AGLOCO - The Internet's First Economic Network

Today's hottest Internet businesses are all about the power of social networks. Companies like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube have become worth billions because businesses have realized that these social networks are generating huge advertising and marketing opportunities. As these social networks grow, the economic potential for its owners – and the advertisers who target the site's users – is remarkable.

At AGLOCO, we asked a simple question: The users created the community, where's their share of the profit?

It was from this question that AGLOCO set out to create the Internet's first Economic Network, harnessing the power of Internet-based social networks to directly benefit the Members who help to create the community.

Becoming a member of AGLOCO is as simple as completing a brief sign-up page (name, age, location and email address.). Once you're a Member, you will be asked to then download the Viewbar™ software. (Note: the Viewbar™ software is currently unavailable, as it is in closed testing. It will be ready for public download in a few weeks, and members will be notified when it is available.)

AGLOCO makes money for its Members in many ways:

Search: Every time you use the Viewbar™ to do an Internet search, AGLOCO earns money from the search engine providers. (For example, Google pays as much as $0.10 on average for each search that is directed to its search engine.)

Advertising: The Viewbar™ itself displays ads that are targeted based upon the websites you're visiting. When you click on an ad and make a purchase, AGLOCO receives a referral fee, which we pass on to our Members. (Please note: Individual members do not receive any compensation for clicking on ads in the Viewbar™, and the Viewbar™ can detect if someone is clicking ads in a fraudulent manner.)

Transaction commissions: Many major retailers pay commissions when you refer customers who make a purchase. AGLOCO collects that commission and passes it on to our members. (For example, Amazon pays an 8.5% commission to most websites who refer customers, and has cut deals for even larger percentages. The bigger the AGLOCO community, the better commission we can negotiate for our Members.)

Software distribution: Numerous software companies pay websites to encourage the download of new software releases (for example, Adobe's Flash and Acrobat Reader software), and trial versions of new programs. AGLOCO members not only get access to the latest and coolest software, they get paid for it.

Service distribution: Many online service providers will look to the AGLOCO community as a source of new and active users for their services. (For example, eBay, Skype, and PayPal, among others, all pay fees to people who help them recruit new active users to their services)

Product distribution: When Members agree to use a product, such as cell phones, high-tech gadgets, office supplies, new credit cards or financial services, AGLOCO can collect referral fees. Some companies even offer special rebate and cash-back programs.

AGLOCO Members make money in four ways.

Members earn a monthly share of the AGLOCO revenue based on the use of the AGLOCO Viewbar™ that month.

Members earn part of the company based on the use of the AGLOCO Viewbar™ that month (currently a maximum of five hours are rewarded).

Members who use our referral system to help build the AGLOCO network will earn more. (AGLOCO only has significant value as a large network and people who help build it should be rewarded. – We also feel that the early users who told friends about YouTube or MySpace or even Google probably deserved something too, but no referral system was available to record their work).

Members will also get a share of any commissions AGLOCO gets when a Member purchases a product or service from an AGLOCO Sponsor company.

Why should I join now?

First, it costs nothing to Join and takes less than one minute.

Second, you can help build the AGLOCO community by recruiting new Members TODAY.

Right now, inviting your friends to join AGLOCO is as easy and productive as it will ever be – but you need to invite your friends before someone else beats you to them.

Remember, the bigger the AGLOCO community, the more attractive AGLOCO is to potential business partners and advertisers.

Recruit your friends and family by contacting them through email. (But remember we have a strict anti-spam policy.)

Use your blog and your existing social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook, to contact your friends and encourage them to join a new community that will actually let them earn money.

A Brief Company History

The Infomediary
In February 1999, four of us sat around in the backyard of a house on the Stanford campus (we were either current or former Stanford students) and created a new concept – the online infomediary. We realized that individual users of the Internet, by their actions and the information they were providing (both willingly and not), were creating tremendous value. Yet none of this value was accruing back to the individual users.

We also realized that individuals held much more information about themselves which they might be willing to share if they would share in the profits from this information, and if other conditions - such as privacy and security - were satisfied. We knew that companies were willing to "pay" for increased information about users. But no system existed to bridge the gap between these two parties.

AllAdvantage.com
So, we launched AllAdvantage.com in the spring of 1999 in an attempt to bridge this gap. By downloading and using the AllAdvantage.com Viewbar, members were effectively "renting" some of their computer screen and their clickstream data for hourly cash payments.

