Hotel chains on twitter. When tweets, status updates and flash sales lose their innocence. What happens to social media and even social travel when tweets, Facebook status updates and emails from your friends lose all their innocence?
Or, to phrase it another way, did a member of your social network just tweet you that travel deal or offer for a session with a certified trainer because they thought you’d like it, or instead because they would get a $5 or $8 kickback — or payout, that is — if you buy it? That is the operational mode of PayMeOn, a unit of MMAX Media of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which, in its own words, “is pioneering the monetization of social networks.” PayMeOn made a bit of travel news today when it announced that Azumano Travel, an American Express agency with locations in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, will become the exclusive supplier of travel-related deals for PayMeOn in Portland, Oregon. The company calls it “social income.” Soliciting your friends to join PayMeOn from the site’s Invite Friends tab leads to “anchor” payouts, the company says.