Social-Go woes make me want to \

I Fully agree with you...So Far Socialgo is not a go...to many problems
so far.. I have all the problems Mentioned in your post too.
I Also was a premium member with Ning, and had 3 sites with them.
and all 3 were premium sites.
I too was going to be a premium member here at socialgo, but not
sure right now..Not too happy with what I see so far.
I've already started setting up another site on Multiply.com, cause this
socialgo site just was not functioning right.
But will stick with socialgo for a little while longer,
hope this starts getting better.
take care
sengorel

In fact, compared to virtually every other online company I've dealt with, I think SocialGo's customer service is excellent, given the avalanche of networks and content which have hit the beta programme in the past couple of weeks.

They also (so far) haven't descended into Ning-speak, telling us that the problem is for our own good....LOL...which used to really get me going!!!

Along with everyone else, I'm hugely frustrated by the image/music/video upload problems, which are making my network unattractive for Ning migrant members. But it appears to me that SG are working as fast as they can to resolve this.

For most of us, this isn't fast enough, but there's only so much the team can do. And the lack of a clear pricing structure worries a lot of us, who are concerned that we may be building ourselves into a corner we can't afford. But there are few alternatives, and at least the team here (along with WL) are thinking the issues through in an intelligent way.

I suspect that while the rest of the UK takes a week or more off as from midday today, the SG team won't be....and I suspect the Customer Service team will still be checking the board here over Christmas Day.

I've no doubt that SocialGo will turn out to be the best and most flexible white-label social networking solution available. Meanwhile, it is still buggy and unresponsive: but I don't think you can say that of the SG team.

WidgetLaboratory has had extensive experience with product features and customer support on both platforms, hence the reason we've been contracted to assist SocialGO with the development of their product line, marketing, sales, and customer support.

Without going over any of the specific points that have been covered above, we want to add the following general statement:

SocialGO has one of those rare situations where they showed-up at "just the right time" to offer a solution to a market that is on the cusp of a major change. We like to think that they were brilliant because they did not let their EGO's stand in the way of LEARNING from what went horribly wrong at Ning... and therefore, they have spent the last three months LISTENING to their customers, to the market, and to WidgetLaboratory.

Most Silicon Valley startups go into a private BETA that lasts six months or more, and have very small numbers of participants (usually hundreds or maybe a couple thousand). Whatever happens with these BETA testers goes on behind closed-doors.

RARELY if EVER has there been a case that a company that is only a month and a half into a BETA takes on the market LEADER head-to-head and manages to swallow-up the majority of that leader's premium customers.

While we believe that WidgetLaboratory has been the "bridge" that has helped to make this shift in paying customers possible... the fact remains that SocialGO has done more to ADAPT and ENABLE their platform and business model to these new customers than any similarly-situated company in recent memory. Their BETA program had to change almost overnight to adapt thousands and thousands of networks with all of their content and members.


Check out the growth since the LAB came on board and the BETA started:

Nic mentioned reliability, and slowdowns during the platform upgrades. This is true, but also ignores that these were announced upgrades and feature suspensions that were done while keeping the platform UP AND RUNNING so that everyone could still do "something" on their site instead of shutting down the whole platform. We believe this was a better way to do, because shutting down the platform is a deal-killer.... as it is on NING. As of a couple weeks ago, Ning was STILL shutting-down their entire platform unexpectedly (four hours) and having to pull-back on critical features to avoid any further problems.... and this is with four years of head start over SocialGO.

WidgetLaboratory has been a vocal participant in the development of Social Networking ideas for the last year or so. We have continued to demonstrate our ability to create tools and features that run on multiple platforms, as well as to put our personal names on the line when we make BOLD COMMENTS or claims. Because we HATE to be wrong, we only speak the TRUTH... and don't use "double-speak" like Ning. In other words, we WALK THE WALK... and don't just TALK THE TALK. So here's what we promise to you:

SocialGO will BE THE SOCIAL NETWORK PLATFORM SOLUTION for both adult and non-adult, and WidgetLaboratory will be providing the ICING ON THE CAKE with our tools, features, and applications that monetize and grow your social network ideas. Ning has a failed business model with Adsense and has been withdrawing into its shell, closing off all innovation or outside ideas other than Open Social. They are hoping for a buyer to come along and let them recoup their investment capital. It is WidgetLaboratory's prediction that in 2009 Ning will get folded-into some larger company in a deal orchestrated by Marc Andreessen. Think of Yahoo Groups and you can imagine the "excitement" of Ning once they get (finally and mercifully) swallowed....yawn.

Those who want to stick around to see the results of the creativity and "magic" being worked on by SocialGO and WidgetLaboratory are welcome and invited. Those who want to bail out...... good luck elsewhere, and we'll see you again soon. Because in the end, WidgetLaboratory knows from experience that all paying customers are the same.... they ALWAYS COME BACK when you deliver the goods.

