The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Wealth Strategies
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.
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.
Silver 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!
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.
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.
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.
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. (more)
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Tagged with: david silver • FaceBook • MySpace • online business plan • social networks • wealth strategies
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5.0 out of 5 stars
This book will expand the walls of your mind…
I am a small business owner and a web designer. I am currently working on a web project that will include a social network and so in doing research, I came across this book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Business Validation
Whether new to the concept of a social networking business or a seasoned pro, this book makes you think about the “other” ways to generate cash aside from Advertising revenue…
David Silver takes the whole social networking phenomenon apart and has fun with it all along the way.
Right now the whole game is rather new and there is a lot of guesswork about where it’s going to; yet David talks with such confidence and with such clear reasoning that he appears to have been sent from the future and is here to tell us how it all will actually unfold.
You’ll notice that the subtitle of the book is “18 Strategies That Will Create Great Wealth”. You should know that these strategies are to bring about 18 distinctly different sustainable (and ongoing) revenue channels.
You’ll be familiar with some of these channels, but not all of them, and it will surprise you to see how few of them are currently in effect. He’s talking about a future that is not too far away. (You’ll also become aware of some of these channels that ARE being implemented — and how they are making money behind the scenes.)
Mr. Silver is an angel investor; a partner in Santa Fe Capital who has long been fond of Internet enterprises (he drops some very famous names in this and Smart Start-Ups).
Here he reveals various formulae that he has used over the years to determine whether he should represent a project to investors. Principal among them is an 8 step process that he sometimes calls “Silver’s Law” and sometimes the “Demonstrable Economic Justification Factors”. It’s easy to use and is a MUST in any social site business plan to follow these steps to determine the viability of a proposed community.
Through reading this book, I got a very good grasp on the real value of social networking sites to the world, assisting all of us in leading better lives. That is on the long term view. I also got lots of ideas about how early adapters will create more communities and create great wealth for their founders.
Mr. Silver identifies these communities as “recommender communities” and illustrates clearly their value. (You get a good glimpse of this as early as the book’s introduction.)
In this book, the “multibillion dollar question” is articulated: “… will the… ‘brands’ continue to control their customers through advertising, shelf-space management, couponing, catalogues, and web site retailing, or will recommender communities utilizing the wisdom of the crowds to vote on the best products and services actually instruct the vast number of consumers on which product or service to purchase?”
His response: “If the entrepreneurs who build the recommender communities execute their business models with elegance and efficiency — and I will provide the best instructions for doing so — then the recommender communities will creatively disrupt the (brands).”
Both Smart Start-Ups and The Social Network Business Plan are easy to read. It is obvious that the author loves his subject and that he loves the English language. I am glad that I read this book as I now have a much more clear and confident perception of this wonderfully disruptive force (see chapter “The Sumptuous Impertinence”) in the world.
DW Locke
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fresh Insights
The first five chapters of this book are excellent. It is rare that I gain so much insight about web marketing from one book (I’ve read dozens).
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible read and very informative for entrepreneurs
This book is very incredible. I have read Smart Start-ups from David Silver, and I loved it, but this book is far beyond Smart Start-ups…
Mr. Silver defines not only how to make these communities profitable but he lays out examples of industries and sectors that are ripe for attention. One of the strengths of the book is that it demonstrates the need for a viable business case and that there are multiple income streams available. It is not sufficient to simply accumulate a large audience based on a “free to use” basis and to count on click through ad revenue, as many current social network models have done. It works in the short term but is questionable at best in the long term.
The book does a good job of a.) defining what is in effect a new business model, b.) explaining how to construct this new business, c.) identify and define the revenue streams and give examples of business cases and d.) gives examples of specific vertical markets for entrepreneurs to explore.
Coming from the not-for-profit sector, I think the book has identified and defined what the future of communities, traditionally occupied by trade and professional associations, may look like if the plans are diligently executed. Its an exciting new model for creative entrepreneurs to create “social businesses’ that deliver the best from the association and the for-profit worlds.
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book can be the difference between homerun and strike out
Social networks are certainly all the rage and show up daily in coffee shop conversations, fund raising pitches, on the news and in every corner of Internet.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Social Network Business
David Silver is an opinioned and intelligent angel investor who loves to share his knowledge and wisdom.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great research
Great book. Well organized, great research, and what I love about Silver’s books are the cliff-notes-like introductory sections.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent foundation for writing a business plan
David Silver is an excellent author and one of the leaders in social networking business plans. He has captured some great ideas in this book that will help any entrepreneur hone…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Social Networks 2.0
David Silver’s book “Smart Start-ups” was the best introduction in print to the business opportunities open to the entrepreneur prepared to risk starting an online community.