At the Russian Internet Week RIW-2008, a round table “Internet communities and social networks as a business” took place.

Tikhon Deinekin, head of the online promotion department of the reference service Imkhonet told him about the monetization models of www.imhonet.ru :
Unlike other social networks, Imkhonet has an additional advantage, thanks to which it is much easier for us to monetize our resources than other social networks. imhonet.ru is a symbiosis of a recommendatory service and a social network: the network is built on the basis of recommendatory functionality. Users give marks (make up their own preferences profile), the system compares the profiles of different users and selects like-minded circles. Inside these communities, the recommendations are exchanged automatically. It is not only interesting for users to get recommendations, but also to find out where this product is sold, to purchase it. Thus, a fairly logical model of monetization arises: we provide links to online stores where you can buy this product. Now we are beginning to actively develop this area in all sections presented on imhonet.ru : books, music, films, games, wines, etc.
The second direction, which we are working on and will soon be launched, is display advertising. However, here we will have our own specifics ... The full text of the transcript is available at: http://imhonet.ru/press/199388/