In researching Facebook Causes I discovered two interesting facts: The first is that they are a private company that uses Facebook as its web host; the second is that they are actively hiring new employees. Although I have no desire to work for them - I am quite content with my current job and geographical location - I thought it very interesting that this seemingly altruistic feature is actually a very clever marketing plan by a for-profit company.
The basis of Facebook Causes is simple: the parent company represents the cause by managing their Facebook presence. Unlike Facebook Groups, the Causes feature allows for the donation of monies to the cause directly through Facebook, and uses a multi-level marketing scheme (a.k.a. a pyramid scheme) to reward members who get others to join and to donate. Rewards are not made in cash, but in a gain of status level, like it is some sort of competition. Judging by the number of competitive games on Facebook, I can see why this formation would be successful.
Although I am not certain I like the whole idea of a pyramid set-up to raise funds for worthy causes, I do suppose the end justifies the means. I admire the fact that Facebook Causes (yes, that is the name of the parent company) chose to use Facebook as an already existing platform of over 20-million users to launch their project. It kind of makes me wish that I was [Facebook Founder] Mark Zuckerberg's college roommate instead of [Causes founder] Joe Green (maybe then Ask Tazi-Kat would be a profitable venture by now!).
Source:
TechCrunch.com
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