If you’re a regular ProfHacker reader, there’s a good chance that you’re invested in one or more social networks for maintaining not only relationships with friends but also with your professional network. I’m going to guess that you find real value in social networks for how they help you better research, teach, or do service—otherwise you would allocate your time differently. Unfortunately this value can be hard to demonstrate to a tenure committee (although, as Nels wrote in a post in 2009, it is not impossible to talk about blogging in tenure and application documents). Indeed, some of the most interesting discussion at one of the panels I spoke on at the recent MLA centered around whether social networking is allowing universities to stop supporting and compensating the, as Matt Kirschenbaum put it, “professional networks required to do our jobs at a minimum competency.”
Since we cannot be sure that the school you’re applying to will recognize the value of your academic social networking, then, you may as well make some cold hard cash while sharing information with friends and colleagues. And one of the easiest ways that I’ve found to do this is with the Amazon Associates program. Essentially, this is a referral program: you create links to specific items on Amazon’s site, and when people click on your links and subsequently purchase something on that visit to Amazon, you earn a percentage of the sale. People don’t even have to purchase what you linked to for you to get credit. At first, Amazon Associates earn 4% of a sale, but that number can increase a bit if you regularly refer people.
Creating an Associates account is very simple if you’re already an Amazon user: it should take you only 5 minutes or so. When doing this, you will be given a Tracking ID, which Amazon uses to identify your referrals. Once you’re enrolled and are also signed in to Amazon, you will see the Site Stripe running along the top of your browser. The Stripe lets you create links for the page that you’re on, as well as adding the item to a widget (for your blog/website), sharing on Twitter, or adding to an aStore, which is an easy way to build an online storefront. But a downside of the Site Stripe is that unless you’re sharing on Twitter, it’s not really one-click access since you will be multiple given options to decide how to customize your referral. For example, if you choose to create a link, you must choose among text and image, just an image, or just text. You can then customize the link’s text. Finally, you copy the link’s HTML and paste it wherever you’d like it. If you look at the HTML, you will find that your Tracking ID is embedded in the HTML.
This method of creating links works just fine, but it’s a few more clicks than are really necessary. There are shorter ways to create links as an Amazon Associate. Dave Taylor of Ask Dave Taylor has a short tutorial for cutting out a few steps. My experience, however, shows that you can create a referral link to any item on Amazon by using two pieces of information: the item’s ASIN and your Tracking ID. The ASIN or Amazon Standard Identification Number identifies each item that Amazon sells, and you can find it under the “Product Details” heading.
The only exception to ASIN’s on Amazon is for books, where ISBNs are listed under Product Details. In that case, the ASIN is identical to the 10-digit ISBN. Once you’ve found the ASIN/ISBN of your item, you can quickly create a referral link by replacing portions of the following URL: http://www.amazon.com/dp/ASIN/TRACKING ID. So if I refer to the product in the image above and my Tracking ID is briacrox-20 (it is, feel free to use it!), the URL that I create would be http://www.amazon.com/dpB002BRZ9G0/briacrox-20.
So it’s super simple to join, and it’s almost as easy to create links to things that you want to share or write about in your social networking or on your blog. Now the real question: how does it pay off? I only began using an Amazon Associates account in the last quarter of 2010, and I am in no ways dogmatic about remembering to link to things with my Tracking ID nor do I blog so regularly about particular texts or products that I need a lot of links. But in that quarter, I was responsible for helping Amazon sell 11 items.
clicking on the image redirects to a larger version
In total, Amazon sold $169.13 worth of merchandise, and I earned $7.84. Some of these items were in fact things that I tweeted about (those mp3 albums were a steal!), but for some of the others I have no clue which links of mine people clicked on and how they ended up purchasing what they eventually did. All I know is that the effort on my part was essentially nothing. And suddenly, I know exactly how much my intense use of social media is worth: $7.84…every three years.
So while you are unlikely to strike it rich while writing on your blog about the revisions of your monograph and occasionally linking to something on Amazon, it’s a relatively harmless way to pay for a coffee every now and again. Do you participate in the Amazon Associates program? If so, what has your experience been? Do you have other similar programs that you participate in? Please let us know in the comments.
[Lead image by Flickr user mindluge / Creative Commons licensed]
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14 Responses to Making Academic Social Networking Pay with Amazon Associates
heatherwhitney - January 20, 2011 at 11:16 am
I use the Amazon Associates program, and I find it helpful. The extra bit of money does help! Thanks for posting the info about the shortcuts.
drnels - January 20, 2011 at 12:33 pm
I participate but have never gotten a cent. I don’t do it much, though.
I’m curious what people think about the ethics of having links to class texts with these Amazon IDs when students are buying textbooks. I admit I do not include my Amazon ID on the links to books on course blogs, but I have seen others do this. It just feels odd for me to make money off of my students when they buy things I tell them they must buy. I do not tell them they have to use Amazon, but it still feels squicky.
How do others feel?
revbookdoctor - January 20, 2011 at 1:34 pm
IMHO if you are going to buy something on Amazon, it might as well benefit someone or some organization in addition to the Amazon empire.
mark_sample - January 20, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Nels raises an important question about the ethics of possibly benefiting financially when students buy books on your syllabus. I think the key question is whether your students have a choice. Are they required to buy your class texts from Amazon? That’s not right. But are the books also available at your institution’s book store? Then the students have a choice, and will likely buy from whichever source has the best prices. Also, remember that faculty have long benefited from students buying required texts—in the form of complimentary desk copies instructors receive for having had a certain number of students buy the book.
