Sorry to tell you this – but job boards are businesses. They make money. They produce results.

Why are these statements such a shock to social media enthusiasts? Just like Apple and Google, job boards rely on customers who pay for results. Perhaps there’s the rub – most social media tools and sites are free (at the moment). Since job boards aren’t free, they are by nature less lovable and effective than (insert the name of your favorite social media tool).

Well, guess what? Nothing lasts forever – and the days of ‘free’ social media will end. Twitter is inserting ad Tweets into the Twittersphere. Facebook has contemplated charging users. LinkedIn is always looking for new ways to extract money from users.

More than the expense, though, is the realization that results matter. Ask the well known recruiter Jerry Albright how many candidates he garnered from Twitter (hint: less than the fingers on one hand). Employers have been wowed with the whiz-bang of social media – but once a price tag is affixed, they will begin demanding results.

So if social media is about interaction and conversations, social media + a price tag will be about conversations and interactions that result in a specific outcome. In the case of recruiting, social media will need to show that it can produce better results – less expensively and as consistently – than a well-run job board. If it can, then that’s fantastic for the employer and tough for the job board.

But it just isn’t enough to be social. Going forward, social media must produce results - or it will end up as ephemeral as Handspring, est, and (insert a fad youremember!).