My guess is that insom means that there are certain fixed costs to having a social media site. These fixed costs need to be realized before you can see any profit. These fixed costs should include labor. That said, a good and sustainable business plan wouldn't just break even, but they'd turn a profit beyond fixed costs because... well, bad times happen and reserves are needed for such things. But, any person or organization only needs so much to sustain themselves. As they say, "pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered."

I will say that I no longer visit sites I love, and take them for granted. I realize that most places I go online that are worthwhile have a team of people behind it, laboring intensely and often with little to no compensation. The best things all start off like this, with passion and will as your motivating factors. The concepts that are born with the sole intent to profit don't last long in the social media space imo. -It's easy to spot them, it's transparent and they tend to make me feel like a product while I'm on them. Nothing good comes from profit as a sole motivator. If you want to create something, do it because of the challenge or because you really want it to exist.

(exiting soap box)