Question: As someone that studies the social clubs of the elite and writes about them for your luxury consulting clients; what can you tell me about the private on line social group called affluence.org. They asked me for my financials? I am well beyond what they require for a minimum, but I am not sure why I would want to give any stranger that information. Am I buying something? What do I get for giving them this personal information? It is a scam?
Lorre: I cannot tell you how many email I get about this site. There are a few like Elysiam.com (which tends to be more heavily middle eastern) that require you to prove your wealth to become a member. This allows them to charge more to there advertisers as they can prove the wealth demographic of their members. After all the reason they are creating these groups is to get advertising dollars. The wealthier the membership the more they can charge the brands to reach them. I have had many friends and clients, including some whose wealth began with a B that refused the invite. First of all, membership serves as a benefit only if your purpose is to hit these people up for money, as you know that they are qualified investors. Thus, they are setting them self up to be hit up for money from every real estate, yacht, private jet, broker out there. Secondly, this qualifying assumes that there is no person of quality that they may have any interest in knowing, if their portfolio is not of a certain size. This tends to offend those that like to think of themselves as more enlightened. As to those that are members, it tends to attract new money, those that are insecure in their status and want people to prove they are important. It has been my experience that the wealthy qualified people seem to separate along old and new money lines or the flashy VS the understated, which of course, also follows different cultural rules as to what is in good taste. You do not get anything more than you get on the mass of other boring free social networking sites that are popping up daily. As to if it is a scam…..technically no it is not. However, there are many that would argue that point. There is no right and wrong answer; it is a matter of personal preference. I have many friends that have decided to join and many that have chosen not to join. That is for you to decide.
I just wanted to respond to the above post. In the interest of full disclosure, my name is Darrin Cates and I am the VP of Marketing for Affluence.org. I think that the statements you made above are fair but I did want to make sure I clarified a few items.
First and foremost, Affluence.org is not a scam. We do not charge people to become members. We do not ask them for money in any way. Our revenue model is based on revenue generated through advertisements, plain and simple.
Second, we are very concerned with the privacy of our members. Whether that is in the form of financial data submitted for the approval process or personal information after a person has become a member. We do not give out the names of our members for marketing or any other purposes. We know that our members value their privacy and that makes it a very important issue to us, as well. We guard their information and data with fervor.
Third, people join social networks for many reasons but the most notable one is to find people with common interests and experiences. Whether that is someone who attended the same high school or university you attended (Facebook) or someone of your gender and age group (Fabulously40.com). Affluence.org is no different. People join to meet people and share experiences that maybe only those of similar net worth have experienced. Obviously, this type of social networking may not be for everyone (even those who qualify) but there are definitely those who find the experience rewarding. Whether they be from old money or new, or whether they are flashy or understated. It's all about choice and making connections - online.
Posted by: Darrin | July 01, 2009 at 03:31 PM