So I attended the Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco in October.  It was a major eye opening event for me.  Largely, there are many social sites that exist to support consumers in their need for social forums and groups.  The trouble is, none seem to make any money.  I jokingly asked a guy how much he was making from Google Adsense on his site - he pulled out a pocket of change.  You see it seems like consumers on the social networks are tuning out adsense ads that sites are desperately trying to use to generate revenues.  At this point in time I believe that people definately tune out these ads, unless they are using the internet to purposely shop for something specific.  Put the ads next to my forum or message board and click through rates become very low.  Truth be told social networks are facing a less than 1% click through rate from users on their site on specific ads.  I've read one recent entry that says it's more like .01% - scary since that is the revenue model for many of these companies.  Where is this going?  We at FacetoFace Heatlh believe we have created a revenue model that focuses on healthcare and how to keep these needed organizations and support groups going.  What else did I learn from the Health 2.0 conference - there doesnt' seem to be affiliate participation or models being engaged in these communities.  Many are focused on specific healthcare conditions and treatments, but all seem to be integrating a google ad-sense approach into their site.