Influenster - social networking with a purpose (and the great rewards don't hurt either)

For quite some time I have been a member of Influenster and many of you will have seen my blog entries about the great sampler boxes called VoxBoxes. VoxBoxes are the way Influenster rewards its members for their social networking presence and activity.

Many of us spent hours each week on Facebook or read tweets regularly to keep up with what is going on with our friends or what new products have come out. Now you can feel good about spending time online because Influenster will give you a purpose (and a benefit) for staying connected with your friends through social networking.

Do you post to Facebook? Do you like to tweet? Love to share your opinions on social networking pages and enjoy blogging about products, beauty, or other interesting topics? Then Influenster is just the place for you! If you go to influenster.com, the homepage for Influenster, you can find about the reat products that members like me have been able to sample over the last few months.

Go to their home here and sign up to become a member. To determine your interests and in which areas you are particularly active on Facebook and Twitter, Influenster will present a number of surveys. Completing these surveys will give an opportunity to win badges, with some being expert badges and indicating that your social networking presence is outstanding in these areas. Besides the survey, Influenster also learns about you by asking you about your presence on youtube and whether you have blogs. I should make it clear that having a blog is not pre-requisite to being a member of Influenster, but it certainly is helpful. I like working with Influenster because the VoxBoxes provide plenty of material for blog entries and through Influenster encouraging its members to create videos, I am now regularly making videos and including them on my blog. I even have my own youtube channel now.

While this may seem intimidating to some who simply use Facebook ever so often, I really appreciate the fact that Influenster makes my time spend online at social networking sites worthwhile and gives it a purpose. Am I spending more time online than before, not really - but now my online time is being rewarded by having a much more active blog than before Influenster and by spending my time online being productive rather than just playing games.

Just to give a sample of the wonderful things I have gotten through Influenster, here is an image of a more recent VoxBox. Keep in mind that VoxBox is always free, no money is spent by you on these goodies. In exchange for receiving a VoxBox, the companies donating the items want to hear your feedback on their Facebook page or through Twitter. To encourage completion of the feedback, Influenster will have brand-challenges that outline the feedback suggested for each product. Completing these challenges can earn your even more prizes, all for free. I have received extra Ivory soap and press-on nails as rewards. For me, providing the feedback does not require additional encouragement. As I stated, I love getting these products because they provide material for product reviews on my blog. I therefore usually complete my challenges early on and then wait for additional suggestion from your Influenster peers about how they provide feedback.

copyright Durhamonthecheap - a VoxBox filled with goodies that I received for free earlier this year!

Disclaimer: I received several VoxBoxes  in return for honest reviews. The opinions expressed on this blog are solely my own and have not been influenced by Influenster or any other third party.