PerfSpot is a MySpace-line social network which has rarely merited much mention, other than by TechCrunch UK last year when it was ranked as one of the UK’s fastest-growing social networking sites, beating Facebook at the time. Now the site, which claims 24 million members, is launching a word-of-mouth marketing service called Friendvouch. One can understand the desire to quickly monetise a social network in these tougher times. But is PerSpot poised to sow the seeds of its own demise? And will other social networks turn to such a strategy as times get tough?

Read the rest of this entry »