Do you enjoy making friends and chatting? If so, congratulations! Today, we’re going to discuss one of the best online side hustles to make money, especially suitable for women, college students, and stay-at-home moms.
We often hear the advice “don’t talk to strangers,” but in today’s internet age, chatting with strangers online has become very common. Many people are even willing to pay for your companionship and conversation. This might seem unbelievable to many, but the fact is, numerous individuals are making money through online chatting.
Becoming a virtual friend not only allows you to make money online but also brings new vitality to others’ social lives. This is particularly meaningful for those who cannot go out, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, and those with social anxiety disorders.
Contents
- What Is a Virtual Friend?
- Why Do People Hire Virtual Friends Online?
- How Much Can You Earn as a Virtual Friend?
- How to Become a Virtual Friend: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide
- 9 Legit Ways to Get Paid To Be An Virtual Friend Online
- Key Points to Note When Becoming an Online Friend for Payment
- What Skills and Interests Can Make You More Popular on Virtual Friend Platforms?
- Conclusion on Making Money Through Online Friendships
What Is a Virtual Friend?
A virtual friend means becoming friends online and providing companionship. You can interact with virtual friends through messaging, video calls, or online games. This is a platonic form of friendship that doesn’t require face-to-face meetings.
To earn money as a virtual friend, you must be available to talk with your employer, listen to their thoughts, and express your ideas. This job may even involve offering advice or emotional support.
Why Do People Hire Virtual Friends Online?
Becoming a virtual friend is one of the reliable ways to earn money on the internet. Many people are willing to pay for virtual friendship for various reasons, including:
1. Social Anxiety
Many individuals find it challenging to communicate with people in real life, let alone with strangers. They may have a certain fear or anxiety about face-to-face interactions, or they might struggle with depression or agoraphobia.
They might feel more comfortable chatting with strangers online since communication only requires messaging and does not involve meeting in person.
2. Loneliness
Some people may have many friends in real life but still feel lonely because they find it hard to engage in meaningful conversations. Searching for friends online with similar interests can help them feel less isolated, as virtual friends are often more willing to listen and engage in discussions.
3. People with Disabilities
For those with physical disabilities, especially those who find it hard to walk, seeking virtual friends online is a more convenient way to communicate.
Additionally, many people face emotional issues and need to hire virtual friends for emotional support and life advice, as sometimes, their real-life friends may be hard to reach or may not understand their feelings.
In summary, with the development of mobile internet, more and more people are choosing to communicate online. Therefore, becoming someone’s virtual friend is a great online side hustle.
How Much Can You Earn as a Virtual Friend?
Now that you understand why becoming a virtual friend can be profitable, let’s talk about how much you can earn. I know this is a concern for many.
According to statistics from “Rent a Friend” websites, here’s how much you can earn as an online friend:
Friends providing basic chatting companionship services can earn about $20 per hour.
Those with specialized skills or interests can earn up to $50 per hour, such as skilled gamers or individuals with rich emotional experiences.
If you’re a beginner, you can start by offering basic companionship services—chatting and playing simple games with your virtual friends. As you gain more experience, you can increase your rates.
Also, the more time you spend with a single client, the more willing they will be to share with you, potentially leading to higher pay.
You might think that since these are virtual friendships, charging might seem inappropriate. However, for you, being a virtual friend is a job. You can think of yourself as an informal psychologist, as your responsibility as a virtual friend is to help solve your friends’ psychological issues.
How to Become a Virtual Friend: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Register on a Platform
To get virtual friend work, you need to sign up on platforms specifically offering these services. The platform will match you with people who share similar interests based on the information you provide. It’s also crucial that you are in the same time zone.
So, registering on the platform is a critical step. You must fill out all information accurately; otherwise, the platform may match you with someone with whom you have no common interests, making it hard for the friendship to last and for you to earn long-term.
Step 2: Take a Personality Test
The next step usually involves some sort of personality test, as your personality type is essential for matching with virtual friends.
Of course, you might also be an introverted person or someone with social anxiety. That’s perfectly okay; whether you are introverted or extroverted, as long as you enjoy communicating online, you can excel in this job. Plus, working as a virtual friend can help build your confidence and improve your introversion.
Step 3: Describe Yourself and Your Personality
Virtual friend platforms want to understand you from your perspective.
On the platform, you will showcase who you are, your personality, interests, and skills. Having shared hobbies and interests will help you establish better relationships with your virtual friends for long-term companionship.
Step 4: Provide Your Payment Account
Most online virtual friend platforms pay through PayPal or electronic bank transfers. Therefore, you need to prepare your payment account information to receive payments promptly.
Step 5: Activate Your Profile
Once you have completed your profile, people looking for virtual friends will be able to see you. Next, you just need to patiently wait for friend requests.
There are many platforms for virtual friendship available online, most of which are free. Next, I will introduce you to 11 reliable virtual friend platforms.
9 Legit Ways to Get Paid To Be An Virtual Friend Online
1. Rent a Friend
Rent a Friend is one of the most popular virtual friend platforms online, with over 600,000 members worldwide. Its slogan is to provide friendship or companionship for lonely people, targeting the UK and US markets. Rent a Friend includes not only online friends but also in-person friends.
You can create a personal profile for free on Rent a Friend, including your personal information and interests, but you must be at least 18 years old and have no felonies.
Members on Rent a Friend can search for and hire you. The profile page looks like the image below, and Rent a Friend charges members looking for virtual friends a monthly fee of over $20.
Becoming a virtual friend on Rent a Friend typically charges between $10 and $50, and there are no fees to be hired.