We look forward to showing you our stuff... if you are brave enough, and patient enough, to wait till the cookies are fully baked.

i'll bring the milk!

My main concern is with the financials of SocialGo's parent company, Bright Things. I don't want to invest my time in a platform that isn't going to be here in a couple of years.

In the last 6 months they booked revenue of 2000 pounds ($3000 USD). That's not profit, that's their entire income for 6 months before expenses. They had 2 rounds of capital raising in September and October last year, and raised the equivalent of about 2.2 million US dollars. That's all the money they have moving forward to fund their growth until they become profitable and it doesn't seem like enough to me.

Perhaps they've got very meager operating costs, but I can't see that this money will last them more than 5 or 6 months at the most, and likewise, I don't think that they can become profitable in that time, especially since at the moment they don't have a service that's worth paying for.

It's feasible that they could go back and have another capital raising next year, but I think they would get a much smaller chunk of cash since their share price is lower and the markets are likely to be very skittish for the next year or two at least, so they will have diminishing capital and increasing costs. Perhaps originally it was their own plan to get purchased by the likes of Google, but I can't see something like that happening now with their offering and the current financial climate.

@CalvinC,
Touche' for doing some thorough research ;-)

Perhaps you've answered your own question?

As you've rightly stated, there are very low operating costs to develop and perfect a software platform, when one does it outside of the (former) "Halcyon days" environment of Silicon Valley and VC money. We know first hand, as we grew WidgetLaboratory from zero to more than 1.1 million active users of our products with zero investment capital and two employees... all bootstrapped on profits from each successive product and the loyalty of customers who found our products and service compelling.

The beauty of Bright Things being a public company is that capital is readily available in a transparent forum, from anyone who believes that there is an upside to investing in the company. Unlike a VC-funded company such as Ning, Bright Things can seek capital based upon its performance in the market, and it has a duty to publicly report on the same. These performance reports are available for anyone who wishes to seek them out, such as yourself. Anyone can visit their shareholder page HERE. Unlike a VC-funded company, all the benefits of growth and profitability go in known proportion to the shareholders... rather than secretive "preferential buyout" deals to the Venture Capitalists. Is it any wonder that company's such as NING with $104mm of alleged investment are stagnating in innovation and reducing "costs" according to their CEO? It is because they have a huge HURDLE to overcome to pay out the investors a preferred return, and having spent so much money to date on unnecessary overhead... they need a WHALE to swallow them. Not many whales around these days. Look at BrightThing's total capitalization to date and you will chuckle...with such a modest sum to date, they would only need a small salmon to swallow them.

As anyone can note from the public filings, January is to be the important transition from BETA to final release. Since the entire platform is built with monetization as the theme, and premium services come at a subscription cost, it is reasonable to understand that the business model does not involve any "hypothetical" hope that Adsense revenue will come to the rescue. Likewise, from the public filings, one can judge for themselves that the growth of the customer base during BETA has been extraordinary... likely due to the very well-known migration of so many of Ning's customers to SocialGO.

WidgetLaboratory has been brought in to advise SocialGO as well as to consult as to their marketing and customer relationships. For our part, we are betting our own company and reputation that the relationship with SocialGO is one that will not only survive, but will thrive.

We do not wish to trivialize any concern you may have over "moving your site" if that in fact is a legitimate and honest concern..... but it seems to us that this is not brain surgery.

If you were to setup your site at any other location on the internet, even on your own server, there is an equal or better chance that the ISP or host location might "FAIL" for some reason outside of your control. There are methods and means to handle these contingencies, of course, and these exist on SocialGO as well. In sum... LIFE is full of UNKNOWNS.... this is one of the few times that you have really nothing to lose even if things don't "work out". Any site you or anyone have would have all its content made available in an actually USEABLE format (because SocialGO uses traditional data storage methods), and that would be that.

We hope you enjoy whatever solution you decide to use... but from our standpoint at WidgetLaboratory, this is an exciting economic climate to be building a business about MONETIZING social networking. All of the delusions of Silicon Valley about using Google Adsense to build a business are gone, and the VC funds are crippled. Having a tight, efficient company with a solid "old school" business model seems like a pretty good place to be right now.

Cheers!
EG
WidgetLaboratory

I would rather support a fledgling company with strong goals and drive than to support a company like NING who's so fat on VC money they can't see the future. NING has not innovated at all and has reduced its offering.

Hi Evil,

Thanks for your reply; to clarify, it's not the operational costs of developing a platform which I'm concerned about. As you stated, these are and should be relatively low for any web based business. It's the ongoing operational costs of expanding to accommodate a growing user base which concern me; these can be substantial and they likely haven't even started yet for SocialGo.

My impression is that seeking funding from the open market is a much tougher call for a speculative business venture in uncertain times, especially when it's a new business that the company hasn't been involved in before, whose financial returns are uncertain, and where the investing audience has little or no understanding of the business. One need only look up the 1 year chart for Bright Things to see that investor confidence in them is currently very low. Couple that with a tough economic climate and you can see what I mean. There are numerous benefits to not being a public company when you are developing a new market, as I'm sure you know. Most of the web's great success stories would not have occurred as already public companies; shareholders are too risk averse to back them.

