If you’re looking for a robust, integrated and “enticing” social network, with excellent customer service SocialGo is a platform worth considering. If there is something that’s not on this social network, they are probably adding it or it’s on the list to be added. I first thought it was Ning on steroids but after trying it out I thought it was much a lot more user friendly than Ning – and had a lot more going for it. You can be the judge.
With SocialGo you not only can create a great social network you can actually create an entire website around your social network, complete with customisable themes, chat, video Instant messaging and a whole host of widgets that leave you drooling. The chat widget is just in beta, but it’s coming.
Here is a quick overview of what you get with SocialGo and the things that really struck a chord with me.
Go IM – we mentioned this above you just install it from the Widget Store. Facebook Connect and Twitter Connect are available and you can import your Twitter status easily.
Visitor Radar – you can track visitors profiles and members can see who’s visited. Rather neat.
Lab Tunes – from which you can play music.
Lab Arcade
Games and more games members can play… also customizable. Given the popularity of Farmville, the use of social games in a network can’t be ignored.
Network Design – For those of us who are too busy to design our own networks – no worries. SocialGo does it all for you (yep, so you don’t have to). At $349.00 you get the SocialGo designers to design your own unique site and network. Or you can go directly to one of their 3rd party designers. And some of the designs are pretty darn coo – not that the pre-set templates are anything to.
Blogs and Forums
Easy to start both. You simply import your blog’s feed and you’re set or integrate your blog so it’s part of your SocialGo Site.
You can also run your own ads, use your own domain and include Audio, video and text chat.
What about making money?
There’s a member billing option (purchasable from the widget store), which means you can charge members subscription fees if you want.
White Label
You can remove all traces of SocialGo from your network should you wish, there’s a member option for that – plus you can create a public or private network and your network can also create their own networks.
Everything can be set up from your admin panel and really, you’re limited only by your own creativity. The interesting thing about SocialGo is that you can use it for any type of network, from a keep in touch with family community site to a fully fledged business network and shop.
Packages
There’s a free 30 day trial – which I took – which enables you to try out the features however to really see and access most of the cool features. The paid subscriptions start from around $40/month. With the Concierge version, if you’re really pressed for time, or don’t want the hassle of maintaining your network SG will manage your site for you on a monthly basis.
If I sound quite enthusiastic about SocialGo, it’s because I think in terms of social networking platforms it has nearly everything one might need to get up and running in minutes. It even has Wordpress integration – a must-have as far as I am concerned.
In terms of ease of use and customizing it to your tastes it is very hard to beat (at least of the ones I have looked at). All this does come at a price – albeit quite a decent price. You’ll need to purchase most of the add-ons from the widget store. The billing component for example costs around $99. You also can’t upload files such as PDF’s so you need to link to those in the usual way. You can also buy themes from $39 if you don’t care for the free themes.
I think it’s a good idea to provide the basic framework while the individual add-ons are optional and can be purchased from the Widget store.
There’s a Free Trial
As with anything, my advice is to check it out yourself with the free trial. These are my personal thoughts (I’m not getting any reward for writing this). They also hold workshops for network owners and a very helpful monthly newsletter plus their their customer service is great – when I had questions I could chat online with them and someone even offered to call me back.
The key thing about having a social network is how you can make it truly social and the business model you adopt.That will differ for each user, If you’re tired of Facebook and other hosted networks and want to create something uniquely your own with a rich multimedia experience - without it costing you your first-born – SocialGo is a worthy consideration. They make it easy… you can have all your social media collateral and social network all in one place in record time. Worth a look. I found a few examples of SocialGo Communities – most were private but Trikepilot is a great one for showing something of what’s possible. Of course yours will be different but it’s always good to see what others have done.
on 
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After your reading your article a question came to mind, what makes the SocailGO platform any different from the other such as ning & facebook? In other words, what is its competitive advantage?
Jeff
@Jeff Hodgson: Thanks for your comment. The point of my article wasn’t to assess the competitive advantage of any particular networking site. However if I was to point to one key advantage it would be ownership and control. On any free social network, no matter how large, you are at the whim of the owner. Sojan is right. They can do what they like and you can do nothing about it. You must keep within their rules. With SocialGo it is your network, your rules. Facebook is making annoying their loyal base into an art form. But that’s another story. The best way to find out what works for you is to try out the platforms yourself and draw your own conclusions. Different people have different needs. And do a a Google on Ning to find out why some of their users are rather disgruntled of recent.
@jeff
didn;t you the get the point
social go enables you to create a website for users to use…. and facebook only allows you to use.. no creations..
ning are the dirty players… giving hope to many ppl.. who worked hard for there networks and one day… they takign advantage of all there work… pretty mean
so far i seen, social go is the best social network builder solution available
Awesome article! This is something I am very interested in. Thank you!
Got this site up and running in a day using SocialGo! I am experiencing some bugs and their support has not been so responsive and technical though. I figure that’s what I get for the low price I’m paying but they’ve got huge potential so small nich social networking sites. FB is not the answer to all social needs.
Won… that’s pretty good. Reminds me to get moving on mine. I’ve always found SG ok on the responsiveness, but that’s my personal experience and it’s not been that technical. If I post a ticket in the evening EST I usually get a response the next day. Given they are in the UK, I’ve found it satisfactory in terms of time. I also see they monitor and respond in their forum to specific technical stuff. I’ve also used the live chat… they actually got a person to call me right back to answer my specific question. So I would persist till you get a response. As for the opportunity – they have a big one. They aren’t too expensive and they allow people to have control over their design and data. If you can build a vibrant and growing network you won’t need Facebook at all. I can see more people going that way. Thanks again for sharing.
As an actual SocialGo user for the past 2 months, I have to say the biggest problem with this site is the unreliability. I don’t know how many times the site has either loading extremely slow or didn’t load at all. They are new and still working out their kinks and honestly I am looking to go elsewhere. They may be better in a year or two. And trust me, it’s not just me…it’s happening to other socialgo users. Sorry socialgo! You seemed so perfect for us…oh well.
@Esther: It’s a pity but that seems to be the name of the game for some reason. Such is the thirst for social networking sites that companies seem to think their users will tolerate unreliability and wait for them to work out their kinks. I think they will find users don’t have that much patience, especially if they are paying. Thanks for commenting.
What concerns me most is what happens if the company behind it goes under? With a wordpress site, you own it, and you can host it anywhere, right? But with SocialGo, if something happens to the company, you’re a goner. Or do I have this wrong? I’m new to all of this, so your input would help.
Thanks,
Ron
You are absolutely right Ron. If SocialGo goes under then all social network sites created such as mine are out really!!! This would be a real shame
But for what its worth, my local community is currently enjoying it and I am sure that if members keep on signing up to http://www.gibbook.com and support it, it will have an effect on the long pasting of SocialGo itself.
Lets keep our fingers crossed for many more years to come