Every once in a while something new jumps into the foray of social media that either goes unnoticed or really shakes things up. In this case I want to write about the latter case and a relatively new arrival that some social media gurus have called a new and disruptive type of social media. This new social media platform is an extremely hot topic for discussion among some of the top social media experts globally and it isn't just because its new, it's because Tsū has presented a completely different business model than anyone out there to date.
Learning to crawl
Being a little of a disruptor myself I joined this new social network called Tsū, ten days ago, so I consider myself a bit of a newbie there, but given the age of the network so is everyone else. Tsū, pronounce Sue, is the creation of Sebastian Sobczak and his co-partners and was launched on October 14 of this year, though it has been in the works for six years already. As a social network it is extremely new, though it is gaining traction with those who are content creators, and those who specialize in marketing the content of other creators on social media. So why are these specialists so excited and interested in something this new. One of the most important reasons is that Tsū allows content creators to own their content, and in return have a pay back methodology to award creators of content that is shared. Revenues at Tsū are acquired from advertising, sponsorship and partnerships, and of those revenues, the company keeps all but 10% and redistributes the remaining 90% content creators on the system in two different ways.
Though before I explain how these payouts are made let's clarify some definition of terms and also state though I like many others along with the platform itself are still in an infancy stage and learning to crawl, the people at Tsū are making adjustments to the system daily to keep their platform as a place to share great content and eliminating the “get rich quick” scam artists who are creating a lot of spam and false promises and at times outright lies about what their earnings are. Though nevertheless, I think that this new platform has a lot of merit and over time if I only make say $50 for sharing content in the first year, it is still $50 more than I have ever received from sharing, and liking posts on Facebook while that company makes a great deal of money by targeted advertising based on the content I share and like.
Tsū seems to consider that each user will be growing a family. For example in the picture below you can see me at the top with a tree like structure, with my children below. Yes, I only have 6 kids, but that's not bad in just ten days! The platform allows you to see who your grandchildren are as well, and it is this structure that is important in the pay out.
If my content was to generate say $100.00 then what would happen? First of all Tsū, would keep $10 of that for its needs of maintaining the platform. The remaining $90 would be first divided in half, with $45 going to me as the content creator and then the remaining $45 being divided down the line to my children, and their children and so on. This is illustrated in the image below from the FAQ on Tsū's site:
However, the returns that you get from your children, grandchildren and further down the line is not reflected here, but the royalty algorithm that Tsū uses is based on an infinite thirds basis, which means that at each level down the amount paid out diminishes by 1/3 but it keeps going down as far as the eye can imagine. While they say that this goes down through your grandchildren, however, from what I gathered from a panel discussion which I have included below, payments go down four levels.
Children, Friends and Followers
When you are invited to join Tsū you become someone's child and to log on to the system you have to know their short code. Other social networks give different names to it, but “in short” it's your user name. To simplify matters I used the same short code as my Twitter handle, where I have just over sixteen hundred followers – would love them all to join me here. “
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Say no more!” So on Tsū I can be reached at
http://tsu.co/uamuzik and I invite you to join as one of my children if you are not already on Tsū. You will then also be able to invite your friends to join you in the Tsū family tree.
Friends are people you either know or get to know over time after following them, their posts and their content. You can invite them and they can invite you, though invitations have their limits. You can have up to 50 pending friend requests in Tsū during a seven-day period. You can either accept them or reject them, but you should do something with them. I suggest you examine the profiles of those who ask you to be their friend. Check out their content, is it something that interests you, are they missing the message of Tsū? The folks are trying to build a social network of quality content and not one full of spammers, and they even want to pay you for your effort!
In reality, the way I see it is that Tsū is trying to create quality content sharing platform, where quality content drives advertising. Though for advertising to be driven by content there has to be some type of algorithm to drive that advertising to the client that has the greatest potential of being a click through or the appropriate target audience. One would guess that your friends will both like and share your content and post comments on that content, because the sincerely like the content. However, in order to limit spamming and maintaining quality content, Tsū has set up some limits, therefore you have to think about it before you share content. Each user is limited to 8 shares a day or once ever three hours and twenty-four posts in a day, or once an hour. While I have digressed somewhat, as often is the case with storytellers, who are the people who become your friends if you don't know them?
Well clearly they are those who become your followers. Your Followers, for the most part will also contribute to liking and sharing your content and there is no limit on how many people follow you, though there is a limit to the number of people you can follow and that is thousand (1000) people; however, as you get to know your followers you can convert them to friends and drop them as followers, because your friends are automatically following you and seeing your posts and hopefully sharing your quality content.