As an aside: A friend who is a VP in the banking sector in the UAE is currently going on an around the world trip with his wife, 'while he can.' He told me that he thinks the recession is going to be 1000 times worse than what people are currently predicting, and advised me, in all honesty, to take all of my money out of the bank since he thinks that many of them will go out of business over the next 18 months. I don't quite believe him yet, but the force of his warning has made me re-think some of my plans.

As for me I have several irons in several fires, and I will wait until SocialGo is out of beta (and have announced their elusive pricing plans) before I decide for or against them for a couple of projects. Your monologue on life's unknowns doesn't strictly apply across the various strata you mention, since if my hosting company fails it's relatively easy to take my code and data and move it elsewhere provided I have been prudent with backups. Far from being a 'no-brainer', with DIY social networking platforms, I think once you are established you are pretty much locked in; so the choice is a much more critical one, especially if you plan for it to be a business.

Hi Calvin,
your points are well-taken and I agree with many of your thoughts (and those of your VP friend).

Modern society has seen several past examples of "dire straights" before, and these seem to be necessary hurdles or hiccups on the way to what many of us optimists believe are change for the better. This is certainly not the place to philosophize on human-nature, but it seems that we need to continue to screw things up horribly before we recognize the errors of our past ways. Each time the cycle repeats itself again, yet some of us hope that we are generally striving for a point where we can (finally) learn once and for all. Only time will tell when or if that day will come.

In the meantime, the tables have clearly turned to a "survival of the fittest" scenario. To us, this means that one should invest their remaining capital and time into projects that might possibly deliver the best return for the investment. I would tend to agree that having your cash in hand might be prudent... but then what? You still need to have "something" to do with your capital. Money stuffed into a mattress will not generate any new income, so then you're just slowly starving.

Your decision to wait out Beta makes the most sense given your thoughts. In the meantime, feel free to play around with the platform and at the LAB. When things break out into the final release, hopefully the missing pieces of the puzzle will be known so that you can make a decision at that point. There will be a full backup provision so that your data is fully transportable. Those who have hosted their own code realize that the cost of ownership, maintenance, development and features cannot be touched for the incredibly modest cost of hosting on a "platform"... so one would have to amortize out those cost when comparing self-hosting to using a platform when considering what you would do if the platform came to an abrupt ending. Our position is that you would be provided with a "catastrophe" option if the complete platform was effected.

In the meantime, we're going to continue hard at work. Some of the greatest achievements in technology and business have occurred during the worst of times. The barriers and competition are lower, and new opportunities show themselves. It is up to those of us who want to CHANGE the world to act. If we all sit around and lament the mistakes of others before us, we are doomed to NEVER break out of the cycle.

I am a die-hard capitalist... because my spirituality will not pay the bills in a world that is material in nature. I personally believe that Life is a game for spirits who are having a "human experience". As such, this is one heck of an exciting time to be a player! So I say... live smart... but LIVE with gusto....

R u really serious! YES IM TALKING IN ALL CAPS! BUT THIS IS RIDICLOUS IF YOU OWNED SOCIALGO AND YOU TRIED TO REPLY TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT COMPLAINS ABOUT SOMETHING OR HAS A QUESTION ABOUT THE NETWORK AND UPDATES WITH QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS EVERY TIME YOU TURN AROUND SOCIALGO IS GREAT! THEY COULD BE HAVING AUTOMATIC ANSWERS TO REPLY TO PEOPLE QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF TAKING TIME TO EVEN LOOK AT WHAT WE GOT TO SAY! U NEED TO BE HAPPY THEY EVEN LET HALF OF US USE THIS NETWORK NO ONES PERFECT AND A MACHINE ISNT EITHER.AND IF YOU THINK YOU CAN OWN A HUGE NETWORK LIKE YOU SAID YOU WILL BE TRYING TO DO WITH SOCIALGO OR ANOTHER NETWORK AND THINK YOU CAN REPLY TO EVERY PROBLEM IN 10 MINS U HAVE COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND! NO ONE NOT EVEN TOM ON M*SPACE CAN DO THAT HE DONT EVEN SAY NOTHING! SO I THINK PEOPLE DONT UNDERSTAND WE ARE NOT TECHNOLOGY WE CREATE IT BUT HUMANS ARE HUMANS AND THATS ALL WE WILL EVER BE! SOCIALGO YOU KEEP DOING YOUR THING IM BEHIND YOU 100% ND FOR Nicdaslick REALLY SHOULD THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY AND IF YOU DONT LIKE SOCIALGO GO BACK TO NING OR BUY YOUR OWN SERVER BECAUSE THIS IS NOT NEEDED!