First, let me assure you that this is not one of those shady pyramid schemes you've been hearing about. No sir. Our model is the trapezoid!

I was reminded of this quote from 'the Simpsons' when I came across a site called Peoplestring over the weekend (I had to google the quote in fairness - I'm not THAT much of a Simpsons geek). Peoplestring appears to be a social network that pays you for participating.

Sounds too good to be true??? Well, it probably is.

Basically, you can add contacts just like you would on Facebook or Linkedin or Bebo, to your string and you earn peoplepoints for the people you refer. Then, when your friends refer others, you move up a layer. So, this is Multi-Level Marketing (pyramids have multiple levels, right???).

They say that they are sharing their ad revenue with you (which could be possible e.g. Google AdSense) but I'm sceptical to be honest.

They don't charge any money so they are unlike a traditional pyramid in that respect. You can, however, pay to upgrade to a professional account (to make more money). So if you pay to upgrade, and then the people in the level below you pay to upgrade, you can see how cash filters up the tree. What happens if you come in at the bottom (which is generally the problem with pyramid schemes), though?

Perhaps I'm just too cynical, but it all reminds me of the 'liberty' craze in Cork a few years back.

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/03/26/story12921.asp