive.
If you would like to reach me, you can do so via http://www.capazoo.com/matthew ….
Paying for a social networking site… I don’t know about that… you’d have to prove that users will make their money back and also tell people how long that will take… if the answers to those questions are reasonable, this might work…
Mad Chider
http://www.chide.it
Again, you can use your accumulated Zoops to upgrade without having to spend out of pocket.
Unreal ! Seems all National Lampoon is good for any more is screwing people and companies over ! Hell I guess what can you expect you have Dan Lakin x ceo of National Lampoon who is facing stock fraud Sec charges criminal ! You have the New CEO Tim Durham who well he just wont pay any of National Lampoons bills ! This is a company and 2 guys in business I would stay fare away from. I belong to a web site that has been massively screwed over by National Lampoon, Dan Lakin and Tim Durham. If any one is interested in yet another case of being screwed by National Lampoon Check it out ! Allmodelzone.com !