Omnichannel · UGC & KOC Rewards
This module is on the Flash roadmap — not yet live. We're sharing the design openly because the hard part is the principle: rewarding only verified paying members for verified original content and referrals, compliant with platform and FTC rules by construction.
A verified paying member — proven by a real order, not a self-reported claim.
Their own UGC or a referral — content they actually created.
Disclosure-aware, platform- and FTC-conscious gating — by design.
Points only on what's verifiable. Pure likes / follows never qualify.
Illustrative of the planned design — not a shipped feature.
Honest status:UGC & KOC Rewards is in design / early access and is not shipping today. Everything below describes how it is planned to work and why — not a feature you can turn on right now. The live, production parts of advocacy are referrals and verified purchases (receipts, Shopify, marketplace), which power the same member graph.
The problem
Likes and follows are cheap, gameable, and often bot-driven. Paying for them buys noise, not customers who genuinely recommend you.
Self-reported "I posted about you" with no purchase link is trivially farmed. The rewards leak to people who never bought.
The moment a brand pays for content, FTC and platform disclosure rules apply. Most reward programs bolt compliance on afterward — if at all.
Why the design is what it is
These aren't our preferences — they're the realities every UGC reward program faces. They're the reason Flash is being built to reward only verified, original content with a purchase behind it.
After ~2018, the major platforms (Meta, TikTok, X, YouTube) systematically removed the APIs that exposed who liked or followed you. Rewarding likes isn't just risky — the data to verify it largely doesn't exist anymore.
Platform terms and the FTC restrict incentivizing pure engagement. The moment you reward content, it can legally require disclosure — so an honor-system "points for a like" program is exactly the zone regulators watch.
Most loyalty UGC tools run on the honor system — self-reported activity, no purchase link. Flash is being designed to reward only verified buyers for verifiable original content, the harder but defensible path.
The conclusion is unavoidable: pure engagement (likes, follows, shares, views) is out by design. Flash rewards verified paying members for verified original content and referrals — nothing you can't stand behind.
How it's designed
The planned flow reuses Flash's existing verification and points machinery, so a content reward is held to the same standard as a verified purchase. Planned, not yet shipped.
Rewards are planned to attach to members already verified by a real order — so advocacy maps to genuine customers, not strangers.
The design holds rewards in a cooling-off state that never hits the spendable ledger until cleared — so they can't be redeemed and clawed back.
Planned slice 0 = referrals + purchase-proof reviews/photos (no platform OAuth). A later slice adds Instagram UGC, gated on Meta app review.
Why it's different
The category mostly runs on the honor system. Flash is choosing the harder, defensible path: verified buyers, verified content, disclosure-aware from the first line of the design.
Typical approach
Honor-system UGC rewards
Reward self-reported posts and likes with no purchase link.
Flash, by design
Designed to reward only verified paying members for verified original content.
Typical approach
Pure-engagement incentives
Pay for likes / follows / shares — risky under platform terms and FTC rules.
Flash, by design
Pure engagement is excluded by design; rewards attach to disclosure-aware, original content.
Typical approach
Compliance as an afterthought
Add disclosure language later, once the program is already live.
Flash, by design
FTC- and platform-policy-conscious from the design stage, before anything ships.
AI & innovation
Where the category rewards clicks and self-reported activity, Flash is being designed to reward verified content — the same stance it already takes on purchases. Content verification and vision are part of the planned approach, not a claim about today.
The design extends Flash's verified-purchase posture to content, so advocacy rewards rest on proof, not trust.
Planned to build on Flash's existing channel state machine, points ledger, and automation — not a bolted-on side system.
Disclosure-awareness and exclusion of pure engagement are design constraints, intended to keep advocacy defensible as rules tighten.
Advocacy you can put your name on — when it ships. These are the design goals, not live results.
Verified-only
rewards designed to attach to real buyers and original content
Compliant by design
FTC- and platform-policy-aware before launch, not after
No vanity payouts
pure likes, follows & shares excluded by design
UGC & KOC Rewards is on the roadmap. Tell us how you'd use it, and we'll bring you in as it ships — meanwhile, referrals and verified-purchase rewards are live today.
