Social Networking Monetization

The last few weeks have been spent on investigating the above subject - it appears to be the Holy Grail of Social Networking and Commerce today. The Stanford Facebook Class threw up some interesting learnings as did the various efforts. I am making the following conclusions from the recent learnings:

1. Web 2.0 and Social Networking will break the barriers for information access! All knowledge will move to public domain. We are in the midst of authoring all the kwowledge we have till date as content in various media formats onto the Web. Information will therefore loose valuation over a period of time!
2. Value will move away from Information to the Services linked to the Information.
3. Monetization of Web 2.0 will slowly move from Information/content to the Services that will spawn the availabilty of low cost information.
4. There is a possibility that one day Information will move down the Value Chain while the corresponding Services lderived from the Information will gain Value. Sort of Deja Vu!

This trend will continue till a new technology intervention occurs to provide Information in a new dimension, possibly, with Collaboration.
Only time will tell!

Social Networking and Business

Social Networking is having the power to create online communities that can leverage the collective buying power over time. It is indeed interesting to study the Business and Revenue Models that will thus develop.
A First-Level Practice is the Activity-Reward Model where every activity on the Network begets the user with reward points. These may translate into cash or dicounted services from the portal.
In course of time, we can expect secondary and tertiary Models to develop that may benefit the individual, the community as a whole, or localized groups with common profile attributes.