"We're not interested in selling. We wanted to forge our own culture, to create a sustainable company"

Okay the plan is not to sell.

"... The team's hope, he said, was to find an advertising-based solution that delivers revenue without damaging the user experience. ..."

But where is the advertising coming from if google sucks up so much of the advertising dollar. This is the bit I don't get. I've watched http://spock.com try this and they have completely screwed the application. There must be some other value in people information & conversations.