Online Communities Handbook: Building Your Business and Brand on the Web

Profiting from Your Community

Online communities can make money. According to an article in eMarketer, Fox Interactive Media (FIM), owner of social networking giant MySpace and a number of other Web properties, generated $856 million in revenues in 2008. The same article says that the social network Facebook reported $210 million in U.S. ad spending in 2008. Online advertising is by far the largest revenue source for most online communities, although there are exceptions such as the business network Ecademy, which has decided to focus instead on paid subscriptions.

Case Study The professional networking website Xing has a successful business model with three income streams: advertising, e-commerce, and paid subscription. In 2007, Xing generated ...