MySpace Not a Safe Bet

I'm not the only one who thinks that youth-oriented social networking sites may not bring the financial rewards that one would expect from having 10's of millions of users.

Stock guru Henry Blodget agrees that MySpace is currently a money loser and likely won't do much of anything to improve Fox' bottom line.

The bigger the audience, the more bandwidth and storage resources are required, which costs real money to maintain. Will advertisers pay much to run ads against a 13 year old's ranting on life in middle school?

Also, just wait until the first successful lawsuit against MySpace after some sex offender harms a teen. MySpace is addressing the security and privacy issues, but the potential payouts (even if the lackadaisical parents really are to blame) could be huge.

Like Trix, social networking may be for kids today, but they'll move on, and the survivors will be focused on services for grownups.