Gather.com Offers Rewards for New Members

Online social network Gather.com is giving its reward program members extra incentives to recruit friends and colleagues to join the site.

The company has kicked off a two-week “Invite-a-thon” where every Gather.com Points Program member who recruits a new member will be entered, with his or her friend, in a daily drawing to win bonus points. Two grand-prize winners will receive $100 back-to-school gift packs with gift cards from Gather’s retailer partners.

Members and their friends also will have a chance to win $500 in points toward gift cards from national vendors under the offer, which runs through Aug. 15.

The incentive follows the company’s recent expansion of its Points Program. Under it, members can redeem gift cards from major retailers. New vendors include Starbucks, Target, Amazon.com and Gap. In addition, members with the most active status on the site each month will receive $50 in bonus points, which can be redeemed for cash.

This year alone, members have redeemed more than $120,000 in points for use at retail stores this year, Gather.com said.

Some 500,000 people belong to the rewards program, which launched in November 2005. The site receives more than 1 million unique visitors each month. Membership has soared 173% since 2007, the company said. On the site, members post photos, videos, their thoughts and talk about the day’s hottest topics.

For more coverage on games, contests & sweepstakes