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Bubblews Review - A Scam

Updated on December 4, 2015

Bubblews, the highest online paying site that turn out to be a Scam

From the title you can imply I am not a happy Bubblews user. And that is because I used to love the site so much that it really hurts to no longer write with passion in it. They owe more than $500 dollars since October 2014 (and you can view my Bank screen shots on the last part of this article), when they first gave their sign of death. Many writers there feel the same way and have left to other look-alikes that are VERY look-alike, like 99% in terms of design and revenue model. I won´t even bother being active in those, they will either suffer the same fate as Bubblews or are made by hackers who just copycat the site and will run away to Barbados in a few months not paying its users.

But let’s start from the beginning.

My avatar in Bubblews - RamblingMan

My avatar for online ventures has always been RamblingMan, Johnny Depp in the character of the famous 60´s writer Gonzo. The snapshot is from the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
My avatar for online ventures has always been RamblingMan, Johnny Depp in the character of the famous 60´s writer Gonzo. The snapshot is from the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. | Source

From Hubpages to Bubblews

I began writing in Hubpages when I became unemployed starting 2013. I was desperately looking for some online earnings, anything that would allow me to be independent from companies where I never felt comfortable in, something where I could earn as much as I wanted based on my input, where I could work as much as I liked or as little… I wanted to be free.

Doing a quick search for “10 best sites for online writing” Hubpages came in first. I remember Squiddo was in there but I stayed with Hubpages as the reviews stated it as a stable company. Bubblews wasn´t in the map by that time although it existed by then as a Beta site.

I started writing in Hubpages in a frantic way, an article a day and by 2 weeks I had 15 going. My eyes almost came out of their sockets as I watched my first earning report…

<0.01 cent

Wha…ttt?

Is that even possible?? Less than a cent for all that long article writing? I had a baby to maintain, how could I reach a decent earning to pay for all my expenses with less than a cent a day? I gave up telling myself this is too much work for so little.

After 2 weeks those earnings spiked up to 15 cents a day. Ok, there is hope, it just seemed Google took around 2 weeks to index my content and begin to position it accordingly on its search engine. I continued to write, although the length and all this photo and video capsules tired me to the point that I was producing 1 article a week.

If you check out some of my work you will realize I focused on products review. During that time I was making some Canada Goose Parka´s reviews for an affiliate marketer… and I confess I have never tried one on. I didn´t copy paste content online mind you, I just researched a lot, mostly on Amazon reviews and produced a good 360 scope of each product. Not the best way to produce content, certainly not enjoyable, but they do gather most of my traffic during winter times. Just for the record I will no longer do this, I will focus on topics I have a strong relationship with and if I approach product reviews once more it will be from my affiliate marketing approach and not pretending I have used them. I have found you can´t trick Google that way.

Bubblews logo as seen during Errors

Some of the new layout design by Bubblews
Some of the new layout design by Bubblews | Source

And then Bubblews Happened…

I believe it was around July 2014 that I began to read a lot about Bubblews on this site. Users were making articles about it like “Hubpages vs Bubblews” and discussing a lot on the forum.

People kept saying it was a scam site, that it wouldn´t last, some people were getting paid others didn´t, bla, bla, bla. But many Hubbers did move almost completely to Bubblews and were making tons of money almost from day 1. They were making more money in their first week in Bubblews than months of writing long articles in Hubpages, and you only had to write 400 characters per post!

It was a dream come true.

I dipped myself into Bubblews as RamblingMan (and I am still there), published a few posts not understanding very well that this was more of a social writing site than an article one. I made a few dollars and yes, it was fast but I still believed they would never pay up. I mean, they paid a cent for any interaction on your short meaningless post about “I just woke up”. They paid for views, likes, comments. When I reached my first $25 dollars I hit submit and guala, my money came in 5 days later to Paypal.

From that day on I was a Bubblews addict. I would post as much as I could and made thousands of connections. I was making $5 dollars a day after my first two active weeks. Then $7, $8… I got to $13 dollars a day on my highest point, including weekends. That is $390 dollars after almost a year on the site and I would retrieve that money every 10 days. I was paying my credit card debt entirely with Bubblews money which I only had time to write during my lunch time as I was working full time in a company. Those were the online writing Golden Days.

And what did I write about?

ANYTHING!! There was no quality assessment on this site. Soon I learned to stay away from product reviews and SEO type content. This was too short and meaningless for Google, the money maker here was the community.

So I focused on building up a strong follower base of Bubblers who constantly interacted with me every day, some of whom I have a strong online friendship with and even work with.

I started the Friday Parties, ever tried this on Hubpages?

Friday parties where random parties that were held in the craziest places of the world and craziness happened. Be creative people, I just made post describing the entire event and followers would flock in the comment section bringing drinks, costumes and all sorts of strange happening. I would edit user photos and copy paste them on random online photos making hysterical posts. These types of posts generated lots of comment interactions and a strong followship (is that is a word) plus it made writing lots and tons of fun.

