Oh my god. Someone made the perfect website. It's entirely self-sufficient in popularity and generates cash ... and it sells _no_ services. It sells nothing except virtual popularity. Read the Wired article or go see the gift shop. Note that you are paying real money to buy virtual gifts.

THIS IS THE PERFECT WEBSITE. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. FORGET TABULAS. I'M MAKING A FUNHI CLONE.

Edit: The more I think about this, the more genius the idea is. Basically it feeds on two phenomenoms:

1.) The idea of buying "status symbols." This happens in real life as well; when's the last time you've heard of someone buying a diamond for their loved ones? Diamonds have no real value; their value is determined by a small cartel which owns all the supply of the material.

Funhi takes it to a new level by making the prices "cheap" in real dollars; you can basically live our your "millionaire playboy" status online with very few dollars.

2.) Anonymous internet dating
This site actually has a "legit" rating applied to those who take pictures with a funhi shoutout as well as their username; this helps you know that these hot chicks that you see on the site _are_legit_. So now you have thousands of bored guys with extra money to spare buying stuff on the site to flirt with the girls from the comfort of their own homes.

The ability to take one "good" picture of themselves gives the guys confidence; the girls in the meantime have absolutely no interest in really dating these guys but they (as they always do) appreciate the attention.

Genius.

Also adding to the site's success if the ability to buy the "platinum card." This costs $30, but gives you $28 FUNHI dollars to its owner; so the amount of Funhi dollars in the system isn't as much as actually has been paid. This helps people think they're "richer" than they are.

One of the key aspects of any successful community that uses some sort of currency is what I call the "currency multiplier." People WANT to feel rich, even if this means inflation. Ultimately this is the demise of the site because the inflation gets out of hand and then the status symbols become useless.

I'm reminded of the time I used to play an online multiplayer game (through the browser) that closely resembled Drug Wars on your TI calculators. The site went through multiple rounds, but the most popular round was NOT when the site was well-balanced, but when there was an error in the propagation of currency so people became filthy rich. People want to feel rich, so give them that ability.

So the key thing to remember here is that if you want to create an online community/game that uses currencies, have some sort of currency multipler that helps people feel "rich" in their system; people want to live out their fantasies online. You must give this to them.