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Sorry - let me try to clarify - two ways you are rewarded:
Personal - you earn points for yourself while at the same time making a bigger bucket for your friends to fill. You are rewarded with Coin for personally progressing right when you hit each level/tier.
Social - your friends and people you played with fill the bucket as they play. You are rewarded with Coin at the end of the week for this part, since I don't know who your top 5 are and where they ended up until the week is over.
And everything resets each week.
You can view both your progress through Alliance and your top 5 friend's progress via a screen in Fort Tarsis. Sort of a 'if the week ended right now this is the state of things' screen.