Influenster Launches New Website!

Influenster has completely revamped their website and just this week re-launched. In case you have never heard of Influenster it is a community of trendsetters who receive products to test and review and then share with their friends and social media followers. There are sixteen different "badges" that you can qualify depending on your interests, hobbies and activities - everything from Eco to Beauty Queen. Influensters are selected to receive Vox Boxes (each one is a different theme) based on their interests and level of participation. Unlike some programs Influenster sends full size products AND they reward you further for your participation and input, you can earn "Brand Badges" and receive additional goodies, how fun is that? 

So earlier this week Influenster relaunched their website and they wanted me to share with you girls and guys (yes guys can join Influenster too!) my thoughts on the new site and help spread the word. Having joined Influenster last December I was familiar with the original site. So I logged in to Influenster the other day and at first was a little alarmed because none of my previous information and the links to my social media accounts weren't there, yikes! Miss Jackie came of age when computers weren't commonplace and I cringe whenever there are changes whether it be to Facebook or Influenster's web site. I must say I was amazed at how easy the new site is to navigate and I had my whole profile set up within ten minutes.

The new Influenster site is set up to reward meaningful input/reviews of products which I agree with.  There are some new badges and Influenster has put a limit on the number of "Expert" badges you can earn, each member can have five which I agree with too. The new site is also set up to calculate your "score" based on your social media presence which as a blogger I appreciate. I know that some members have concerns or are upset about the new system for scoring but I have almost 20,000 followers between all my social media accounts (Google+, You Tube, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter) so my reach is much higher than someone who has say 200 Facebook friends. I know that some people feel that is unfair and maybe some of you do too but I understand Influenster's logic with the scoring it makes sense to have a higher score the higher your social media reach. I have spent almost a year with my blog working very hard to gain 20,000 followers with hours spent every night on giveaways, posts etc.

The only concern I have with Influenster's new website is the rating system for reviews that you write. There is now a thumbs up and thumbs down option where fellow Influensters can give your a review one or the other if they so choose. Here's my issue with the new system - I see the possibility for cheating. As a blogger I see what are known as "Alexa Hops" in different Facebook blogger groups - bloggers help each other improve their scores by visiting each other's blogs and commenting etc. The same thing goes on with non-bloggers too, I know of three Facebook groups where folks who like to enter blog giveaways and Facebook giveaways get together and vote for each other or click "like" to help their friends win. I do not want to turn this in to a debate, I am not criticizing bloggers or those who help each other out with giveaways. My point is I see the potential for some Influensters to get their friends to go and give them a thumbs up to jack their Influenster score up. Which isn't fair to members who don't try to get around the system. I am not criticizing Influenster, no system is perfect and never will be. And there will always be cheaters, I have dealt with a few myself who cheated to win my giveaways. I just feel that tying a members score to the thumbs up/down system leaves the door open for those who cheat to get ahead.

If you are an Influenster make sure to go log in and check out the new site, right now they have a Bride To Be and a Naturals program running and they are in the process of launching a Beauty Blogger program with several more programs to come before the end of the year.

If you aren't an Influenster go sign up HERE, and tell them Miss Jackie sent you! It really is a great program and a lot of fun.  You can check Influenster out on FACEBOOK too.