New Social Net Pays Its Users, Turns Ad Dollars Into Cash Giveaways

Since its launch in June, Stimulus –– which calls itself “the happy social network,” where giveaways replace advertising and users are verified to eliminate bot spam, fraud, and abuse -- has surpassed $100,000 in cash giveaways to verified users on the platform. 

On Stimulus, brands earn attention not by data collection but by attaching giveaways -- dubbed “stims” -- to their posts. Users enter the giveaways, which are offered in $500 increments, by “re-stimming” (liking, commenting or sharing) a post. 

Stimulus is currently in beta testing. It sees itself as a “paradigm-changing social network” with a goal to give away $1 million by the time it officially launches (TBD). 

“People need money to live, and brands need users to engage with their content in order to grow their online audience,” says Founder Anthony Constantino. “Stimulus solves both of those necessities by offering users a way to earn money for the time they already spend online while generating more authentic engagement from users.”

“Lots of brands already run giveaways on existing networks, but there is no way to know if they’re legitimate,” Constantino added. “Stimulus fixes this massive problem and was designed to spread generosity.”

Constantino said he founded Stimulus to provide a better user experience while counteracting the negativity that pervades existing social media platforms, such as hatred and misinformation spread on platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

“Facebook is an endless stream of ads that captures your private information. How are you supposed to find what your friends and family are up to or feel safe online?” Constantino said.

Stimulus requires user verification through government-issued IDs to eliminate bots. The recent soft launch of Stimulus has seen more than 10,000 people join the network as verified users, with over 30,000 non-verified users.

Brands with profiles on Stimulus are required to offer giveaways to participate on the platform. 

According to Stimulus, Twitter advertisers spend $4.5 billion per year on promoted tweets (enough to send $500 checks to nine million people), while companies spend $50.3 billion annually on advertisements. 

Stimulus wants to disrupt traditional social media advertising by redistributing ad dollars to individual users, hence the company’s name.

Contributor accounts that may run giveaways are still being tested. Stimulus is accepting a limited number of early contributors who commit to give away a minimum of $25,000 over 6 months.

   

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