All of us know that users of the Web do not read advertisements on the websites we visit, yet the online communities are emerging as the next great media rely solely on this method to produce revenue. In The Social Network Business Plan, social network expert, David Silver presents and explains 18 cutting-edge methods to create revenue for social network websites--none of which are advertising. He also predicts the demise of seemingly successful online communities such as MySpace and Facebook that rely on advertising as non-sustainable modalities. Silver describes and explains that in the future new products and services will be introduced, talked about, rated, reviewed and recommended - or killed - by online communities. One example of the 18 new revenue channels that online communities are adopting is the sale to vendors of anonymized conversations of the community members concerning those vendors' products or services. Another example is online communities who partner with the internet providers to receive payment when a particular online community's information is downloaded usinf that providers service. The other sixteen revenue channels are equally head-turning!

Silver is the only angel investor, operating down where the rubber meets the road, who is investing in online communities in their infancy, and writing about which ones will win and which ones will fail.

From the Inside Flap

Do you read the advertisements that appear on the social networking web sites you visit? Neither does anyone else! So, why do such hugely successful online communities as MySpace and Facebook rely solely on advertising to produce revenue and how long can they survive? Isn't there any other way for online communities to make money? Actually, there are eighteen other ways! In The Social Network Business Plan, venture capital guru and Smart Start-Ups author David Silver reveals eighteen cutting-edge methods for generating income from social networking web sites—none of which involve advertising, and all of which really work. Silver's premise is simple: There is a lot of money to be made by getting smart people talking about something that has commercial value and then selling their anonymized conversations to vendors. He goes on to reveal how all parties benefit from these arrangements, who gets paid and how much, how you get these smart people to start talking, and why vendors will pay to overhear these conversations. At the core of each winning business model is the recommender online community, arguably the most powerful and disruptive force to emerge in the information age. These groups have already begun shaking up the advertising, marketing, sales, and public relations industries, and their influence is growing. Social networks are having a tectonic effect on several industries by shifting the power from the producer to the customer, or what is known as oligopsony power. Any savvy entrepreneur or investor who wants to get a jump on this emerging trend needs to understand the power of these groups and discover ways to tap it. This revolutionary guide helps you do just that. You'll discover how to: Create an elegant online recommender community Demonstrate your community's value to vendors Make your enterprise a substitute for all the others Operate multiple online recommender communities Inspire passion and loyalty in your communities Maximize your selling price Online recommender communities are more than nice little businesses; they are poised to start filling Fortune 500 slots very, very soon. Read The Social Network Business Plan, and get in on the action before it's too late.