myYearbook, the best place to engage teens and one of the 25 most-trafficked sites in the United States, today announced the initial success of their new VIP Club subscription model. The VIP Club provides users the option to pay for perks and privileges throughout the site and is offered at three different price points, each with varying benefits. The heart of the VIP Club is Lunch Money, myYearbook’s integrated virtual currency. Lunch Money is similar to Netvillage's "Credits".

The VIP Club subscription model is the culmination of a three-part strategy to diversify myYearbook’s revenue streams into virtual goods and virtual currency. In addition to the new subscription model, myYearbook also built out the ability to directly buy Lunch Money and created a CPA platform for providing high-quality branded experiences to users in return for virtual currency. Now, more than 33% of myYearbook’s revenue is derived through these three methods which didn’t exist just one year ago. As a result, myYearbook is profitable, with revenues up 120% in 2009 over 2008.

“The freemium model has been an important part of myYearbook’s monetization strategy, and we remain bullish on the additional revenue possibilities that this model will bring,” said Geoff Cook, CEO of myYearbook. “This success allows us to focus even more on delivering high-quality social media applications for our users while remaining the best place to meet new people on the Internet.”

With 55% month-over-month VIP Club growth and an increasing percentage of both new and active users subscribing to the VIP Club, the model has proven to bring in revenue while enhancing the user experience for VIPs. myYearbook users join the VIP Club to increase their earning power for Lunch Money, which is seamlessly integrated throughout the myYearbook site. Additional VIP Benefits include access to exclusive VIP Gifts, privileges in myYearbook’s popular Match application, mass sender access, and VIP benefits in all of myYearbook’s many social games.

Lunch Money was launched in 2007 in order to drive engagement and enrich gameplay and is now the core motivator that drives many of the member interactions on myYearbook, so much so that people are willing to pay a premium to earn additional Lunch Money. Users interact with this virtual currency in multiple ways, from donating to their favorite Causes and purchasing exclusive premium gifts to wagering in Battles and winning extra prizes in Games.

Advertisers are leveraging the desire for this virtual currency by rewarding users who interact with their brands. By watching sponsored videos, giving premium virtual gifts and completing surveys, users are actively interacting with brands while simultaneously making Lunch Money to spend throughout the site.

VIP Club memberships are available at three levels – green for $6.99, gold for $9.99 and black for $19.99 – with increased access and features for the higher levels. For

In many ways, myYearbook is the polar opposite of Facebook. While the average age of Facebook users gets older and older, myYearbook grows its core demographic of 13-17 year-olds, which make up 43% of users on the site. Facebook allows third-party developers to write applications for its site; myYearbook makes all of the games and activities on its site, like the popular “Battles,” on its own.

On Monday, the Pennington, New Jersey company detailed another factor that sets it apart from Facebook: it’s turning profits partly by getting users to pony up for extra features. Though myYearbook doesn’t disclose revenues, it says that it’s profitable, that revenues are up 120% this year and above $1 million total, and that more than one-third of its revenue is coming from sales of virtual currency.

myYearbook’s 31-year-old CEO Geoff Cook, who founded the site with his younger brother Dave and sister Catherine in 2005, stopped by BusinessWeek’s offices last week to discuss how the “Lunch Money” virtual currency system works and why it’s becoming such an important part of the business. Lunch Money is similiar to netVillage's "Credits".

Facebook can't afford to ignore this news. The world's largest social networking site now has more than 250 million users, and is estimated to bring in as much as $500 million this year -- that's an average of a measly $2 per person annually. If Facebook implemented a virtual currency system along the lines of Lunch Money (and the company has hinted that it plans to do just that) it would instantly open a new revenue stream to complement ad sales on the site.

What could Facebook charge for? myYearbook appears to be profiting most from its "VIP Club," which charges users between $7 and $20 per month to get extra Lunch Money and unlock extra features in many of the apps on the site. Since Facebook doesn't control the third-party apps on its site, it would have a hard time unlocking premium features in a similar way. Perhaps it could add premium features to its native applications, like photo editing or specialized event invitations.

I have asked this question of readers before, who said they would pay for these things: e-commerce storefronts, ability to "export data," remove limits on friending, vanity URLs (which has since launched free of charge), removal of ads, better privacy, and better management of "fans" for businesses.

Should Facebook pursue a model like myYearbook's? If you're a Facebook user, what would you pay to have added to the site?

Log on to Friendster today and you’ll see a background image that says ‘Watch this face! … on December 4′. Turns out the pioneering social network is in for a major revamp tomorrow, including a new logo, tagline (”Connecting Smiles”) and an entirely fresh look. Friendster outlines some of the changes in a video, in which it calls out other social networks (*cough* Facebook and *cough* MySpace) for being plain and boring.

My absolute favorite part of the video: “I mean, if everyone's there, woop de doo”.

Friendster in the clip says the redesign aims to place more emphasis on 3 pillars: Simple, Fun and Personal. The company also features glimpses of the new website lay-out, which looks a whole lot like Facebook in my opinion, but seemingly mixed with the customization capabilities of MySpace (e.g. it looks like you can change the background color of pages with a single click). Apologies for the blurry screenshot, but watch the video to see it in action.

Social Networking Sites (SNS) are the next wave marketing tools for businesses, it's powerful, it’s personal and it’s free!. Imagine, reaching out to 580 million users worldwide. With the on-going growth of internet users, SNS will continue to see the light of day. What are Social Networking Sites (SNS)? SNS are web based platforms for interaction and networking. This is where people gather all over the world to mingle and discuss common interest in business, hobbies and other social activities. Nowadays, SNS are essential to almost all business entities due to its cost efficiency and real time interaction with clients and other people. It’s not just hard selling or display ads, it's more on dealing with your customers, audiences and people alike at a personal level. It allows business men instant feedback on the services rendered. It enables entrepreneurs and corporations to send announcements on upcoming events and promos faster reaching their target markets for FREE!

FACEBOOK: Five years in the market and it has already got hold of 200 million users worldwide, averaging $10-50 million dollars per annual in revenues. This site is great for exposure and creating strong brand awareness.

FRIENDSTER: This site has been the pioneer in SNS with over 90 million users worldwide. Definitely has set the standards to what SNS is today. It has always been a great tool in increasing your contact base.

LINKEDIN: With 28 million users worldwide, this site has found its niche. Job seekers and employers can take full advantage of its network. Looking for top people in the industry? This site will show you their professional skills along with their employment history.

TWITTER: My personal favorite. This site helps create personalities for your brand. A perfect place in shouting out your updates, advertisements, microblogging, opinions and news flash. Being only three years in the market, Twitter was able to accumulate 25 Million users worldwide and counting.

MULTIPLY: This site was able to capture majority of the Asian market having an estimate of 12 million users worldwide majority of which are females. It was originally developed as a SNS on expressing personal events through photos, videos and blogs but multiply has evolved into something more, it has developed into a free hosting site for displaying and selling products and services online.

Decide which SNS best fits your business priorities. Find your niche, build your community and reach your target market.