Where everyone’s an influencer and everything’s for sale
www.theverge.com
My month on an app filled with amateur influencers.

The video feed of Flip, a short-form vertical app, is a 2020s QVC in a nightmare, as if a bunch of teens started an influencer marketing agency where brand safety is not a real concept. It doesn’t really matter what’s in these videos, as long as the product being reviewed is linked below.

  • @[email protected]
    2•9 months ago

    The startup has raised $95 million and is currently pouring money into a growth scheme where new users get anywhere from $30 to more than $100 credit when they join through a friend’s referral. It’s a well-worn strategy: an influx of venture capital money subsidizing a too-good-to-be-true deal that gets users hooked on a service or product. That Flip referral “money” can then be used to cover up to 95 percent of a purchase

    Oh so it’s a ponzi scheme where you earn virtual dollars that can only be used to buy more things. It’s like a modern arcade but without the games and just wasting money.