2. Rent a Cyber Friend
Rent a Cyber Friend is another site where you can earn money by becoming a virtual friend.
However, unlike Rent a Friend, Rent a Cyber Friend focuses entirely on online friendships and does not offer in-person meeting services.
Users on Rent a Cyber Friend can search for virtual friends worldwide who share similar interests or topics. Once they find a virtual friend, they can start video chatting.
Rent a Cyber Friend pays by the minute. As you browse different profiles, the fee ranges from $0.1 to $1 per minute, with the platform taking a 20% fee. As a virtual friend on Rent a Cyber Friend, you can earn about $50 per hour.
The platform registration is free, requiring you to be at least 18 years old and have internet access and a webcam. When filling out your profile, you can include keywords that people might search for, such as location, interests, and skills. The more keywords you include, the higher your chances of being searched and hired as a virtual friend.
3. FriendPC
FriendPC is functionally similar to Rent a Cyber Friend, but it allows not only video calls but also interaction through texting, online messaging, phone calls, video calls, and video games. With more features, it is very popular among users.
FriendPC also has a great feature where virtual friends can be booked for a few days or weeks, and each virtual friend’s profile shows their available dates.
On FriendPC, you can set your own rates for becoming a virtual friend, typically charging between $5 and $50 per hour. If you want more people to hire you as a virtual friend, you can opt to pay for a monthly membership to enjoy additional benefits, such as having your profile displayed on the homepage.
4. Outschool
Outschool is completely different from the previous virtual friend platforms because it creates a safe environment for children to make friends.
It allows you to create any interest group related to children, such as drawing, academics, writing, virtual reading gatherings, etc. If you enjoy playing with children, you can create groups that interest you on Outschool to earn money.
Founded in 2015, Outschool has over 200,000 registered users. The platform offers various online courses covering academics, arts, programming, and more, suitable for students aged 5 to 18. Outschool allows teachers to set their prices freely, taking a 30% commission from the course fees.
5. Preply
Preply is a virtual friend platform aimed at helping people learn and practice English through online conversations.
As a Preply tutor, you can earn between $15 and $25 per hour. The biggest advantage is that you do not need special certifications or teaching experience; you can teach language skills while simply being a friend.
Founded in 2013, Preply has over 100,000 registered users. The platform features one-on-one video lessons, personalized learning plans, and multiple language options. Preply typically takes an 18% commission from the course fees, and teachers can set their prices freely.
6. Fiverr Friendship
Fiverr is a globally recognized freelancer platform where you can offer your virtual friend services. However, I found that there is relatively low demand when searching for this service on Fiverr.
You can set up your profile and offer various services related to being a virtual friend, such as emotional support, conversation, life coaching, online friendship, and chatting.
Like most other online friendship services on this list, Fiverr allows you to set your own rates, starting at $5. The company takes 20% of your earnings as a fee.
Read More: How to Make Money on Fiverr
7. RentALocalFriend
RentALocalFriend focuses on travel, primarily helping those who want to travel to practice with locals, providing services such as guiding, translating, photography, and local information.
Although this is a travel service platform, you can still use it as a virtual friend. As a virtual friend, you only need to provide travel information and services online to your employer, earning about $10 to $40 per hour.
8. Premium.Chat
Premium.Chat is an online friendship website that mainly helps clients earn money through paid messaging.
You can register for a free account on Premium.Chat and set a price to offer your customers chatting services, earning based on minutes or a fixed price.
The platform supports one-on-one chats, including video, audio, and text chats, and it charges a 15% commission as a service fee.
9. Get Paid to Chat
Get Paid to Chat is similar to Premium.Chat, being an online friendship website where you can offer paid chatting services, with the platform taking a 20-30% commission.
This platform has 50,000 registered users, and according to its claims, they have paid members over $30 million in commissions.
Key Points to Note When Becoming an Online Friend for Payment
Register on Multiple Virtual Friend Websites
Offering virtual friend services on multiple online friendship platforms can effectively increase your income. The more platforms you register on, the greater your chances of being hired as a virtual friend.
Only Register on Trustworthy Websites
Trustworthy websites effectively protect your personal privacy and enhance safety, preventing unreliable sites from profiting off your personal information.
Avoid Meeting Offline
To ensure your safety, try to avoid in-person meetings and only communicate online as a virtual friend. Additionally, be clear and firm about your boundaries, avoiding any involvement with adult content or video chatting.
What Skills and Interests Can Make You More Popular on Virtual Friend Platforms?
Simply providing basic chatting companionship services yields lower earnings and makes it difficult to be valued by employers. Therefore, the best way to make money as a virtual friend is to learn a specific skill or cultivate some interests. The following skills or interests are popular on virtual friend platforms:
Psychological Counseling and Support
Providing emotional support and psychological guidance to your virtual friends can make you more easily chosen on these platforms.
Gaming Companionship
Choosing popular games and mastering their skills can help you stand out well on virtual friend platforms.
Interest Sharing
Popular interests on virtual friend platforms include books, movies, music, etc.
Life Skills Coaching
Skills such as cooking, fitness, gardening, etc., can help others improve their quality of life.
Conclusion on Making Money Through Online Friendships
Choosing to become a virtual friend online is a very reliable way to earn money for many individuals without any degrees or skills. However, if you hope to earn substantial income as a virtual friend, merely providing chatting companionship services may not suffice.
I recommend looking for a hobby or skill, such as excelling in a popular game or choosing a niche area like a foreign language or chess, which can help you earn higher income as a virtual friend.
