The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Strategies That Will Create Great Wealth

by A. David Silver

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.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Mary Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book was written over 10 years ago, there are still some practical ideas in here about how to increase loyalty and to keep people coming back to your website. However, the author definitely underestimated the reach and relevance of broader social networks such as Facebook, which has since turned into a company that connects pretty much everyone and continues to purchase smaller social networks.

One revenue channel the author mentions is the “tip jar”. Are there any websites that actually use this method for generating revenue and encouraging users to send money to other users as a means of a “thank you”? With the internet being such a widespread resource for people to review, rate and recommend (author’s prediction of that was spot on), anyone and everyone is able to post their opinions on multiple sites for free and for other people to view for free. Keeping that in mind, I think that some of the ideas in this book are outdated as users these days are not likely to send strangers money or website credit (although a reward for recruiting more members to join is still valid ex 3 months of free subscription) when there are so many other resources and reviews to compare that do not cost money to participate in.

The theory/prediction that social networks will drive product and service sales is certainly true to this day as can be seen with the influx of influencers and digital marketing.

All in all, there is still some value in this book but it would be interesting to see a newer version and how it applies to the way that people interact and connect on the web today and how even smaller scale influencers can make money based on marketing themselves on social media versus an entrepreneur creating an actual website and trying to create awareness for their site in an time where there are endless possible sites to join and differentiation is a challenge.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated and overly wordy

Seriously couldn't finish this book. It was a slow and boring read. It seems this book was more about building your own social networking site than using networks already in place.