Like all Social Media, you will have to make some effort to develop a following. Though at this early stage of the game of this network, putting in one hour a day now will be like needing a full day of work to achieve the same results six to twelve months from now. You will be able to connect your existing Facebook page and your Twitter account to Tsū and you can post to both of those SM accounts directly from Tsū, so check it out. It's free!
Sharing Quality over Quantity
When joining Tsū you don't have to abandon the social networks you are already involved in, you can connect them to Tsū, allowing you to post your content not only there but to your other social networks. Though due to the limitations on Tsū, you will have to be selective on sharing your very best content there, as that is what is going to bring you the best possible audience.
If you have a some great graphics, some video or memes that you created and think could go viral, or you are a producer of great content, then I would say Tsū could be for you. I know a few of you that I've followed for years and some only months and I think it's time you use a totally new platform as a means of disseminating your creative. You will be limited to the number of posts you make of your own material, you will be limited to how many times people will be able to share your material, though I believe those people sharing your content will be those who are interested. I can think of a few musician friends that could benefit here, as well as civic activists, independent researchers/journalists and other creators of content. While Tsū may be new and still small, its business model can become sustainable for the company that runs it, and for content producers.
The area of my specialization is pretty narrow compared to the global market place, but I have always believed in quality over quantity in many of my pursuits. Build it, don't spam, and people will find your material, like it, share it and help you out. This is far from being a get-rich-quick scheme but if you have quality content to offer, why not offer it via a platform that provides the potential of giving something back to you the creator.
Your goal on Tsū should be to develop a social network of children and friends who produce great quality because in the long run that becomes part of you. As someone I know on a number of different social networks and social media guru Michael Q Todd posted today on Tsū. “If you only get friends and followers by spamming you will have nothing but spammers as your friends?” He is exactly right! So create and share great stuff on Tsū once your hear and invite your friends who are creators to be your children.
A Continuous learning process
I've always been a bit of risk taker and jumping into Tsū for me is just another change in life and something that I have to learn. My maternal grandfather always used to say “If I don't to learn something new each day, the time will quickly come that I will have no place on this earth.” The things that creative minds of technology give to us provide me with the stimulus to help me learn many new things everyday, and Tsū is just one of these little things that I am now learning and in fact I'm enjoying quite a bit.
Though let me say this, I'm not expecting Tsū to make me loads of money, but if in an year it makes me enough to pay part of any of the bills I have or even buy myself a pint or two, then I'm a couple of pints ahead of other social networks that don't compensate me for the content I have provided, shared, liked and commented on.
As a librarian/information specialist I always like to provide individuals information in order that can make their own decisions in adopting new technologies. Below are a number of links to pages that I found informative in my decision making process as to whether or not I would join yet another social network. However, it was the last three that I consider to be coming not from some business writer who is paid for a business story but information provided by some to the people who are tops in the industry of social media and networks. Their understanding of the potential of Tsū weighed more heavily than the other two informational pieces though I'm sharing them with you to give you some background as to what Tsū really is about.
Informational piece in Opt-Talk on the New York Times blog which appeared nearly two weeks after Tsū went public.
http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/the-social-network-that-pays-you-to-friend/
From the Daily Finance website, and just another news story.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/10/29/tsu-new-social-network-pays-you-posts-friends/
This piece is short and sweet and comes from Berrie Pelser in the Netherlands who I consider someone who is well respected in the field of social media and marketing using social media.
http://hosting.ber-art.nl/tsu-becoming-new-twitter
This is a piece by Ron Callari and as the title suggests, Tsū at the right time, will become a company that will be involved in financial transfers, a market which is much more lucrative than what the company appears to be on the surface. In fact, in interviews, Sebastian Sobczak, one of the co-founders of the company very clearly lays this out as vision for the company.
http://inventorspot.com/articles/will-tsu-become-next-paypal
This is a video of a Google Hangout entitled Why we are excited about getting into TSU so early #TsuClan, hosted by Michael Q Todd, with some others in the industry who really know their stuff: Ryan Conley, Ben Fisher, Randy Hilarski, Robby Ball, Yoriko Todd and Christine DeGraff and the host himself.
Why We are excited about Tsū
Join me on Tsū at
http://tsu.co/uamuzik and let's get disruptive!
Vasyl Pawlowsky
Independent Consultant
The commentary of this was first published on at:
WPawlowsky.com site.
