TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - While there is not any financial requirement to join popular social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, James Touchi-Peters charge people thousands of dollars to join a social media that he started. Netropolitan, as the social media called, charge US$6,000 (Rp71 million) to join and additional fee of US$3,000 (Rp35 million) per year.
CNET reported on Wednesday, that Netropolitan requires people to be at least 21 years old to join and signing up with real real name and main city of residence. All community posts must be in English. Members also must agree not to divulge the identities of other members outside of Netropolitan and not to take screenshots for display to the public. This helps it maintain the feel of being an exclusive secret club.
Netropolitan will not share how many members the service has, but it announced that it already had several hundred members at launch.
One screen shot of the interface reveals that is looks a bit like a super-stripped-down Google+ with a round profile photo and icons for activity, profile, notifications, messages, location, and following notifications. Status updates appear to work in a familiar Facebook-style way.
Netropolitan has a page on Facebook of which the tag line include: "Connect with people within your social status, but outside your social circle," and "Netropolitan: The online country club for people with more money than time."
RINDU P. HESTYA | CNET
