It's Official! Sidetick is now an International Site
By Beaufly
@Beaufly (991)
United States
March 24, 2011 11:37am CST
It is now official Sidetick is now an International site! What that means is that all people can now earn on this site but it is an interesting new dynamic that is not thrilling everyone on the site. Why? There have been many changes and many existing members are not happy. Why? Well, here are the pros and the cons. Sidetick used to award for all activities that you engaged in on the site using a point system, which is later turned into cash, once you hit a certain threshold. So initially, you could earn for creating blogs, polls, groups, and more. You could earn for commenting on blogs, polls, profile pages and more. You could also earn for daily logging in, reading one of the admin's (Jenny's)messages and commenting on her blog. The site went from completely paying for everything you did on the site and then over time, began to bring in restrictions. The first harsh one was the 2000 daily point limit (1000 for Jenny's message and blog and another 1000 for clicking around the site). Guess what, that did not go over well. People were livid, outraged, upset and many left but yet many still joined. A few months later, another change occurred, only 1000 points were allowed. You could only earn for Jenny's blog and message.There was a claim that there were cheaters and bots abound on the site. Many people did not believe this and once again, they were upset. Many left and still some joined. Now, all bets are off, no points for anything on the site with the exception of contests, sometimes you can earn for just participating (not just winning), completing offers on the offer wall(yes, there are free ones there as well) and of course, referrals. This change is dramatic because everyone could earn something for visiting the site, without having to complete offers and they were no consistent contests. Many people still wrote their blogs and tried to check in with friends. Albeit, now the site encouraged (what I think they realized was a )negative behavior shift. People just logging in, reading the message, commenting to the blog post and logging out. Many just spent the 5 minutes to make 50 cents a day. The other intense change is the transformation of the referral earning policy. The previous policy stated that only members from the US, UK, CA, NZ, AU and IS were allowed for the eligibility of payment. There were rumblings that they were going to have opportunities for other countries to be paid, but as far as I know, these options never materialized. Now all countries can participate and all countries are welcome. So far, only part of the point structure has been released. Countries recruited outside the above mentioned countries will be credited at a rate of 700 points. The rate for referring members from the original approved countries remains at 2000 points. For conversion purposes, 2000 points = $1 so 700 points = 35 cents (which is still not bad) per referral. What do you think?
Oh yes, I left out one other change that was crazy......that happened when they tried to initiate a survey or offer completion before you could access Jenny's blog to leave your comment. This change significantly reduced traffic because no one wanted to do the long surveys or complete some silly offer. I think this lasted for a little over a month. I am fuzzy because I stopped using the site at that time. I periodically just checked in with friends.
Ok, now that's the good,bad and the ugly. What do you think?
7 responses
@moneyspinner (613)
• Mumbai, India
25 Mar 11
The last time I visited this site was some 15 to 30 days ago and did not see this changes. I also saw that they do not pay countries other than US, UK, Canada, Australia, IS. I did not join the site as I am from India but today am surprised to see this changes all of sudden. I think its good if they are providing opportunities to other countries for earning, but I think their standard has gone down from what it used to be earlier. I heard a lot of good reviews about sidetick once upon a time and there have been a lot of bad reviews in the recent months which makes me thing that the site has definitely introduced some bad changes for members as well. I don't know much other than this as I never used it. But the fact that they have decided to pay all the countries seems to be good. I'll wait for other's opinions before deciding to join it.
Regards,
moneyspinner.
@moneyspinner (613)
• Mumbai, India
26 Mar 11
Yeah I do agree that people do not embrace changes so easily and many get disappointed when changes are the one's they don't expect. Well the question definitely is not about the sustainability when the site has decided to open doors internationally, its all about expanding their horizons which people would understand as the time goes by. They are just upset because the site has changed the way they used to earn money and made it a little tougher for them to earn than before.
Regards,
Ashish.
1 person likes this
@moneyspinner (613)
• Mumbai, India
27 Mar 11
Well for me its definitely a bad move :D. I am not the one who can get many referrals. Its good for those who can get many referrals and are good at that job.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157555)
• United States
24 Mar 11
They really want you to build a downline. I have several referrals, but do not feel like anything is attractive to get more. Many of them are no longer active. It is a good place to network if you get a number of friends, but I have done about three things from friends that turned into losses for me. The games sound fun that they have, but I never get in on them anymore. I have some good friends there that are not here and not on Gather, so I still go there for a few minutes daily. You still earn for referrals and what they do, you earn for completing offers, but many of them are not suitable for me, and you earn about ten cents a day for looking around at content on the site. It will take a long while to reach my next payout, but I am still there.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157555)
• United States
24 Mar 11
I honestly do not think it is going to last, too many changes all the time. I will, however, be there until the bitter end, or whenever I get another payout. It is not social, and the contests and offers are not social. A bunch of us ran off to other sites,but did not like them either. I have tried at least two because of connections on sidetick, but they are not worth joining.
1 person likes this
@Beaufly (991)
• United States
24 Mar 11
I guess that is one of the biggest sentiments that I do not see being addressed on the site besides the "We are working on more ways for you to earn." There are some interesting comments about what does it mean to be social and questions whether participating in contests and doing offers are really things that constitute being "social." If you have a huge network that can follow you in, that's good, but what do they really get for being a member of the site or is it just the opportunity to invite and earn so I think that's the rub.......
