Are brands’ incentives bad for social networks?

Studies show that people who are paid to do something are more inclined to quit when payments cease than people who were never given any financial incentives — and that could have serious implications for brands that lure Facebook fans with offers of discounts and freebies, writes Mya Frazier. Cash and other incentives distort the social-media ecosystem and impede genuine engagement, Frazier argues. “Can sharing for sharing’s sake survive in an ecosystem that increasingly turns every sharing exchange into monetary reward?,” she writes.  PBS