In early 2009, I got one of those emails that makes you tilt your head sideways. Someone wanted me to check out a Facebook application called TextToChat. The app let people on your Facebook profile chat with you via text message. You would see a web-based chat window and the other person would communicate through SMS on their phone.

The concept was genuinely clever for its time. I installed it, tested it, and it mostly worked, though I could receive texts but not reply from my phone. Not ideal. But the technology was not the interesting part of this story.

The MLM Angle

TextToChat cost $6 per month. For each person you referred, you earned $2 of their monthly fee. On top of that, you earned $0.25 for every person your referrals brought in, stacking all the way down to eight levels deep. The app was not being marketed as a useful communication tool. It was being marketed as a money-making opportunity.

This was one of the earlier examples of multi-level marketing tactics being bolted onto a social media application, and it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The product itself had potential, but the compensation structure meant that most of the energy around TextToChat was about recruiting, not about whether the app actually improved anyone's Facebook experience.

Why This Still Matters

TextToChat is long gone, but the pattern it pioneered has repeated itself countless times since then. We have seen MLM structures attached to social media tools, messaging apps, crypto tokens, AI tools, and just about every category of digital product imaginable. The playbook is always the same: take something that has genuine utility, attach a referral compensation structure, and watch the marketing shift from product benefits to income opportunity.

The problem is not referral programs themselves. Affiliate marketing is a legitimate business model that I have been involved with since 2007. The problem is when the compensation structure becomes the primary reason people promote a product. When the pitch is about how much money you can make rather than how useful the product is, you have crossed into territory that erodes trust with your audience.

How to Evaluate These Opportunities

In 2026, you will still encounter products and platforms that offer multi-level compensation structures. Before you promote anything like this to your audience, ask yourself two questions. First, would you use and recommend this product if there were no compensation at all? Second, is the product being marketed primarily on its features or primarily on the income opportunity?

If the honest answer to the first question is no, or if the marketing leads with income potential rather than product value, that is a signal to walk away. Your audience's trust is worth more than a few dollars in referral commissions.

The best way to build a sustainable online business is to recommend things you genuinely use and believe in. That was true when TextToChat was trying to make Facebook into an MLM, and it is even more true now.