This "get paid to the surf the web" concept proved wildly successful with consumers. Tens of millions of people are happy to share some non-personal information and share in the profits that are being made on the Web, even though this was being questioned in the business press. The concept also proved to be highly successful in generating revenues, as most people agree that AllAdvantage.com generated more revenue in its first 12 months of operations than any online consumer/advertising company in history.

Ultimately – and unfortunately rather quickly – AllAdvantage.com failed as a company because we relied too heavily on venture capital financing and our growth in members far outstripped our growth in revenues early on. Put simply, we signed up members in Internet time and sold ads (our primary form of revenue) in old-fashioned media time. The AllAdvantage.com model started paying members as soon as they downloaded and started using the Viewbar, but it took time to monetize these incremental hours.

As the online ad market and the Internet financing markets crashed in 2000-01, the revenues from the business could not keep up with the rapid growth in members (and their associated fixed hourly costs). We unfortunately had to close the business, even though new members were continuing to join the network.

While we had no choice but to shut down the business, AllAdvantage.com did deliver everything it promised to members: We mailed out over $100 million in checks to members, and advertisers delivered the most targeted, information-rich advertising opportunity on the Web.

The company maybe failed, but the ideas behind it never did…

Where are we today?
Online advertising, after stalling in 2001-02, is bigger than ever (Google, of course, has changed everything). Targeted search and contextual text ads – almost non-existent in 1999 – are now everywhere. Companies – Google and Yahoo, for example – are trying to convince users to download "toolbars" (sound familiar?) to gather more information from their members. All this information – and the companies that gather it – is worth more than ever. Yet the individual users still do not have an effective way to get their share back.

YouTube was acquired for $1.65 billion by Google in October 2006. The story of how three guys made hundreds of millions of dollars in one year is a great tale of entrepreneurial success. But what happened to the first users who posted their videos on the site and told their friends to do the same? We don't hear about them, because they did not get anything (other than free video hosting). Wasn't it really these users that helped turn YouTube into a multi-billion dollar company? Sure the site is great and the founders deserve all the credit they get, but it is the users who ultimately made it valuable. There are plenty of video sites, and if it wasn't YouTube, another site could have filled the space, become a household name and been acquired for an amazing price.

We are not trying to pick on YouTube (which we happen to love using). How about the early users of Skype? What about those who first downloaded the software, made calls to their friends in different countries and told their parents to use it as well? They did not see a penny of the $2.6 billion that eBay paid for the company in September 2005. And MySpace? How about the millions of members there? How did they do when News Corp. bought the company for almost $600 million? After all, it was the members that Rupert Murdoch was after when he purchased the site.

The point we are trying to make here is that there are plenty of social networking sites out there, but it is the members that make these sites and services valuable. Yet, they get no monetary value from it.

We could go on. But the story is always the same: users (and the information they bring with them) are valuable. Creating a system that enables users to share in all these profits is the next big thing. We call it an economic network. Others call it a global online community co-op. Or "Linux for consumers." It's a big idea. And it's happening now.

AGLOCO

We started AGLOCO at a coffee shop near the Stanford campus. We sat down with a group of Stanford graduate students to design the next generation of the Internet enterprise using the infomediary as one of the foundation blocks.

We decided we wanted to build the economic network that enables individuals on the Web to share in the profits that their data and their actions help create. AGLOCO is more than a Web site and it is more than a Viewbar company. It is a network that links people, their information and their friends together to form something bigger.

Like all networks that have come before (from the Internet itself to MySpace), this one gets stronger as it gets bigger. AGLOCO with 1,000 or 10,000 members is not much more than the sum of its parts. But AGLOCO with 1 million or 10 million members starts to become important. It's important because it changes the consumer-company relationship online and changes the way everyone thinks about their online experience.

Why It Works.
AGLOCO works because the network effects are self perpetuating. It gets stronger as it gets bigger. With more members and stronger cash flows, the profits that the members share in increase – and this draws in more users and hence stronger cash flows. The incentive to join early and tell many friends is big, as early members who help build the network stand to benefit the most (similar to nearly all start-ups, where the early employees tend to share disproportionately in the success of the company).

