hunzone

English

Etymology

From hun (“a woman involved in an MLM”) +‎ zone, by analogy with friendzone.

Noun

hunzone (third-person singular simple present hunzones, present participle hunzoning, simple past and past participle hunzoned)

1. (slang, transitive) To contact an acquaintance or former friend on social media, with the intention of recruiting them to a multi-level marketing scheme.
   • 2019 July 10, Jessica Lindsay, “Hunzoning is the trend that sees you going from friend to MLM recruit”, in Metro‎^[1]:

     However, if the desire to join their business isn’t there, it can easily sever a new friendship there and then, leaving the hunzoned person feeling used.

   • 2020, Naomi L. Yanike, “Hunzoning: A Qualitative Study of Women’s Expectancy Violations Surrounding Multi-Level Marketing Message Strategies on Facebook”, in Dissertatations‎^[2], University of Nebraska:

     The study’s findings add to our understanding of women’s use of social media as well as existing MLM communication literature to qualify hunzoning as a computer-mediated-communication expectancy violation.