1 person likes this
@echomonster (2226)
• Greenwood, Mississippi
25 Mar 11
Sidetick is basically just another social network now, albeit one with a nice affiliate program. It doesn't seem right to promote it as a social network that pays knowing that most people will struggle mightily to reach payout under the new rules. I've been thinking about trying to reach my next payout (I'm only $4 away) just by promoting it as a Facebook/MySpace alternative which welcomes discussion of online moneymaking. That seems to be the honest way to go at this point, but I'm not totally without hope that maybe they'll come up with other ways for people to earn later on. I imagine traffic is declining at a rapid pace over there!
1 person likes this
@Beaufly (991)
• United States
26 Mar 11
Well, I visited the site this morning and I noticed many people asking how to earn money there and I think that's where the rubber meets the road. I agree with you about how to promote it honestly and that's what makes me wonder about the individuals who were inquiring on the site. It is the same thing with make $15 a month but wait, you cannot cash out until $25.....feels a bit deceptive because most do not learn this until after you get to the site. So, for some, .35 per friend internationally, hey that's great, but look at how many friends, you would need to invite to hit $25.......Now, they want to teach other how to recruit......seems a little late but we will see.
We will also have to wait and see if any new earning pathways are produced.
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
24 Mar 11
I used to use sidetick every day. I puttered around on there to earn tickbucks and of course did the blog and email every day. Then participation wasn't worth anything so I only logged in and answered the blog. I knew it was only a matter of time until it went downhill as there was no more incentive for us to stay on the site.. I'm done now. I might check back in this week becuase I have one last payout coming!
@Beaufly (991)
• United States
25 Mar 11
Sustainability----an ambitious experiment...how long could a site pay X-amount of members for less than 5 minutes of work. I'm sure that the 50 cents a day added up pretty quickly without the site growing exponentially.
Early on, I watched the reactivity of the site. They seem to always be responding versus being proactive with it. We will see where it goes.......Anyone's guess is as good as mine.....
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
24 Mar 11
Well I already have 42 referrals to the site and they along with me did really well with the site. With so many other social networking forums I don't see how many would want to join under me anymore with the consistent changes they have had in such rapid moments.
They are not consistent and provide no fair warning to the honest members so continuing to refer members to sidetick means I have to continue to risk my reputation. So it was fun and good while it lasted and I won't be returning there any longer. I am stuck at 28000 points that I suppose I will never reach the 50. I have several upset referrals stuck in the 40's so my friend I wish you well with the site, but the rapid no warning changes really is too much too deal with.
1 person likes this
@Beaufly (991)
• United States
25 Mar 11
Yes Hardworkinggurl, I know you are upset and justifiably so.The sudden, quick and out of the blue changes have been, how can I say this and still retain a modicum of respect and political correctness, reprehensible but all sites do hold the right to do so (as stated in the terms). However, with abrupt changes, it makes you question the business sense and aptitude of the owners. While we are not privy to what is going on behind the scenes, we just show up and are forced into a new game without any warning and without (what seems to be) much rhyme or reason.
I suspect this endeavor was not as easy or snag-free that the owners originally imagined. I think it was a lot harder and now in the face of so many other sites on the web, they realized that they could not keep up and keep the site operational down the path that they were on. These are just my feelings; I have no idea if this how they feel.....This is just how I see it. With each change, there seemed to be an attempt to salvage, to react to the fact that they really could not (in the long run) sustain such an ambitious project, without continual growth to the site.
I will continue to monitor the changes and I hope that some new earning pathways open for your friends!
@sunny4691 (546)
• India
24 Mar 11
Why are they now becoming an international site when they have stopped paying like they did before, when there was time to make profit from them they didnt pay international member and now they are not paying and accepting international members, they are making us fool, i am not going to be active there
1 person likes this
@Beaufly (991)
• United States
24 Mar 11
I think the point of now opening the doors to international members is to grow their company and they know that most active members who were referring and recruiting based their strategies around gaining referrals only from the approved countries because of the payment issue. They have to pay international members if they expect to grow their company. What would be the point? Once anyone joined who were not from specific countries would quickly leave if they cannot get paid. This is a great question for clarity for the admin there......I cannot say anything for sure because I am not their admin or owner. It should be asked and addressed openly and honestly there.
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
24 Mar 11
I think I shall not be returning there. I did open an account many months ago but would never have been paid as I am in Italy. I closed it.
I have never joined any other site like it since and prefer to spend my time here on myLot because I am certain that it is paying and is not going to change things from one day to tthe next like many other sites do.
1 person likes this
@Beaufly (991)
• United States
24 Mar 11
Consistency is good and MyLot does offer that. Most people have not been happy with the changes. After the very first change, I was not surprised because sustainability is the key. They started with an all-in and all-open policy, allowing members to earn for everything and many members began to think of ways of trying to capitalize on that. I do not think they were prepared for how members could exploit such a thing, a flaw, really in the design of the site. As the site grew and grew, how would they be able to maintain larger and larger earnings as well as more and more members.
