When legendary webmaster Steve Lightspeed started 2Hot4FB.com about a year ago, he and other pioneers of e-commerce had arrived at a point where old revenue streams had stagnated. This was due largely to content piracy, but also because of emerging technologies that suddenly made every-damn-body a webmaster.
Social media, especially, allows models, performers and amateurs more control than ever over their content and careers, and since new-generation industry players were born with cellphones in their hands…
So, back at Lightspeed Media HQ, Steve Lightspeed was feeling a little … subdued. Effectively pushed out of a game he helped invent, Lightspeed went back to basics, honing his programming skills and looking for new angles.
“Tubes have made most content people poor,” he told YNOT. “Like I said, I feel like I’ve been humbled. I want to help even the playing field and get content people back into the game.
“I only came back to adult,” he added, “because I thought 2Hot was such a great idea.”
2Hot4FB.com allows models to post provocative images across several social networks — some, like Facebook, with strict standards policies — and potentially get bigger bang from time invested promoting on platforms less-used by adult brands. Google+, Pinterest and StumbleUpon are on the list.
“We actively review all uploads from all users [in order] to maintain the integrity of the system and keep everyone safe from banning,” Lightspeed explained. Models — or anyone with standards-sensitive images — can use stickers to block out their naughty bits and save time by posting ‘approved’ content to multiple platforms.
“2Hot has a few hundred contributors now,” he said. “I don’t think there is a better way for adult companies to get traffic from Facebook. It’s like a super-affiliate system. The app is useful for anyone with content, traffic or contacts. [It] works well for photographers, too. They can put their photos into the system and give links to their models to post for fans. The models get good, free, authorized content, and the photographer earns money for the traffic.
“There is also a built-in revshare and referral system, so people not only make money for posting their own photos, but they can post each others’ photos, and also earn money by recruiting other models into the system,” he added.
Lightspeed knows how to exploit the impulsive siren call of temptation. That’s how he made his bones in the adult industry: His kingdom was the the solo-girl niche, and he cornered the market by giving horny surfers the kind of content they could find nowhere else … until everyone else discovered how profitable Lightspeed’s corner of the web could be.
2Hot4FB offers all kinds of fun stuff to play with:
The Stalk-O-Matic alerts fans every time a model posts.
Featured profile posts introduce models who are new to the network.
Tutorial tips and tricks reveal how to maximize promotions.
Contributors are allowed five outgoing links, so they can send traffic to their sites.
What’s New and What’s Hot lists and a daily contest called ‘Head2Head’ provide extra exposure in a fun format.
Butt-loads of stickers and four photo editors offer a wide range of options for image manipulation.
Sounds cool, right? Lightspeed thinks so.
“We have many users earning hundreds per month; several making over $1,000,” he said. “Our contributors have posted over 11,000 photos on Facebook, and we haven’t lost any accounts.”
Picture courtesy Miss Mischief
