Image by Susan NYC via Flickr

Sorry to be such a downer, but with even my own optimism about the markets beginning to flag, I've begun to ask this question. As funding dries up and businesses close, what will happen to the world of social media?

Let's take a look at some facts. First of all, most, if not all social networks are not yet making a profit. Most aren't making any money at all, save from funding rounds from venture capitalists and private investors. But, and here's the second fact, a lot of VCs and investors are turning away all but the biggest social media properties. We keep hearing about Twitter and Facebook raising more money, but what about the other sites and services?

Obviously, social media properties need to start making money on their own if they're to survive the recession if it lasts past the end of 2009. But are users willing to pay for the services they now take for granted as free? Probably not, especially as individuals feel the crunch in their own pockets. Fortunately, some services, such as Blellow, have come out of the gate with monetization plans in mind. But for every forward-looking social site out there, there's 10, 20, 30 more that act as if the only way to make money is to get it through investors.

And investors don't like putting money into anything that doesn't give them a ROI.

I think that social media will survive the recession. The idea itself is so insidious, so viral that it'll never be stamped out. But how the world of social media will appear at the end of the recession will certainly be much, much different than it looked like going in. Just like the rest of the business world, some businesses will die, and others will take their place. The real question is, which ones will survive?