Slashdot Mirror
Netropolitan Is a Facebook For the Affluent, and It's Only $9000 To Join
MojoKid writes Facebook has become too crowded and too mundane. With around 1.3 billion Facebook users, it's understandable to be overwhelmed by everything and want to get away from it all. However, unlike Facebook which is looking to connect everyone to the internet, there is a new site called Netropolitan that focuses more on exclusivity and privacy. The site was founded by composer and former conductor of the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra James Touchi-Peters who wanted to provide a social media site for affluent and accomplished individuals. People wishing to join need only pay a mere $9,000 to join. Of that amount, $6,000 is the initiation fee and the remaining $3,000 is for the annual membership fee which users will continue to pay. So what does the initiation and annual fee get you? For starters, Netropolitan will offer an ad-free experience and will not promote any kind of paid promotions to its members. However, it will allow the creation of groups by businesses in which members can advertise to each other under certain guidelines.
That is an awesome scam. You get them to give you obscene amounts of money and they'll even feel good about it.
That $9000 bouncer will be just as happy to let in every reality TV star, pop artist, flash-in-the-pan record producer, a
Those TV and music starlets will stay on FB because they want and need to stay in touch with their fans.
The wealthy have always segregated themselves. That $10k membership fee in the golf club is not because keeping the grass short is so expensive, either. It is to make sure everyone you meet there is in your class.
Frankly speaking, I'm mostly surprised that this doesn't already exist.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Frankly speaking, I'm mostly surprised that this doesn't already exist.
It does exist, but it's in a real-world setup. You know, if you want to have a discussion with your buddy that lives 1,500 miles away, you can email/chat/facebook/twitter them. And there you are, holding your $device in your hand looking silly to anyone that's not doing the same. But you don't see really wealthy people standing around with their eyes glued to some $device. That's because they can just get in their private jet and go talk to their friends, or vice versa. They can afford the time to do so because they have people that do their lawn, people that clean their houses, and people that make them money. Rich people would have the poorer people believe that time=money, but they know that time is waaay more valuable than money. If you spend your time making money, then they can spend their time living life.
So what we have is not so much the need for a private club that keeps the 99% out, as it is a need for a free place for the 99% to go to stay out of the way of those in the 1%.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
A private domain for all the stuff you only want to share with close associates doesn't sound useful to you?
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter results in my google searches are just noise that I have to filter out.
A big part of exclusivity is secrecy. The most exclusive establishments do not advertise. Their names are passed around hand to hand. The simple fact that we the unwashed masses know about this service means its ill suited for its purpose.
Perhaps it might serve as an effective trap for the new rich... but the whole thing strikes me as more then a little absurd. Especially when you can find the royal families of a few countries on Facebook.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
The fact that it would give them credibility by immediately doubling their user base?
People.
The reason is people.
They put their bar and siting room and tennis court in their leaflets, but you buy your membership because of who is sitting, drinking and playing there. And the information they have.
bickerdyke
There was one club around here kind of like that, a truly world-class golf course that has hosted 3-4 majors in the last 30 years. Their clubhouse was a dump and it allowed them to get serious golf members who didn't care about embroidered hand towels.
The irony with a lot of the old-money exclusive clubs is that their courses may be challenging for amateurs, they're not capable of hosting major men's tournaments. Not enough yardage. A big name professional came in for a one day, high dollar "seminar" and the story was he was driving balls off the tees past the greens.
Frankly, the "opulence" is way less than you think. The facilities are more like a shop-worn high-end hotel, 5 years overdue for a remodeling. There's no models as waitresses, the clubs have to compete for waitstaff against real restaurants that turn a lot of tables. If you're a hot waitress you'll make a ton more money at a trendy new place that's booked three weeks out or some corporate expense steak place where a tab for four runs $500+.
I'm often at a loss why someone would join -- they're nice, but not THAT nice. Most decent cities have more good restaurants than you can visit fast enough before the celebrity chef moves on to some other new, high-end place. The facilities aren't that great and for the kind of money it costs you could certainly get into a lot of other luxury experiences.