It seems that there has been a huge spike in multi-level marketing companies since the dot com boom (see Wikipedia’s MLM entry). What’s interesting about this trend is that the democratization of the internet has had a huge impact on the way that MLM’s target consumers and distributers. Where they once depended on word of mouth and personal relationships, they now rely on the mass exposure that the internet offers.

However, advances in the online sphere aren’t enough to satiate the rapidly growing MLM industry. Some companies have found a success by purchasing MLM leads from companies that specialize in finding interested individuals in niche markets.

While the MLM community is always unpredictable, one thing you can count on is that the internet will play an ever increasing role in the way they do business.