Back in 2014 a social site came out called Tsu (short for “tsunami”). Their goal was to let content creators share in the revenue that they helped bring to the site.
Even if you’re just sharing memes all day… you’re helping Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. keep users on the site. The more time you’re on that site, the more money THEY make.
The site, that is – not you.
But Tsu paid YOU for posting and commenting and hanging out on their site. Like Facebook, but you get paid to post on there? What’s not to like?
Well, the original Tsu was fun… while it lasted.
It shut down in 2016… BUT… it’s back now.
I’ll get to more info on what the site is like today, but I think it’s important to know a bit of the history before we move forward.
A little history on the original Tsu social network…
The original Tsu had $7 million in funding and a few celebrities like 50 Cent joined in to help it get started. I made a video about it here, if you want to learn more.
Curious, I joined up and started being social there. I wondered if anyone was actually making money and maybe I could, too.
The way it worked was kind of like a network marketing company. You invite people to the site with your unique link and when they join, they become your “children” and you got a tiny percentage of the pennies earned with each post that those people made. There were percentages you’d make when people commented on your posts, shared, etc. The more “children” you have and the more engagement you have on your posts, the richer you become.
Yes, people did make money by posting and engaging on the site…
There were some people that had proof of making $100 – $1,000. The ones who got in early and already had followings from other social sites did pretty well.
There was one guy, Kevin Hinkle, who went all out and spent like 10 hours a day on there and built up a following. He wasn’t rich, but he ended up making a fairly regular income because of what he earned on Tsu. He was an inspiration to a lot of people on there.
Kind of hilarious that he got paid with a handwritten check, right? I think they moved to printed ones later.
As you can imagine, there were a lot of people who tried to game the system to make some “easy money.” I’ll take a stab in the dark and say that was about 70% of the people on there.
These people would post random pics from a Google images search and post them with no explanation or anything. So, when you’d scroll down the feed… it would be like wandering around on Google images after you’d searched for “beautiful picture.” Not my idea of fun… but it seemed like it was for a lot of people on there. I couldn’t understand how people would spend hours a day just liking and leaving meaningless comments on random pictures like that. All in the hopes that they’d earn a few pennies.
I found my little group of people who cared about #originalcontent, though.
It was a pretty fun clique that would socialize together, leave meaningful comments on your posts, and make fun of the weirdos that were trying to game the system. Sure, a lot of us had some motivation to engage on the site more than other social media sites at that time because we wanted to get a little extra cash… nothing wrong with that. Maybe I needed that little nudge to keep me on there consistently. And I did spend time there more consistently than other sites I’d hung out on before that.
But I think the main reason I kept going back was that it was exciting to be on a site that was in the early stages of growth. The energy was different than other places online. It was the first time I saw one of my posts go semi-viral and get TONS of comments and likes, etc. It was addicting and I ended up spending WAY more time than I’d ever spent on a social site since I’d gotten on Facebook back in 2006.
How much did I earn?
Even though I’d spent way more time on there… I only made about $80 in 1+ years – haha. I would’ve had to hustle WAY harder to earn money on there. But it became more about the community and the fun of seeing your posts gain traction than anything else. The money was an added bonus. Now if I’d had 20k engaged followers or something like that… maybe I would have been cashing out more. I’m not sure.
So what happened to the first Tsu?
In 2016, I had kind of wandered away from the site and lost touch because my life got too busy… but I got an email saying the site was shutting down.
There was hardly any explanation – it just ended.
I always wondered how they were making it with offices in Manhattan – running a social site that couldn’t have been making much money… instead, they were actually giving money away.
Did I ever get paid?
Haha… no. I never got paid because the amount you needed in your account to cash out was $100. Bummer.
*I just found out that people were doing peer to peer transfers (right before it shut down) if they didn’t quite have the amount to cash out. That’s another feature that would be nice to see on the new Tsu: the ability to transfer a few bucks to your friend. That is something that many people did back then.
Was it a complete waste of my time then?
No, not really. I had a bigger picture mindset. See, at the time I was promoting a CPA offer that paid me $2 for every opt-in. I put a landing page in front of that and collected people’s emails. I grew my email list and got paid at the same time. I took advantage of the free traffic on Tsu, built my list and got paid, too. So, I actually made an okay amount for my time there. It’s a lot like the strategy I go over in much more detail here (focused on facebook but it works for other social sites, too).
So what about the new Tsu?
Well, you can imagine my surprise when I’d heard that someone decided to resurrect the old Tsu idea after four years. Turns out that it was acquired by Hilco Streambank and a new leadership team was established.
