The problem with monetizing social media doesn't just rest with advertisers' lack of demand. Part of the problem is that there simply isn't a compelling social media marketing solution available yet. Social media, as a consumer-generated platform, doesn't have a sales force or a repping firm; at least not in the same way that behavioral targeting does with TACODA or Revenue Science. The world of social media consists essentially of an enormous scatter market. It is huge, unwieldy and difficult to productize as an advertising platform. 

The large media companies with vast reserves of social media inventory, such as FOX Interactive Media, are still selling social media by channel or vertical, or by run-of-site or by dumping the remnant inventory into ad networks. For a company possibly valued at $10 billion, Facebook's revenue is still estimated to be just $150 million for 2007. Google, with social media properties such as YouTube and Blogger, could potentially mine social media as a marketing platform, yet the company is still selling most of its inventory as contextually targeted.