New monetization way for social networks

Saw an interesting post on the My Linking Power Forum. A consulting firm has agreed to sponsor two groups on the forum. According to a post by Vincent Wright to the members:

I’m happy to share with you that our friend Mary McDonald,CEO/CTO, of The McDonald Consulting Group is sponsoring TWO of our groups on My Linking Power Forum: Linking Executives – AND – Linking Startups! 

That sounds like a different way to monetize social networks than what I have seen so far! Will social networks now go this way, if there are substantial groups of related people in such communities?