They’ve also partnered with Atlanta-based talent/management & music distribution agency, The Blueprint Group. It looks like they are drawing in several different artists/influencers like Lil NasX, Sommer Ray, and football player, Tiki Barber to help bring some attention to the site.
So far, they have raised over 19 million in 5 rounds of funding. That’s quite a bit more than the first Tsu. Hopefully, they can get the right mix of things working together to build a thriving social community.
Another huge difference between the old and new Tsu sites is that the original site shared 90% of the revenue with users – this one shares 50%. Hopefully they’ve made the changes to the model that will make the difference.
I’ve been checking out the new site and here’s what I’m seeing…
NOTE: I have seen the leadership team and others mentioning that the site is in Alpha stage and moving into Beta stage – they might be in Beta right now, I’m not totally sure. These are stages in the development where you work out the kinks before launching it out into the big wide world. If you take that into consideration, a lot of the stuff that I’m frustrated with might not end up being a problem in the long run. BUT… this information hasn’t been communicated very clearly with the users of the site.
It’s only available on mobile.
I know that the majority of people use the internet on their phones now, but I’d much rather access a site like this on my computer. Maybe someday they’ll expand.
Funny enough, the original Tsu was only available on a computer (or in a browser on your phone) so they’re moving with the times, I guess.
It’s a bit glitchy.
I understand that they’re still in the early stages so… hopefully it will improve.
There’s this live feature that people keep trying to use and I’ve clicked through to see what it was about but never got to see any live videos. I just get a bunch of annoying notifications on my phone. I have seen some of the “live” videos posted after they were broadcast and some of them seemed to work alright. I did try to click on other videos in the feed and they didn’t work, though.
There’s another thing that happens when you’re scrolling through someone’s feed and you think you’re at the bottom of their posts but it takes a few seconds to refresh – that’s probably the most annoying glitch.
I’m sure the team is working on it, but… it’s still annoying.
Who is using it?
As I surf around on the site, it seems to me that the users are mostly from non-English speaking countries. That’s perfectly fine… but where are all the Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc.? My impression is that the current users are mostly people who are attracted to making money from the site – not people who are interested in genuine engagement. Perhaps the team hasn’t put a lot of energy into promoting Tsu in English speaking countries yet because they’re gearing up for the big launch?
UPDATE: As I dig deeper and deeper, clicking on different profiles that cool people are following… I’m slowly finding other people that seem to understand how to present themselves in a way that makes me actually want to follow them. But it still seems like a lot of people need some lessons on how to post things that other people actually want to see. I’m also finding a few more westerners and a few more people that I recognize from the original site. They’re called “Tsu Vets” if you want to look for them.
Are people actually making money?
It seems like some people are making money on the new Tsu. The way they’re getting it is not appealing to me, though. It seems like a lot of the ones who are “winning” the money game on Tsu are following and friending tons and tons of people and building their audience that way. But when I look at the profiles of these people… their content isn’t interesting at all. They’re doing the same old search for a “beautiful picture” on Google and grabbing the first images that they see. They’re not even being creative about it.
There are SO many places that you can find unique and interesting images to share. But for some reason, these people aren’t bothering to find them. They also don’t even bother to write a caption. I mean, at least write “Isn’t this a beautiful picture of the Taj Mahal?” Come on, now.
Some people do scatter some original photos in with the Google search ones. But usually they’re pretty uncreative. I’m sorry, they just are. I’ve checked out really popular accounts that ONLY consist of selfies. The same girl, over and over and over. If that’s working for her, fine… but imagine if she took some time to post something at least somewhat unique?
Bottom line: People are reporting that they ARE earning money on Tsu.
Here’s the most impressive payment proof I’ve seen from user @iamsabi. He claims to be the first person to reach 10k followers. For the record: He shares beautiful pictures that he actually took himself! Someone should give him an award… does $500 sound good?
How do you earn on the new Tsu?
- Advertising revenue on the site (in the timeline and in communities/groups)
This is distributed between the people who posted the content that the ad was seen by and Tsu. Their site says they pay out “up to 50%.”
- The Support Me Button
Whenever you post on Tsu, you’ll see a “support me” on the bottom right-hand corner. When this is clicked, a video/ad shows up and the revenue from that ad gets split between the creator and Tsu. It can take up to a minute sometimes, but it’s a nice gesture to help the creator earn on the site.
- The “My Stuff” Marketplace.
This is like an e-commerce store connected to your profile. It’s connected to Amazon and you can select items to place in your store. If anyone buys anything in the store, commissions are split between the user and Tsu. People fill their stores with items they think others might like. I wonder if anyone has actually bought something via these links. If you haven’t heard, Amazon affiliate commissions have recently dropped significantly – so after you’ve split that with Tsu… you’re not going to be getting much.
