国外的SNS (Social Network Service)如Friendster、Tribe Networks、LinkedIn等网站启动至少一年，至今会员人数不断递增，然而却都面临同样一个尴尬的问题：如何赚钱？
"Social networks seek financial friends"一文介绍这些公司最主要的两种策略：一是认为社会关系网(social networking)本身并不赚钱，但可以通过与之结合的其它服务如猎头工作或房屋出租来收费，LinkedIn是这一类的代表；另一种是以Friendster、MySpace为代表的交友网站通过大量的注册用户为基础以吸引广告商投入宣传费。后者最大的问题在于，用户来得快也可能去得快，依靠用户基数赚取广告费具有不稳定因素。像Friendster这一类的公司虽然目前用户量大，但只要更新，提供更具吸引力服务的公司一出现，这些用户将很容易流失。原因在于若用户是冲着网站的功能(尤其是免费)或者说仅仅是娱乐式的交友而去，用户忠诚度不高，一旦有更好的服务或功能就会转到其它网站。
相对来说，服务类尤其是面向商业服务的SNS具有更强的生命力。这类网站的用户群比较固定，出于商业或个人职业生涯的考虑，他们也会愿意交纳一定的使用费来维持或扩大自己的社交圈子。因为从理论上讲，SNS是基于信任的连接，与强调诚信的商业规则不谋而合。商业圈子的建立不仅仅在网上，同时也为网下的交流合作打下基础，这种网上网下相结合的方式才能保证网站保持生命力，最终盈利。不知道国内现在哪个网站是专门面向商业用户服务的？或许以国内今天的商业环境来说，这种商业类的SNS还是太超前了，不适应国内的游戏规则。换一种角度考虑，如果在现在国内最热门的招聘网站CJOL或是B2B网站阿里巴巴，加入SNS服务，该是什么样？
下表列出五个SNS网站的比较:
| Friendster | Tickle | Tribe Networks | Orkut | ||
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale | San Francisco | Mountain View | San Francisco | Mountain View, service offered by Google. |
| Employees | 50 | 60-plus | 27 | 28 | not clear |
| Funding | $13 million mostly from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Benchmark Capital. | $9 million (August Capital invested $7 million, individual investors $2 million). In May acquired by Monster, for undisclosed sum. | $4.7 million from Sequoia Capital. | $6.3 million in venture financing from Mayfield Fund, Knight Ridder and the Washington Post. | not clear |
| How you get in | Someone must invite you. | Can sign up at www.tickle.com. | Can sign up at wwww.linkedin .com, can then invite in others into your network. | Sign up at www.tribe.net. | You need to be invited. |
| Mission | Helps link friends, friends of friends and so on, up to three degrees. Users can open up to entire network or narrow to one or two degrees. | Matches people by various means, including scientific questionnaires, and a social networking site. Default is four degrees of contact, have to pay for more. | Allows users to search for people, based on industry, company, geography, title or by keyword in their profile. Can make requests to contact people up to four degrees of separation away. Requests must be approved by each person along the chain of contact. | Network is everyone within four degrees of separation, but users can also link to people through Tribes, which are organized according to interest. Tribes can be open or closed to outsiders, depending on the Tribe manager. | Similar to Friendster. |
| Plans for making money | Advertising | Charged fees on its matchmaking and other services. Now being integrated into Monster. | Charge for a premium service early next year, targeted at heavy users, mainly recruiters. Will experiment with ads as a secondary revenue stream. | By listing classified ads, after buildup in major city centers. They'll include job listings, followed by apartment listings, etc. | Not clear |
