Knetwit: Share class notes and get free stuff!

What is it?

Have you ever shared your notes with a classmate, or copied someone else’s notes after missing class?  What if you could get paid for doing just that?  If that appeals to you, check out Knetwit, a knowledge-sharing site with a really cool twist.

How does it work?

Here’s how it works: you upload your class notes and study guides to the site, where they can be accessed  and downloaded by other users.  You earn points, called “Koin” for uploading notes, referring friends who join, and every time someone downloads your notes.  Koin can be redeemed at the Knetwit Store for cash or merchandise including iPods, game consoles and TV’s.  You also receive “knowledge points” and “community points” which indicate your standing and credibility, and affect how many Koin you earn for each action.

The site is supported by advertisements, so there is no cost to join.  Presumably, the business model is based on the assumption that the site will make more money from advertisements than it pays out to members.

Who benefits the most?

Freshmen have the most to gain by using this site.  Every year, thousands of freshmen take required general ed courses that are taught by the same professors using the same lesson plans as last year.  Professors who teach the same class year after year often teach and test exactly the same way every time.  This means that notes and study guides created last year aren’t necessarily out of date, but can be tremendously useful to current students.  I now wish I had hung onto my notes from freshman year so I could transcribe and upload them.  I’m now in a specialized masters degree program with a much smaller potential audience for my notes.

My experience with Knetwit

I’ve uploaded notes from one class I took last semester, and the first half of a class I’m taking right now.  That earned me enough Koin that I could cash in for $10 right now if I wanted to.  The money would be sent to my PayPal account.  I’ve decided to try to earn enough points for an Amazon Kindle.

Tips

• Knetwit gives points on a per instance basis.  That means every upload earns you the same number of points regardless of how big it is.  If you have all your notes for the semester in one document, you should split them up by day.
• You get twice as many points for referring friends as you do from uploading notes.  After you join, you will receive a unique referral code you can invite your friends to use.  Obviously, the more users Knetwit has, the more useful it will be, so it makes sense for them to set it up this way.
• Knetwit users can rate the quality of your notes.  This affects how many points you get for each action, so it makes sense to upload good quality notes.

Update: Knetwit has vastly expanded your choice of merchandise for which to trade your koin.  Click here to read more.

If you found this post useful, please consider joining Knetwit through my referral link: http://www.knetwit.com?referred_by=12446

© 2008 – 2009, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.