As AGLOCO grows, the economic incentive continues to grow as it is able to offer more and more value for its members. Unlike AllAdvantage.com which incurred incremental costs for each additional member-hour, AGLOCO generates positive free cash flow from each additional member-hour and has virtually no incremental cash expenses for additional use of the Viewbar. AGLOCO will have standard operating costs (site maintenance, bandwidth, insurance, telephones, office space, sales and administration etc.), but like Google these costs should be very low compared to the revenue Members generate.

The Members Own the Company.
That's right – 100% of the company is member-owned. Users make good ideas valuable. Good ideas are great, but without members, they are just that – ideas. Every decision is made by asking what is best for the members over the long-term. It's a new way of thinking, but it works because we are all in it together. So how do we make money?

We Own the Management Company.
The employees and investors own the management company. The management company collects 10% of the revenues of AGLOCO (like Tom Cruise pays his agent 10%). This should be enough incentive to continue to attract a great team of highly talented people that AGLOCO needs to maximize the value to its Member/shareholders.

Trust is Everything.
We lose your trust, and the network fails. We work on behalf of the members and everything we do must keep that in mind. Our members know what we are doing with their data and how we are using it for their benefit. Do you know how other Web sites are collecting your data or how they are using it? Chances are, you don't. Think about it.

No cost to a Member – Ever.
AGLOCO never costs anything for Members. Ask former AllAdvantage.com members what it cost them to join and most will try to remember how much they were receiving in monthly checks (that's right – receiving).

Privacy is paramount.
No spam, no pop-ups, no selling information, no emails from people you don't know, no emails to people you don't know, and no tricks. Period. Our track record is public – there are no hidden costs. The upside for members is potentially very large and the sky is the limit. The downside is essentially nil.

Be Patient.
People always want everything right away. We do too. But things take time, so stick with us. It takes time, money and people to build everything, and we'll get there. Members at AllAdvantage.com complained that we were moving too slow, and then after the company was gone they realized how good it had been and complained that it had gone away! It takes time to be able to send checks for over $100 million to members. And so it will take time to set up an economic network to share the wealth of the Internet with millions of online users. However, you have a role to play and can help us speed up the process, even making some money along the way. Here's how:

Get Involved.
Pitch in.Tell your friends and build your referral network. Design a Web site explaining the economic network (you can probably do it better than us). Email us your ideas. Design a cool Viewbar. Tell your company they should partner with us. Write about us on your blog. Ask yourself how you want to share in the value of the Internet. Think big. It's your company. Have fun.

Ray on Spyware

There has been some mention on the internet about how AGLOCO's upcoming Viewbar is spyware. Our chief internet privacy officer recently discussed at length about these comments, a couple of which we want to reiterate here:

Spyware entails the following characteristics:

1) It’s installed without your permission;

2) It surreptitiously tracks you;

3) It is difficult if not impossible to turn off or remove; and,

4) It sends your information to an unknown and untrustworthy entity where you have no control over what happens to it.

Simply put, AGLOCO's Viewbar does none of the above. Why?

1) You have to actively install the Viewbar;

2) You have to turn it on in order for it to track your surfing habits and earn your hours;

3) You can easily turn it off and uninstall it at will; and,

4) your info is backed up by perhaps the best Privacy Policy out on the net, which gives you explicit information about what happens with your data and how you can delete it from our system if you desire.

There are a lot of questions about when the Viewbar will be released. The Viewbar is currently in closed beta testing, we want to make absolutely sure that it is fully functioning before we release it to all our Members. However, it will be released to people in the order they have signed up, so the earlier your referrals sign up the earlier you will start earning when the Viewbar is released. So best to have your friends sign up early :)

Article from AGLOCO Official
Visit the site for current posting http://aglocoblog.blogspot.com/

Why AGLOCO?

Agloco is a company who pays us for looking at advertising a few hours (5 hours max at the moment) every month. That is what Agloco is promising everyone with its new Viewbar.

To get paid, you need to sign up. It is free and you will not be asked to pay anything. When you sign up, you will be mailed a PASSWORD to log in. Some people told me that they must wait a few minutes to 24 hours for the password to arrive in their mailbox. Also check your Scam folder or Junk mail folder. The password might arrive there.

