A few weeks ago we posted 9 Ways to Build Your Own Social Network, a review of several hosted, do-it-yourself white label social networking solutions. Conspicuously missing from that round-up were many additional companies that specialize in the creation of social networks. These companies were intentionally overlooked in the first post because we wanted to focus on self-service websites. In this second post, we cover these remaining companies, all of which offer either made-to-order solutions or downloadable software. When reviewing Ning, KickApps, et al., I was able to test the products first-hand by creating social networks from scratch and for free using online wizards and tools. Testing this second post’s solutions was more difficult because they all require the formation of business relationships and/or local installation and configuration. But we were able to test many of the launched social networks that actually use these solutions, and we also interviewed several of the companies. Detailed information about the companies is presented in the interactive chart to the right, which features additional information in popups and the ability to select only particular companies for comparison. The following companies are included in the chart: Affinity Circles, AlstraSoft, Blogtronix, Boonex, Broadband Mechanics, Converdge, Crowd Factory, DZOIC, GoLightly, introNetworks, Kwiqq, Leverage, Lithium, LiveWorld, Neighborhood America, Omnifuse, Pringo, Prospero, SelectMinds, Small World Labs, Social Platform, Sparta Social Networks, Telligent, ThePort, VMIX Media, Web Crossing, Web Scribble Solutions, and Webligo. (Update: Awareness has been added to the chart, raising the total to 35) Not included are Dave Networks, Five Across (absorbed by Cisco), PHPizabi, Pluck, and Village Engine because they did not respond to our inquiries. phpFox responded but opted not to fill out our questionnaire. Your initial reaction may be “wow, this market sure looks overcrowded.” In the longer run, competitive pricing may force many of these companies to drop out of the business. However, I was surprised to hear several of them say that current demand for social networking services is overwhelmingly high. One of the representatives I spoke with half-kiddingly said that he did not actually want TechCrunch coverage of his company because he already has to turn down multiple project requests per week. It will be interesting to see over the next few years whether this demand further intensifies as potential customers realize the value of niche social networks, or whether it slackens as people get over the hype surrounding this aspect of → Read More
Company: Blogtronix Launched: August 17, 2005 Location: Oakland, CA (with offices in Colorado and Bulgaria) Overview: Corporations, even big corps, are starting to blog and otherwise interact directly with their customers. New startups are rushing to fill the blogging needs of these corporations. Blogtronix is the newest entrant in this space. Announced yesterday, Blogtronix is headquartered in Oakland, CA, and has additional offices in Colorado and Bulgaria. Blogtronix is a novel corporate blogging and business networking company, enabling businesses, universities, web portals and government agencies with secure on-demand services built on the Microsoft’s .NET platform. Blogtronix Corporate is the only corporate blogging system on the market to incorporate product blogging and rating for optimal marketing reach and customer feedback. Link The service is young and the site is not fully functional yet, but there appears to be a real service here. Blogtronix offers: secure corporate blogging social networking podcasting videocasting custom design more We’ll watch this one as it develops. We note, however, that criticism is already being throw their way. Roland Tanglao laments Blogtronix’s choice of the .NET platform over open source solutions: Pure FUD. Perhaps Vassil doesn’t realize that 1000s of companies are happily using LAMP and other open source solutions for their blogging and business networking needs without fearing the integration bogeyman. In 1999, companies were wary of using open source, in 2005 it’s a no brainer. I see Roland’s point, although a lot of companies out there love .NET and may embrace this solution simply because it will (hopefully) integrate seemlessly with their current IT platform. A boring, but secure, solution may be just what they want. Team: Vassil Mladjov, co-founder and ceo George Athannassov, co-founder and business development Bojidar Zashev, vp development Hristo Serafimov, CTO Dim Draganov, Software Architecture Nik Dimitrov, Tech Project Manager Ivan Popgruev, vp products development Boyan Stanoev, legal counsellor Link → Read More
