Pay to surf
{{Short description|Paying to surf certain aspects of the Web.}}
{{Update|date=July 2023}}
Pay to surf (PTS) is an online business model which gained popularity in the late 1990’s and experienced a significant decline following the dot-com crash.{{Cite magazine |last=Finley |first=Klint |title=This Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/story/brave-browser-will-pay-surf-web/ |access-date=2022-03-23 |issn=1059-1028}} PTS companies advertised their main advantage as sharing the advertising revenue with their user base in a form of rewards for watching promotional content over the web. In order to participate, users would need to install software that tracked their browsing activities and displayed targeted advertisements. Ultimately, users receive financial compensation for their time spent browsing the web.{{Cite web|date=2019-03-10|title=PAY TO SURF 2019|url=https://mceconomist.com/pay-to-surf/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=McEconomist|language=es-ES|archive-date=2021-11-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123144321/https://mceconomist.com/pay-to-surf/|url-status=dead}}
Process
A PTS company provided their members with a program to be installed on personal computers which facilitated the display of advertiser banner ads while a member browsed the web. As the company's view bar software allows tracking of websites that the user visited, the PTS company was able to display targeted ads for their advertisers.{{Cite news |last=Guernsey |first=Lisa |date=1999-07-01 |title=Can It Pay to Surf the Web? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/01/technology/can-it-pay-to-surf-the-web.html |access-date=2022-03-24 |issn=0362-4331}} These advertisers paid the PTS company a small amount (typically US$0.50) for every hour a member surfed the internet.{{Cite web |title=Brave Browser Will Pay You to View Ads (But There's a Catch) |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/brave-browser-will-pay-you-to-view-ads-but-theres-a-catch |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=PCMAG |language=en}}
PTS Member payments were typically finite due to the limited amount of time per month (typically 20 hours) for which they could surf, and the fee that they paid each new member referred to the company (typically US$0.05–0.10 per recruit). A member was able to recruit as many new members as possible, and to make a profit encouraged some users to spam referrals. This action was officially forbidden per the User's Agreement and strictly regulated, especially among minors, who needed the consent of their parents or legal guardians to use this business model.
PTS companies
AllAdvantage is an example of a company which used a PTS business model.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/308723.stm|work=BBC|title=It pays to surf|date=1999-04-06|accessdate=2017-07-20}} It launched in March 1999 and grew to 13 million members after one year of launching using the multi-level marketing system of recruiting new members. The scheme largely capitalized on the notion that anyone could make money on the internet with little effort, under the slogan "Get Paid to Surf the Web".{{Cite news |last=Guernsey |first=Lisa |date=1999-07-01 |title=Can It Pay to Surf the Web? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/01/technology/can-it-pay-to-surf-the-web.html |access-date=2022-03-27 |issn=0362-4331}}
PTS companies attracted people who attempted to defraud the company out of money and members of the company were frequently forced to terminate their accounts due to spammers. Software utilities started appearing which allowed users to simulate surfing activity {{cite magazine|title=It Pays to Cheat, Not Surf|date=2000-07-10|author=Y. Peter Kang|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2000/07/it-pays-to-cheat-not-surf/|accessdate=2017-07-20}}{{cite news|title=Pay-To-Surf Pyramid Schemes Abound - And Work, For Some|date=1999-12-12|first1=Ariana|last1=Eunjung Cha|first2=Leslie|last2=Walker|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19991212/3000917/pay-to-surf-pyramid-schemes-abound---and-work-for-some|work=The Seattle Times|access-date=2017-07-20|archive-date=2017-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107112305/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19991212&slug=3000917|url-status=live}} and some users also created mechanical mouse-moving devices which ran around their desks (i.e. "JiggyMouse").{{cite news|title=Can It Pay to Surf the Web?|date=1999-06-01|author=Lisa Guernsey|work=The New York Times|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E6DB163DF932A35754C0A96F958260&pagewanted=all|accessdate=2017-07-20}} These programs and devices allowed users to get paid simply for leaving their computers on. This trend began an arms race between the PTS companies who built fraud-prevention software to avoid such exploitation of the model, and fraud program developers attempting to find flaws in this software, where each would release increasingly sophisticated versions of their software. However, by late 2001 with the dot-com bubble's collapse,{{cite news |last1=DARRAH |first1=KIM |title=Paying people to surf the web cruises back into fashion |url=https://sifted.eu/articles/gener8/ |access-date=24 March 2022 |date=2020}} major PTS companies went out of business, as their sole revenue source was internet advertising.{{cite web|url=http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Media/Articles/cb3df939c58544df9ba33c64dc3d076e/Yellowbubble-finally-bursts.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929004709/http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/Media/Articles/cb3df939c58544df9ba33c64dc3d076e/Yellowbubble-finally-bursts.html |archive-date=2011-09-29 |title=Yellowbubble finally bursts |publisher=Centaur Communications |date=2011-10-19 |accessdate=2017-07-20}}
The few surviving PTS companies{{which|date=May 2023}} mostly operate on a rewards-based structure where users surf the web or do tasks such as answering marketing email and shopping at specific stores to obtain reward points that can be exchanged for gifts.{{cite news |last1=Carr |first1=David |title=Media Talk; In Quest for Revenue, Web Magazine Dangles Pay-and-Surf Incentives |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/22/business/mediatalk-in-quest-for-revenue-web-magazine-dangles-pay-and-surf-incentives.html |access-date=24 March 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=2003}}{{Cite book|title=Creating a Winning E-Business|last1=Napier|first1=H. Albert|last2=Rivers|first2=Ollie N.|last3=Wagner|first3=Stuart|publisher=Cengage Learning|year=2006|isbn=0619217421|location=Boston, MA|pages=48}}{{citation needed|date=May 2023|reason=Not supported by either reference. The first describes promotions by Salon magazine, the second describes eBay}} Startups such as Agloco rehashed the concept as "pay-you-for-your-attention" scheme wherein an Internet user is paid in exchange for the surfing interruption or paid in exchange for information about themselves and their Internet habits.{{Cite book|title=Winning Results with Google AdWords, Second Edition|last=Goodman|first=Andrew|publisher=McGraw Hill Professional|year=2009|isbn=9780071595742|location=New York|pages=6}} A web browser called Brave offered income-sharing feature with its users who opt to view its advertisements.{{Cite web|url=https://hub.packtpub.com/brave-launches-its-brave-ads-platform-sharing-70-of-the-ad-revenue-with-its-users/|title=Brave launches its Brave Ads platform sharing 70% of the ad revenue with its users|date=2019-04-25|website=Packt Hub|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-06}} It was designed by JavaScript creator Brendan Eich and Brian Bondy.{{Cite web|url=https://fossbytes.com/best-web-browsers-for-pc/|title=11 Best Web Browsers For Windows To Access Your Favorite Sites In 2019|last=Tiwari|first=Aditya|date=2019-01-17|website=Fossbytes|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-06}} Brave also proposed an alternate way of compensation for browsing, as users were given tokens, promised that they will eventually be exchangeable for dollars, operating in a similar manner to cryptocurrency.