Making money off social networking sites is begining to prove more difficult than once thought. While larger social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have had some trouble profiting from their massive collection of members, these social sites are finding it difficult to sell advertising space to eager advertisers worried about having their ads next to inappropriate content. CNET analyzes this fear in a very lengthy piece.

MySpace hopes to target common interests groups, also known as affinity groups, who collectively share common interests. These groups can share interests listed in their profiles. Advertisers still worry these affinity groups do not contain “sophisticated databases that are applying social mapping to ad display and selection.”