Timotheus Update: This post was originally published on 21 November 2019 on this website – Passive Online Revenue. Due to rebranding and consolidation of the two sites, the post is now on this website – https://timotheuslee.com/reviews/webtalk-review-scam-or-legit/
Over a year ago, I first received an invite to join Webtalk. Curious to find out what it was all about, I joined. And today, here is my Webtalk Review – Scam or Legit? post to share with you what I have discovered since.
So, can people really earn big money with Webtalk? Is it a scam? Or a legit business? All great questions. Read on to find out.
Meanwhile, if you are curious to know more about WebTalk, here is a video to watch and learn.
Webtalk Review – The Overview, Ranking, Pros & Cons
Here is an overview of what I think of Webtalk. But I still think it is better to read the entire review to find out more before you decide whether to join this platform or not.
Name: Webtalk
Owner: RJ Garbowicz
Website: www. webtalk. co
Business Type: Social Network – have some semblance of LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and The Marketplace. Also, Multi-Level Marketing.
Price: Free for now. Premium options available – see What Do I Get When I Join WebTalk?. You must be referred by a real member; I.e. By Invitation Only.
Commissions: $1 per direct referral, $1 per your referral signups (up to 5 levels) – only for premium members, free members get only 1st level
Minimum Payout: Cash out at $100, pays out on 28th of every month
Webtalk Review
What Are the Pros of WebTalk?
– Free to join
– Able to segment network; for example friends, family, professional contacts
– Showcase your professional data, business, products and services
– Be part of the 1st million members referral program and you get paid for life
– 5 Levels Deep Commissions – $1 for all referrals with 5 Levels of Referrals.
– Affiliate credit for every piece of content
What Are the Cons of WebTalk?
– Not suitable for people who want to use social media only for social purposes
– Paid subscription options
– Free account – Limited to 50 contacts
– Still in Beta phase – So, you don’t get paid until they are no longer beta and have reached 1 million members (the latter has been achieved)
What is The Better Alternative to WebTalk?
If after just reading this summary above, and you are ready to consider a better alternative – I have my Number One Recommendation. This is for anyone who wishes to start an online business or do affiliate marketing.
Not decided yet? Please continue to read this review.
What is WebTalk All About?
Someone in my network introduced WebTalk to me. This was over a year ago. With the introduction, there was a marketing message that had an attractive selling point – that those who joined as one of the 1st one million on WebTalk will get at least 10% revenue share for life!
My first thought was Wow! Then I read further and the message said that social networks were earning billions but keeping the profits to themselves (and of course the owners and shareholders). WebTalk wants to be different, and give back to the users of their service.
Nice spiel. As I thought of what was being offered, I felt a Red Flag hoisting in my mind.
First of all, I found out that later WebTalk clarified that they meant the first one million paid subscriptions. The people who joined free, and stayed as free accounts do not count. And to date, they have yet to reach that first one million paid subscriptions (or so they claimed).
Next, 10% of revenue share? I know what this means. Most times, it would end up as very little. After all the expenses and taxes.
Next Red Flag? WebTalk wants to be the next Facebook. With elements of LinkedIn.
Just like Facebook, it is a social network where you can share pictures, files, posts, and more. And you can share all these with your friends, family, business peers, consumers, and anyone else in the network.
Just like LinkedIn, you can connect with businesses, peers, professional contacts, and share pictures, files, posts, and more with them. Similar to LinkedIn, you can try to find people and businesses to work with or promote your products and services to.
But wait? Isn’t that so familiar? Didn’t Facebook try this before? What was it called? I can’t remember. It was many years ago, and when I checked, this feature no longer exists. Hmmm … If Facebook can’t even make it, can WebTalk?
Today, that feature that Facebook tried has now evolved to Workplace Facebook. In addition, Facebook has added the Jobs feature. With these two, Facebook is more a competitor for LinkedIn than WebTalk. And WebTalk has a lot to catch up.
All this, and yet, WebTalk has gone around to proclaim that they would be the most disruptive technology of the 21st century. Sorry, guys. What you are doing is NOT disruptive. And doing something that others have tried and failed is NOT disruptive. In fact, it borders on insanity.
“Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results”
unknown
Don’t get me wrong. If this is disruptive and really a great new business or better way to do business, then I am all for it. And so, I was still looking for the plus point. The Unique Selling Point that would set WebTalk apart from the others. And have me convinced that this is a great opportunity. So far, there was and still is none.
Another Red Flag – Nothing new. No unique selling point.
Yet, they are projecting that their membership would grow to 2 billion in the next five years. Really? That is ambitious. But then again, sure. People might join out of curiosity. Ultimately, WebTalk needs to offer a service that they cannot find elsewhere. A service that can help their businesses grow.
In the end, we have to look at the Monthly Active Users. This will tell us that people found the service useful, and are active on the platform. In addition, besides being active on the platform, users have to know how their activities on WebTalk can grow their businesses, and help them succeed.
According to Bold Business, WebTalk has 520,000 monthly active users as of June 2019. This is quite sad comparing to Facaebook that has 2.4 Billion monthly active users. YouTube has 1.9 Billion monthly active users. Instagram has 1 Billion monthly active users. And even Pinterest has 291 million monthly active users.
Red Flag – 8 years, and only 520,000 Monthly Active Users. Not attractive to advertisers or entrepreneurs.
Sure, you might argue that WebTalk is still relatively new. Hate to ruin WebTalk for you but they have been around since 2011. Eight years in the market as a social media network is considered a long time.
Why is WebTalk Still in the Beta Testing stage?
Speaking of the length of time WebTalk has been around, they are still in Beta stage. I found the FAQ where they explained that the reason they are still in Beta is because the product is not 100% completed.
Seriously? Eight years and still in beta? They need to get better programmers.
Big Red Flag – For all who have joined earlier as one of the 1 million members (and I believe I am one of them), please take note that as long as they are in Beta mode, you do not get that paid for life promise that they gave.
Is WebTalk a MLM (Multi Level Marketing) Business?
Yes, it is. And you know how much I do not like MLM (Multi Level Marketing). Sure, there are those that have made lots of money doing MLM. But these are usually the first group of people who joined. And they are usually at the top tier.
So many people have lost money and time doing MLM. It is horrifying to see so many given false hopes only to have them dashed after spending years of effort.
Biggest Red Flag – Read my article about MLM and discover why I discourage you from doing MLM.
Who is RJ Garbowicz?
The owner and founder of WebTalk is RJ Garbowicz. The interesting thing I found out about him was that he used to be the founder of another social network and MLM called YourNight. It failed in less than twelve months.
Ok, I have nothing against people who tried and failed. And also nothing against people who tried, failed and tried again with the same thing. I am all for learning from mistakes and doing it better next time round.
While I have never encountered YourNight, I seriously wonder if Garbowicz has learned anything from that past failure? If he did, would he make WebTalk better? Would he make it a success?
Red Flag – When I go to the Investors page, I see his photo and a brief bio. But when I clicked on the button to see his profile, I am led to the main page. No profile. The CEO and founder of WebTalk does not use his own product?
How is Webtalk is Different from The Other Social Networks?
I truly wonder how? So far, I never liked the claim that they are going to be the next Facebook. It showed a lack of originality. And there had been so many before who made the same claim. And today, Facebook is as strong as ever. In fact, recent statistics have shown that more people are joining Facebook or back on Facebook.
Added to that, WebTalk has paid premium membership options. And you get more features after you pay. Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as the other social networks, never had that. If this is how WebTalk is setting the brand apart from the others, it is not an attractive plus point. In fact, it is a barrier.
Yet, at the same time, I can see the need for pay-for-premium in order for the MLM part of WebTalk to work. And this adds to the many reasons why I find MLM not a good business to go into.
Red Flag – Nothing new. No unique selling point.
What Do I Get When I Join WebTalk?
As established above, it is free to join WebTalk. Free WebTalk members can add up to 50 contacts.
