Some of the original social networking tools seemed a bit lame and people responded to them that way. But I recently saw an article, Social Networking 3.0, by Wade Roush. It was from November 2005 but it still corrected some misimpressions I had. He concludes that the latest generation of social-networking technology on the Web offers far more than friends lists -- and is finally making money.
Take Linked In, Wade writes: “… LinkedIn's membership has grown from 1 million to 4.2 million; users are conducting 5 million searches a month for potential contacts within their own networks, and the company has launched several revenue-producing features, such as paid subscription options that allow members to search profiles outside their immediate circle of friends and friends-of-friends.”
These sites are now realizing that they are part of the trend of user generated content and providing more ways for users to generate more content about their favorite topic, themselves. I have noticed that I am still getting Linked In requests to be connected. I am also getting some requests for making a connection or introduction.”
Konstantion Guericke of Linked In is quoted, “First, we are a search engine. But second, we are a publishing platform -- about yourself and what other people say about you," Guericke says. "It just creates a more powerful business."
They finally get it. Kudos to them and for this shift in positioning.
Bill I think that this is just beginning to scratch the surface of the monetization models. There are two commonly held monetization models for these systems; 1. Sell advertising and 2. Sell premium subscriptions. I believe there is still a third and more sinister method for monetizing the information in these systems. I have written it out over on Community Mobilization.
Posted by: Randy | July 05, 2006 at 02:25 PM