Hmm... let's try with an example:
1. there's a faucet, which gives a constant 500 satoshi and has 20% referral
2. you create a referral link and share it all over the Internet
3. 100 people uses your link, each requesting prize 2 times. You get 20% * 500 = 100 satoshi for every prize request from every people that used your link. That totals to 100 people * 2 times * 100 satoshi = 20k satoshi.
4. You visit this faucet, claim a prize and you get 500 satoshi normal prize + 20k satoshi for referrals.

If you'd wait twice as long time and everyone of these 100 people claimed a prize 2 more times, you'd get 40k satoshi when requesting your prize.

Is that clear now?