How long would it take to receive first paycheck?

[Angel A]

If someone created and launched a social network BETTER than facebook, approximately how long would it take them to begin receiving money from ads? Weeks? Months? Years?

*By receiving money, I mean money for personal use, NOT for funding the site?
Thanks in advance!

[AyHy]

There's really no definitive answer to this. And there's so many important things you didn't specify - for example, is this project being funded by a $50,000 loan from your parents, or did another Peter Thiel swoop in and say "This is going to be huge; here's $10 million to make it work"?

And of course, the question of whether the money is going for personal use or being re-invested back into the site is one that only the President or partners in the company can make.

I mean, I could theoretically stick up a website, write "SOCIAL NETWORK BETTER THAN FACEBOOK" on it in large letters, attach Google Adsense to it, tell all my friends to look at it, get a $5 check from Google, and cash it, all in the space of a week.

That satisfies the specifications of your question, but it's obviously not what you had in mind...

[Judge Julie]

Ad revenue must be paid BEFORE the ADs run - so immediately within 30 seconds of launching your better than Facebook social network.

[Ab]

Hm probably some weeks.

[Miss M]

I would say a few months depending on how actively you market your site.
A few months because that is how long it would take to get traffic from the search engines.

However, without knowing what you are doing there's a big chance you wont make a penny. And it will most likely not be better than Facebook ;-)