But to get a premium WebTalk membership, you will need to pay. Here is how:
WebTalk Pro
– $20 per month, or $200 per year
– You will get to add up to 500 contacts
– You can send 5 messages a month to WebTalk members that are not connected to you
– You will not see any banner ads
– You will be able to see who has viewed your profile
WebTalk Pro Plus
– $30 per month, or $300 per year
– You will get to add up to 1000 contacts
– You can send 10 messages a month to WebTalk members that are not connected to you
– You can send 10 email messages
– You will not see any banner ads
– You will be able to see who has viewed your profile
WebTalk Pro Platinum
– $40 per month, or $400 per year
– You will get to add unlimited contacts
– You can send 20 messages a month to WebTalk members that are not connected to you
– You can send 20 email messages
– You will not see any banner ads
– You will be able to see who has viewed your profile
– You will be able to search members based on age and gender
As you can see from the above, what you get as you go up the upgrade ladder are not really fantastic benefits. You can get and use most of the added features on other social networks that you do not need to pay anything at all.
How Do I Make Money on WebTalk?
From what I understand, having a premium membership does not mean you can get paid any commissions through the compensation plan. Yes, you read it right. The subscription fees above do not guarantee you the opportunity to make money on WebTalk.
You have to have at least one paid member who is personally referred by you, and have a premium membership to qualify for the residual commissions.
Should you qualify for the commissions, here are the rates:
– 10% of premium subscription fees paid by personally referred WebTalk members
– 10% of ad budget spent by personally referred advertisers
– 10% of advertised local services purchased through WebTalk
– 2% to 9% of commission generated if a product is purchased through the WebTalk news feed
– 5% of app subscriptions sold via an in-house app store
In addition, as mentioned above, if you are banking on being one of the first one million members to get the revenue share for life, remember the million has to be premium members. Plus, WebTalk must be out of Beta stage, which seems forever to happen.
WebTalk Review – Passive Online Revenue Final Word
Legit but …
The biggest flaw in WebTalk is the MLM. One of the biggest peeve I have with MLM is that, instead of focusing and growing our own business, we end up being recruiters.
I don’t want to do that. I want to have my own online business. And I want to grow that business, and be successful. I don’t want to spend most of my time recruiting people. If I want to do that, I would have become a recruiter from day one.
And I use social networks to help me promote my business toward the goal of growing and making it successful. This takes a lot of time and effort. Which I have spent on established social media such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. Each has given me their unique value for marketing.
For me to switch to WebTalk, the platform has to give me something very worth my while. It must provide me so much value that I would move my social media marketing efforts to their platform. Plus, with only 520,000 monthly unique visitors, brands will wonder if it is really worth putting time and effort there.
Additionally, WebTalk has not given any good value or reason. All they can think of is the promise of 10% of shared revenue. But with conditions that seem to never happen. When will they reach that first one million paid subscriber? And more importantly, when will they get out of Beta testing?
The latter seems to be going on forever. The excuse that they are at beta testing stage because they have yet to be 100% complete will soon run dry.
Let me share this honestly – many apps, programs and platforms are released with some bugs. And even after release, as they update, there can be new bugs. So, there is never really 100% complete.
As such, all of us who are waiting for that shared revenue, can wait forever.
There are better programs out there. Instead of waiting for that first one million paid member and for the platform to get out of Beta stage, there are programs that are already paying for your time and efforts. One of them is Wealthy Affiliate. It is my Number One Recommendation for anyone who wishes to start an online business or do affiliate marketing.
My #1 Recommendation
I still prefer Wealthy Affiliate. If you are serious about making money online, this is the program for you. Best part? There is Free Training.
(Try for Free, No Risk, and No Credit Card Required)
If you have ANY questions about this review – WebTalk Review – Scam or Legit?, ANY at all, please submit your questions as comments below. I will be happy to help out.
Thank you for reading this.
Best Wishes to All!
Timotheus
I agree totally with your review on WebTalk, I joined and at first, it seemed to be a great alternative to Facebook since it was a business networking site.
Now it is just a small group of the same people posting their business products and services on the site, you will find very little social interaction, not even business networking discussions exist on this site.
I rejoined Wealthy Affiliate recently and I recommend this as your best training/business networking site to hang out on. I suggest you join as a free member to test it out first, and then if you find it is right for you to upgrade to the premium member.
Jeff
From my own experience, WebTalk is a waste of your time,
but that is just my own opinion.