The Viewbar is not available at the moment, so please be patient. Start building your network. Secure as many referrals as possible because the more you get referrals, the more you will earn, and when the Viewbar is ready, you will be ready too for action. Tell your friends about Agloco and get paid for the time they spend looking at the ads. You're not required to click on the ads, you don't really have to stare at the Viewbar (as if anyone would know whether you did). In addition to serving the ads that get you paid, the Viewbar includes a handful of useful features like a search bar and anti-phishing protection.

Frequently Asked Questions About AGLOCO

What is AGLOCO™ all about?

AGLOCO™is the first Internet based economic network, which enables you as a Member to ‘Get your share of the internet.’ Advertisers, search companies, online merchants and other businesses currently pay lots of companies to deliver people like you to them to get your attention and sell goods. With AGLOCO™they will be paying YOU.

AGLOCO™ is also a global community of Internet users whose active Members can be paid for all their online activity. By downloading our proprietary Viewbar™ technology, members benefit from engaging yet unobtrusive content tailored to their interests. AGLOCO™ also pays its members to refer their friends to the community (and for those friends to refer more friends through four levels of extended referrals.)

2. How do I earn cash and shares?

Sign up, use the web as usual and earn cash and shares - it really is that simple. Once you install the Viewbar™ software it automatically records the time you're actively online, and we pay you for it. But the first step is to sign up and become a member. It's fast and it's free. If you refer your friends and family we'll pay you even more cash and shares.

3. How do referrals work?

AGLOCO™ pays you an hourly rate when the friends and family you recruit (called “direct referrals”) use the web with the Viewbar™ running, as well as for people your referrals recruit (called “extended referrals”). Extended referrals continue for four levels past your original referral, and there is no limit to the number of referrals you can accumulate. Check out our Referral Page for more information.

4. Are there rules or restrictions?

There are some rules, and all are intended for the benefit of AGLOCO™ members:

Sign Up Only Once:

Each person can only sign up once, creating an account for him or herself, and may not establish an account on behalf of anyone else. Accounts cannot be transferred between people, and each account must be for a physical person.

No spamming:

AGLOCO™ strictly forbids spamming to get referrals. This means you can only tell people you know or who explicitly agree to receive your invitation to be referred. If you use spam to try to get referrals, your account will be terminated. For more information, see our Anti-Spam Policy

Number of Internet Hours:

The maximum number of payable hours per month is currently 5. Over time, depending on several variables that number may change at AGLOCO™ ’s discretion. The reason we implemented this limit is to prevent hacking software from continuously clicking and thereby generating online search. Remember you can still increase your profits by referring more people to AGLOCO™.

Active Surfing:

You have to actively surf to earn cash for your online usage. Just keeping a website up does not constitute active surfing. If you use a software piracy device that constantly clicks through websites, AGLOCO™ ’s anti-hacking instruments will detect and – after investigation – disconnect your account. In addition, you have to be an active online Member in order to get the benefit of your referrals' surfing. If you surf only 50% of the maximum payable hours a month, and your referrals each surf 100%, you will be credited with only 50% of the payable surfing time for each referral. See our Global Payments Table for details of payable hours by country.

Accuracy of Information:

All information submitted during signup must be accurate; members who deal with AGLOCO™ in a fraudulent fashion will forfeit their memberships, their account balance, and their referrals. You will have to accept these terms before signing up and being able to download the Viewbare. See our Membership Agreement for more information.

5. Do I need to buy anything?

No, AGLOCO™ Membership is absolutely free. You will never have to buy or sell anything. Simply sign up, download your free copy of the Viewbar™ software, refer your friends and family, and get your share of the Internet!

6. Why is AGLOCO™ giving 100% of its stock to its Members?

We believe the internet should be a platform for users to benefit from, and if anyone generates money from users’ normal online activities, it should be the users themselves.

7. How will you (the Development Team) make money if all the AGLOCO™ shares are given to Members?

AGLOCO™ pays a 10% fee to its management company, much like Tom Cruise has an agent that he pays 10%. In order to make and keep AGLOCO™ a vibrant community it needs to attract the best management it can. Since no stock is given to managers or founders (only Members are issued stock). This fee serves as an incentive to attract the best talent to help run AGLOCO™.

8. What is AGLOCO™ ’s Privacy Policy?

AGLOCO™ is totally committed to your privacy. We do not sell, rent or give away your personally identifiable personal information to any marketer or advertiser. We have a detailed Privacy Policy which explains in plain language how we protect your privacy.