One thing to keep in mind about the Amazon Associates program is that it isn’t available everywhere. Due to new state laws regarding sales tax, Amazon has eliminated the Associates program for users in North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Colorado.
mfulmer - January 20, 2011 at 4:03 pm
I’ve used Amazon Associates and used to be more vigilant in maintaining the links. In the best of times (back a few years ago), I may have earned as much as $100. Since I often bought pizzas or brought in breakfast for end-of-year celebrations, this money was helpful. This helped assuage any ethical concerns that I had.
rhershman - January 20, 2011 at 5:51 pm
As to ethics issues (there are also legal issues) commented above of generating personal revenue from click through to sites like Amazon from your students on course materials you require your students to buy.
If you are at a public institution or in some cases at a private institution that accepts state grant money, doing such an activity would be a clear violation of several state laws that specifically address faculty course material adoptions and sales, while other state laws address state employee ethics that also may have relevance here. Not to mention individual institution and department policies. In some cases, like Pennsylvania law for example, a violation may be subject to referral to law enforcement by institutions of higher education. States that explicitly ban such practices by faculty include Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Though other states’ ethics laws may also address this. Arkansas also bans institutions from linking to websites who not collect applicable state sales tax -which by the way funds education in the state.
Legal and ethical issues aside, faculty members who work at a public institution or who’s institution are receiving state aid are shooting themselves in the foot by partnering with a company that refuses to support education. See Kevin Carey’s blog post in the Chronicle. http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/jeff-bezos-is-stealing-money-from-your-school/19466
Just yesterday a bill was introduced in California that is similar to recent laws in New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina commented above and just passed in Illinois waiting on the governors signature that requires online companies with affiliates in the state to collect and remit sales tax owed, but not previously collected. The California sponsor estimates that her bill would bring in $250 million to $500 million in state revenue in the first year of the law of taxes owed but not collected by companies like Amazon. While that won’t close the budget hole California has, that is $250-$500 million more a year that won’t have to come out of programs like higher education and creates a more fair and level playing field for consumers on where they choose to shop and for retailers as well.
briancroxall - January 20, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Thanks, all, for the comments so far. I especially appreciate Nels for bringing up a subject that I hadn’t even considered when writing this post. My first reaction to the question of whether we should use affiliate links on course websites is immediate and visceral: it makes me very uncomfortable. Mark is, of course, correct that we are already benefiting in one way from students purchasing particular copies of books in the form of desk copies (whether they are wanted or not). But that doesn’t change how I feel. Perhaps @mfulmer has a good solution in returning the money to the class (it was theirs, after all) in the form of food.
And thanks to @rhershman for this wider range view of the legal issues at stake. One ignores state ethics laws at their own risk.
barronkid - January 20, 2011 at 9:54 pm
I agree with those commenters who point out the very real (albeit small in return) conflict of interest you’ve created if you push/promote/present/proffer Amazon Associates links that put money in your pocket.
I also wholeheartedly agree with the idea that, if Amazon wants to give away any money, we are foolish to ‘look a gift horse in the mouth.’
To reconcile these two conflicting positions, i recommend pursuing the win-win situation by:
1. selecting a charity you value and support
2. setting up a new gmail account with that name, e.g., give2redcross@gmail.com
3. using the new gmail account to set up a new Amazon Associates identity/account
4. resolving any potential conflict of interest by using this new identity in links provided to students and colleagues.
5. donating 100% of the proceeds from this account to the charity of your choice.
Sounds like a win-win to me!
drnels - January 21, 2011 at 11:20 am
@barronkid, or what about having the class vote on where the money should go? I think of this because I teach a lot of politically-themed classes, and I could see us choosing a group. For example, two years ago, my students actually got together to give money to a Crystal Meth Abuse awareness group, and last spring, some of my students gave money to To Write Love on Her Arms. Now I’m wondering if it’s legal/ethical to tell students that I’ll keep track of all money from course texts and we’ll agree where to donate it.
Of course, then you get to the issue of skirting the bookstore and how some of us are strongly discouraged to do that.
drjeff - January 21, 2011 at 4:29 pm
barronkid- It’s still possible that ethics rules and/or laws may not see things the same way you do, and it would be tragic to be fired, and have your firing reported on the front page, because of it. Explicitly asking your institution’s person in charge of ethics about it, and getting their response in writing, and saving that response forever, is HIGHLY recommended.
briancroxall - January 24, 2011 at 9:38 am
@barronkid: This is not a bad idea, although I agree with @drjeff that double-checking with counsel is not a bad idea to be on the safe side. We know that the small kickback (i.e., desk copies) we get out of using the campus bookstore is sanctioned by all involved.
Nels, what a great idea to get classes involved in things that are related to what you’ve been thinking about and discussing. Helping people see the connection between writing and the real world is something that might make for a great ProfHacker post!
george_h_williams - January 24, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Just a quick note from your friendly neighborhood ProfHacker editor: Very interesting discussion! But let’s try not to stray too far from the prompt at the end of this particular post: “Do you participate in the Amazon Associates program? If so, what has your experience been? Do you have other similar programs that you participate in? Please let us know in the comments.”
Thanks!
heatherwhitney - January 24, 2011 at 2:23 pm
I feel the need to qualify my original comment. I use Amazon Associates, but I do not list my affiliate links for anything classroom-related, such as listing resources for students in a syllabus. To do so, without full disclosure, would be unethical, in my view.
Suzanne Stenson O'Brien - July 6, 2012 at 10:36 am
I loved reading this. In a world saturated by “news”, a little life is wonderful and useful too – I sent it to my college-aged son, thinking about marine research.