I’ve said before that I believe there will be millions of social networks on the web in the future. These networks may consist of just a few people up to thousands of people. If you think about it every family could have a social network. Every sports team could sprout a social network. Fans of every leisure activity known to us could conceivable have social networks. And I believe they will.

We’re at a point in time where the level of technological ability required to build a social network is shrinking. We have systems like Drupal that allow those with just a bit of web expertise to get started. We have services like Ning that make network construction as easy as managing a blog. I have no doubt that these tools will get easier and even more tools will spring up.

It is my perception that most people who are creating social networks today feel that there has to be some sort of a business behind it. A good number of network creators are shopping their business plans and looking to get venture capital so that they can someday rival Facebook and MySpace. Some are simply loading up their networks with AdSense and other types of online advertising.

It seems to me that stressing on trying to make your social network into a money maker is probably the quickest way to ensure failure. How can you focus on the important things related to creating strong social networks when there is so much emphasis on revenue generation. Strong social networks need to provide a pleasant user experience, with feature that easily connect others. They require a great deal of care in order to grow. Growing a social network should be like tending to a garden. A garden is all about the plants. So a social network is all about the members. Do those members need advertising or efforts related to raising venture capital in order to enjoy the experience? No.

I know that many people will say that you need to have money in order to be able to afford development of the site. The founders may need money to live why they build their networks. To that I would say that many people have forgotten (or never learned) the basic business fundamentals.

You should start any business with as little capital as possible to get it off the ground. You should also be schooled in the fundamentals of how to build your businesses. For social networks that includes have some abilities in the area of web development. Get started by doing it yourself. If you don’t have those skills then bring on a partner who does. Real entrepreneurs take on the risks of building something themselves. And smart entrepreneurs do all they can to minimize risk. You can always start a web based social network using your knowledge capital and personal savings. If you don’t have personal savings then there are other issues to be attended to.

I really do think that some people just like the idea of being called the founder of a startup more than they like the idea of cultivating a business to be successful in the long run. Success is certainly not about being the most high profile, most blogged about service on the web. It is about lots of work that no one ever sees or gives you credit for. And I think that some who could start and run great networks refrain from doing so because they don’t think they can be successful based on what the current web2.0 community considers a success. Well most of those measures are wrong.

I look at Craigslist as a great example of a network that was created the right way. It started small and was created with the resources at hand. There were no launch parties or big investments. For a long time Craigslist grew in a very organic way. It is only in recent years that Craigslist has received investment capital. But that was after many years of independent operation and growth. Some estimate the worth of Craigslist to be over a billion dollars. Meanwhile, many a web startup with a bigger investment has ceased to exist. Makes you think doesn’t it?

I think there’s one more point to be made here as well. What about fun? Can’t someone start a social network for fun or as a hobby? Certainly all family based social networks will have to be a labor of love. And they will bring great value to all kinds of families everywhere. People just need to get comfortable creating something that is not created to flip or take public. Because it is very possible and very worthwhile to create something just to enjoy and learn from the process.