Thanks for your testimony, Jeff. And additional proof that WebTalk is not a really good option. They truly lost the ‘social’ part of social media.
Like you said, it has become a site where people are just selling and selling their products. There is no interest to build communities and relationships. People go to social media platforms to socialize. To make friends. To be part of communities. The business part is usually secondary.
When people need to find products or services, they go to search engines to find them. Not on social media platforms.
Thanks for the Wealthy Affiliate recommendation. Yes, from my over 20 years experience, this is definitely the best program to join. So much value. Plus, when people join using the link here, they get me as their mentor. To guide them and help them achieve success with their online business.
Have a great day and weekend! 🙂
I didn’t know about WebTalk. Thanks for the detailed and informative review.
You’re welcome. Glad this helped you be aware of WebTalk. If you have any further points to clarify, please feel free to reply to this comment.
Thank you for this comprehensive review of WebTalk. I have wondered about WebTalk for a long time. Like you, a friend invited me to join WebTalk and I did.
I needed someone to explain in detail how WebTalk functions so that I could judge if it is a scam or not and make an informed decision about it.
Looking at those WebTalk paid for premium membership levels, it stinks of MLM levels to me. On this point alone, I am going to cancel my account.
Then there are all those red flags you raised. It is pretty obvious to me now that there is no money to be made within WebTalk and it’s not worth joining for anything else they offer as it doesn’t work too.
Thank you very much for this review. it was worth my read.
MidSummer
I had bad experiences with MLMs. Yes, plural. Tried quite a few. Always end up spending and not making money. And it was so tiring to try to keep recruiting people. And I can see in your comment that you must have had similar experiences. So, I agree with you that that point alone, that WebTalk is MLM, is sufficient to not continue with them.
And you are welcome. I did my best, and I am glad what I shared has given you more information, and helped you decide if you should stay with WebTalk.
Thank you for dropping by. Please join my mailing list and you will receive updates as I intend to publish more reviews, and help people decide which is the best program for them. Like everyone, I too have to be careful with my budget.
I had joined Webtalk a while back when a friend invited me to join but I never really had the chance to look at it till now. I am sure glad I read your review it has really enlightened me of what Webtalk really is. I was thinking another social site and had no idea it was more of an MLM, that is something I am not wanting involved in. Thanks for the review and saving me so much time.
You’re welcome Dena. Glad to be of help. And glad you found the review useful.
This is what my reviews are for – to help people save time on research, to help people to find the right products or services that match their needs.
Like Dena I too was invited to join Webtalk by a friend. However, it didn’t take long for me to lose interest. It seems to be a platform where people are more interested in hyping product than making real connections. Also, the fact that it’s an MLM convinced me that Webtalk is a waste of time, and I have never gone back. Excellent review that tells the “hard truths” not only about Webtalk but also those of similar ilk.
Thanks Thabo! Glad you found this review excellent. Hard truths are sometimes hard to say. But I have had enough of all the misinformation out there. In fact, while I was researching on WebTalk, I was shocked to see some people still recommend it.
And thanks for your personal testimonial that aligns with my review – that WebTalk is where people are more interested to push their products than to connect, build relationships and communities. Very much like LinkedIn where I receive messages from people peddling their wares every day.
Ah, thanks for this review very helpful. I was invited by someone in a business group and thought I would look into it. But I decided I was not a big fan, for the very reasons you have highlighted here.
Glad this review helped you, Ben. Yes, I would not get into WebTalk at all. I am constantly writing reviews. To get email notifications when I publish them, please join my I Love Passive Income communityI Love Passive Income community. See you there! 🙂
Like!! I blog frequently and I really thank you for your content. The article has truly peaked my interest.
Yes, WebTalk is of interest to many people these days. Glad my article can help. Please do join my I Love Passive Income Community for more reviews and ideas to create passive income. 🙂
Lol, Wealthy Affiliate is the biggest scam of all.
Thank you for your view. May I know why you say that? Also, what do you consider as a better affiliate marketing training program than Wealthy Affiliate?
I am sincerely asking because so far I’ve found Wealthy Affiliate to be the best and most affordable training program for affiliate marketing.
Everyone I recommend to, even the lecturers at the University where I teach, find it to be excellent too.