*Only some users have access to this at the moment.
- The “Tsu Cares” Program.
This is a program for non-profits and gives 100% of the revenue when people press the Support Me button on any of your posts. Click here for more details from Tsu.
- Inviting other users to the site
This is the part that is similar to a network marketing deal. You share your invite link and when new people join, you receive a small amount (sometimes Tsu does promotions where this can be as much as .25) and also earn 10% of their earnings.
From what I’ve heard… this may not be sticking around forever, though. It sounds like it might just be available for the beginning stages to help draw more users to the site.
How do I cash-out?
Currently, the cash-out limit is $15. Much better than the old version of Tsu. Right now, PayPal is the only way to receive funds.
How likely is it that I could earn money on Tsu?
It seems that if you have a decent following on the site and you post consistently and engage with others that you could expect to earn some money on Tsu. I’m not sure what that breaks down to in an hourly rate, but it’s something.
I looked closely at a user with 5,939 followers and it seems like he’s making about 60-100/month. He seems to be quite active and also participating in a lot of challenges that generate activity on his (and others) posts.
I searched #tsupaidme and found Kim Wright who tested the cash-out process and then shared a screen shot.
You’ll see quite a few more payment proofs if you look for them…
Lissette Cruz added a nice thought about posting original content when sharing her payment proof. The more I dig on the site, the more people I start to find that care about the quality of the feed. They do exist.
A few good reasons to join and engage on Tsu…
1. Since there is SO much bad, uncreative content on the site… it shouldn’t be too hard to stand out.
If you take nice pictures and can add a thoughtful caption – you WILL stand out from the crowd. You MIGHT get more exposure and build some kind of an audience from that. Make sure to direct them to somewhere else (your blog, email list, etc.) so you know that you’ll always be in touch with them. You never know when a site in the early stages like this just might get shut down.
DISCLAIMER: It’s quite possible that there are pockets of people on Tsu that are making cool content. I just haven’t found too many of them. I have found a few that are making genuine posts but the rest aren’t rising to the top for me yet. So far my favorite user of all is @adogaday – He posts excellent cartoons of dogs each day. Look him up when you join.
UPDATE: When you create your Tsu account, here are a few recommendations of good people to follow: @SandyOion, @sfumartgb, @Authicle, @iamsabi, @Tsuperuser – You should also join the “Ask Tab” community to ask questions about the app and keep up to date on what’s going on.
2. You can build a following / audience.
The big question is… what kind of audience are you building? You want targeted people that are interested in what you have to offer. Not just a bunch of people who are trying to game the system to earn a few bucks. It may not always be like this, so it might be worth the time spent building an audience in hopes that will happen. The bigger your audience, the more your stuff will get seen (and the more you’ll earn) but having an audience of the right people is very important. If people are just following you because they follow everyone that breathes on there, that doesn’t mean much.
3. As the site grows, it could be easier to get exposure for your content (and that’s fun).
As I found with the old Tsu, there was an energy / excitement in the user base that I just didn’t find in other places. That meant that your posts got a whole lot more action on them. People would engage with your content and that was a lot of fun. If you’re not used to seeing dozens of people liking and commenting on your posts, get ready. It’s happening for everyday people on Tsu right now.
I’ve even found a way to have fun with the ridiculous Google images posts. This picture of almonds was just begging to be mocked.
See what I mean? You can probably make better posts than that. As the site grows (and hopefully the people trying to game the system are drowned out)… there may be an opportunity for you. If you get in early, it will likely be easier to take advantage of that opportunity.
Do you think it will stick around?
Honestly, I’m not sure. So far, I’m not that impressed. But I’m going to post there and see how it goes. I won’t spend too much daily time to start with. If it picks up and has the same kind of excitement as the old Tsu, I probably won’t be able to resist. Remember, the site is still working out the kinks and hasn’t officially “launched” yet. Time will tell.
The paid social media model is definitely buzzing right now. Medium has successfully proven it. Substack has taken off recently. Locals is another site that’s gaining momentum. Even Twitter has announced an upcoming feature that will allow people to pay users for special content.
It’s a cool idea – hopefully Tsu can get the right pieces of the puzzle all working together to make it happen. They do have much more funding than the original Tsu and that’s significant. They just reached 1 million users on 3/8/21… but they definitely need to get more quality content creators on the site. The old Tsu grew to one million users in 5 weeks and had chunks of it that really felt like a community. As far as I can tell, this does not. That doesn’t mean it can’t grow into a better social site, though. I hope it does.