It was inevitable. We've all become our own reality shows. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking services, millions of people are documenting their daily actions on an hourly basis. It will be up to historians to determine whether this was all an effort to make the mundane seem exciting or just the ultimate endpoint for a culture that has become obsessed with itself. Either way, years from now, we won't be reading the letters of Charles Dickens or Franklin Roosevelt to get a sense of the times—we'll be consuming the tweets of your next door neighbor or the status updates of your high school crush.

Fear not. This is not another "I joined Facebook and all I got (and contributed) were these lousy status updates" column. Those have been done to death by better hacks than me. Sure, I'm concerned about whether technology is the great connecter or is just presenting an illusion of connectedness. I wonder whether social networking is enabling more communicating or just creating a one-way street of self-promotion and self-flagellation. And lastly I am amazed about how we all claim to worry about our privacy or lack thereof in the digital age, and yet so freely give it up without really thinking about the implications.

No, the question here is how and when Facebook and Twitter and the rest will make money off of all of us. Just how much is "on my way home from the movies" worth? How about "just bought some new pointy shoes?" What about, "I'm making soup for my kids?" These are all updates and tweets from friends of mine.

FORTUNE Magazine just spent six pages exploring this topic, and while it raised plenty of hypotheticals of how Facebook could become the next Google, it didn't really make a concrete case that it was inevitable.

It's not that the information to make money isn't there. As Jessi Hempel, the writer of the FORTUNE piece notes, Facebook presents advertisers with the potential "to eavesdrop on every phone conversation you've ever had," and that, as well as other elements of the site, is what makes corporations "salivate."

At first glance, those status updates and tweets cited above look pretty benign. But if the girl who likes pointy shoes suddenly gets advertisements from Jimmy Choo on her profile page, or the guy making soup for his family is besieged with ads from Campbell's, it makes sense. Of course, Facebook is already trying to do this, but not exactly in any targeted way if my own profile page is any indication. I've got an ad for a Mac Book (already own one) and a Lexus (live in New York City) on my page, and nothing in my profile indicates any interest in either of those products.

A problem with getting really targeted with Facebook users is that they tend to be a sensitive lot. They don't like to feel that they are part of what is ultimately supposed to be a money-making venture. They get outraged if they think they are being pimped, as was the case a few years ago, when Facebook started publicizing purchases its users had made at other online retailers. The company quickly shut the program down.

Thus, the real challenge for Facebook is not only figuring out how to make money, it's convincing its users that trying to generate revenue is not a bad thing. Unfortunately for Facebook, its users tend to view it as public television (never mind that many members—including this one—use it as a marketing tool) and they don't like pledge drives.

Ultimately, though, someone has to pay for this stuff. With each user the company adds—and it's approaching 200 million members—its costs go up. So here is one idea: subscription fees. I conducted an unscientific survey of two people, and both said they'd be willing to pony up $50 a year to be on Facebook, and neither is exactly loaded.

Sure some will balk at this idea and counter that if Facebook charges, someone else will just set up a rival service for free. But Facebook has already shown its worth to its members, and while it's true that there is probably a large percentage of people who join Facebook, check it out for a bit, and drop out, there are just as many living their lives on the site who would likely not see a small user fee as unreasonable. And if the choice was pay a fee or be barraged with ads and have your information sold to marketers, well that's a no-brainer.

Whether its television, newspapers, or the Internet, this stuff has to ultimately be paid for or it goes away. If we can pay a couple of bucks for a bottle of water every day without batting an eye, then a couple of bucks to read someone's trivial status updates and find out what happened to that girl who dumped you in third grade is a bargain.