I also started posting riddles. Whoever answered the riddle correctly first would take a mystery prize, and those were just random strange products I found online. I would copy the photos of the thing and make a post about it awarding it to the winner who had a special mention.

Just thinking about these great times make me kinda nostalgic L

I know many users are here on Hubpages, many are following me after being my followers in Bubblews. But then Disaster struck…

Asylum Friday Party

The Asylum Friday Party was held on a burned down 1800´s building in London were orphans and later on a sanatorium used to be. A really spooky place to have a party in, that photo with my avatar and Gracieeeee, another user, was for a post.
The Asylum Friday Party was held on a burned down 1800´s building in London were orphans and later on a sanatorium used to be. A really spooky place to have a party in, that photo with my avatar and Gracieeeee, another user, was for a post. | Source

Good Old Times in Bubblews

October 10th 2014, A day that will remain in Infamy

Before October 2014 the site had begun to show its struggles.

Payments were being delayed each time more and more. Before users got paid whenever they wanted as long as they reached the minimum redemption amount that had shifted from $25 dollars to $50. Then when we hit redeem the money took around 10 days to get to Paypal.

Soon we began to notice payments started coming in after 30 days of hitting redemption and they began to accumulate. Many users who redeemed in July never got that money. Then, we got the memo…

Starting October 10th 2014 the entire revenue system would change. Users from the USA and UK would get paid in 30 days while the rest of the world would have to wait 60 or 90 days. Oh, and we users would no longer earn 1 cent per interaction as advertisers do not always pay a fixed amount, revenue would shift depending if the times were good or bad. By the time of this publishing it seems each interaction brings in half a cent.

My pending payments in Bubblews

They owe me more than $300 dollars since October, but this is not all the owe me. Even before that they owe me more! Check the next photo
They owe me more than $300 dollars since October, but this is not all the owe me. Even before that they owe me more! Check the next photo | Source

Missing Payments in Bubblews

These are all my missing payments before October 2014. Still no word from them
These are all my missing payments before October 2014. Still no word from them | Source

The Bubblews Exodus to CGP Gallery and greener pastures

I like to think I was part of the cream of the cream in Bubblews. We were the most highly active, creative and honest bunch of the site. Filipinos, americans, English, Indians… these were the prime population of the site. It was a delicious bunch of cultures who kept the site going from dawn to midnight. It became an addictive drug that was profitable to be hooked on. But almost as a flock most of these users left tired of not being paid.

I think the Bubblews team members failed to evaluate the psychology and social impact it had on its users. I mean, many people actually had Bubblews as its main source of income. Let’s not lie to ourselves, we the online article writers come from middle to low classes, are unemployed or need that side income to help with debt and in the best scenarios are college students and retirees. It is a blow when a revenue channel dies. In my case I had to undertake my credit debt entirely with my salary when I used to use my online earning for this. If I knew Bubblews would fail to give what was promised I wouldn’t have spent my entire free time on that site. Instead I could use it on rebuilding Hubpages or studying Forex… anything of better value.

Anyway, most old quality users have left Bubblews to try new sites that have copied its model and even its website design to the core. We still have our accounts open, mostly in hopes our owed money could still come in sometime in the future but I doubt I will renew my Bubblews addiction.

I have decided to maintain my online writing ventures here, on Hubpages, were earnings are slow but secure. I got another online full time job now and do need side income as desperately. I also study Forex very intently and expect to be in the market in less than 3 months. I wish my best of lucks for Bubblews and its users, I hope they survive this setback and that they do not meet the fate of so many writing sites.

This is how Bubblews looks like...

Bubblews final design afte their first ugly platform. Now check on the next photo CGP Gallery, a rival site that copied its model exactly.
Bubblews final design afte their first ugly platform. Now check on the next photo CGP Gallery, a rival site that copied its model exactly. | Source

CGP Gallery design

Here is how CGP Gallery looks like. Fishy, isn´t it?
Here is how CGP Gallery looks like. Fishy, isn´t it? | Source

But Bubblews did give me something awesome…

Besides all the money I made with Bubblews in 2014 I got a greater gift during my final days there. I needed to find online writers for my present affiliate marketing venture with a friend. Finding English writers in Colombia (my country) is no easy task. After one month trying out with friends and relatives it just took one post to find an Indian who loved the Premier League and wrote perfect English wish UK slang, exactly what I needed. I know I just need to publish a post and dozens of writers will send emails to work with me. I know them from social interactions, I know their writing skills and creativeness. For this I thank Bubblews most than anything and it will be a reason to maintain my account going, if not as actively.

Lastly I would like to say Bubblews was never a scam site or any such thing. They were the real deal, they wanted to share as much revenue as they could with its users but were very blind in the sustainability of their business model.

Cups up for Bubblews and its Golden Days in writing!

It was a fun time after all, no regrets.

Bubblews the most awesome writing experience

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