9. What will my shares be worth?

As a profit-seeking venture, the value of the shares will be directly related to the value of the company. Since AGLOCO™ ’s profitability is dependent upon its Members’ internet usage, the greater the number of AGLOCO™ Members the more the shares will be worth. We are currently in the process of listing the company on the London Stock Exchange (AIM). As with any public company, the market will decide what is the fair value of the share.

10. How do I change my personal information?

Go to your profile section to change your information. Don't forget to click on "Save" to upload your profile

11. Can I give my cash and shares directly to charity?

Yes, you will be able to give your cash and/or shares directly to the Charity of your choice. AGLOCO™ will also work with select Charities so as to facilitate donations. In addition, The AGLOCO™ Foundation was set up to promote free access to information across the world. The Development Team has agreed to tender the shares they earn as Founding Members to the Foundation.

12. When can I sell my shares?

Once AGLOCO™ is public, Members will be free to sell their shares through the stock exchange. (see Cash and Shares).

13. Can I have more than one account?

Membership to AGLOCO™ is limited to one account per physical person. Registering under different names will violate the membership rules, and may lead to cancellation of your account.

14. How do I invite others?

Go to the referral center (or click here). It will give you detailed information and a step by step approach on how to refer friends to your network.

15. Why should I invite others?

The more referrals you have the more you can earn and the more powerful your community becomes.

16. Is AGLOCO™ free for everyone?

Yes. AGLOCO™ is free for everyone. There are no hidden fees or premium accounts.

17. How can I get more referrals?

Visit Referral Center for more information (for member only)

18. How valuable can my referrals be?

Go to the share calculator (for member only)

19. Can I refer someone that is already a member?

No. If someone is already a member, he/she cannot become your referral.

20. How many referrals can I have?

As many as you can sign up, there is no limit.

21. Is the AGLOCO™ referral system multi-level marketing?

No. Multi-level marketing involves Members selling products to new Members that they recruit. AGLOCO™ is basically the opposite. No Member ever pays AGLOCO™. Instead, AGLOCO™ gets money from companies (like advertisers, search companies and online merchants) and distributes cash and shares to it Members. See Learn More for more info.

22. How much do I get paid in my country?

Check out the Global Payment Table for details about each active country.

23. What does the Viewbar do?

Go to the Viewbar page for more information on how the Viewbar works (member only)

24. Why can’t I download the viewbar now?

The Viewbar software is currently in closed beta testing (no one is accumulating hours with the beta software). After thorough testing and necessary improvements, it will be released to AGLOCO™ Members on a first come first serve basis (according to the date you signed up to be an AGLOCO™ Member). We are currently allowing our Members full access to the site to build their referral networks. The sooner you sign up, the earlier you will be able to download the Viewbar and start accumulating online hours!

25. Will it be free to download the viewbar?

Yes, it is completely free to download the viewbar. Depending on the speed of your internet connection, the download time may vary from a few to several minutes.

26. Do I need to have the Viewbar up all the time?

No! Currently AGLOCO™ will reward up to five hours a month in Viewbar time. Above that limit, you can keep your Viewbar displayed or minimize it at any time, though most of the Members choose to keep it up. If you don’t want your Viewbar to operate at any specific time, just minimize it and it will stop working. However, you will not earn online hours while your Viewbar is minimized.

27. Will I be able to minimize the viewbar?

Yes! You can minimize the Viewbar any time and it will stop working. However, you will not accumulate any online hours while the Viewbar is minimized.

28. Can I use more than one computer?

You can install the Viewbar™software on multiple computers and get credit for your surfing regardless of which machine you use. However, you cannot use the Viewbar™ on more than one machine simultaneously. Just download and install the Viewbar™ software on each machine you use to surf the Web.

29. How do I change my email address?

You can go to the profile section and change your email address. Don't forget to click on "Save" to upload your profile.

30. What if I want to quit?

There are no obligations to maintain your Membership, you may quit at any time. If you cancel your account, you forfeit any balance accumulated below the minimum payout level. You also forfeit your referral network, although your referrals remain members. Of course, you can rejoin whenever you want but you will start out without any balance or referrals. To cancel your membership, you can send an email to cancelmembership@AGLOCO.com