(2012-07-15) Powazek If Social Networks Not Profitable

Derek Powazek wonders If Social Networking is Not a Profitable business. Either advertiser interest wanes (FlickR), or we coast on our investment (Twitter, TumblR), or we give in and let the advertisers run the show (pretty much everyone else)... What if we all realized that social networks are a societal good (at least as good as a local Alt Weekly Newspaper) but not necessarily good businesses?.. What if we designed a social network to be small, self-supporting, and independent from the outset? How would it look, work, and feel? I bet it would come out looking nothing like the ones we’ve got now.