SNW INTERVIEW -- Nov 30 -- Social Platform provides white label social networks...enterprise strength. Leverage Software, Ning, Pringo Networks, and Affinity Circles are all competitors of sorts. See this Handy Little List (on the right bar, for future reference) if you're interested in Building Your Own social network. - Mark Brooks
Eric, can you tell me what the founding story is for Social Platform?
Yes, about 10 years ago I founded a company called Geektek. A project came across my desk to build a social network for music fans. I realized that the real value of the project shouldn’t have been only one social network but a platform for building other social networks.
There was beginning to be a lot of demand for social applications. I decided to spin off Social Platform and start writing social application software. That vision hasn’t changed although the software has evolved significantly since then.
Where are you based?
Los Angeles is our corporate headquarters. We have our hosting center in the downtown data corridor. Social Platform’s development offices are in Seattle.
Are the programmers State side or do you use foreign services?
All State side.
So in a nutshell how would you describe what Social Platform does?
We provide custom, white label social applications for software and consulting services for social networking concepts.
And what would be some example clients?
A company called the Perseverance Group uses our software to create mentoring programs for universities. A more consumer oriented example would be Personality Zone which is launching this month. They do the Myers-Briggs personality sorter so they built a social network for people with the same personality type. We also develop internal collaborative communities for Fortune 500 companies as well as provide trouble shooting for social networking concepts that need a new life our extensible platform can provide.
So you build everything from applications to full blown social networks?
Correct, from the very basic to some extraordinary projects.
How would you compare with the likes of Ning, Me.com and Pringo Networks?
I think Ning and Me are much more consumer oriented and they’re also not brandable. I don’t believe they allow people to create their own networks without the company’s branding. Pringo for instance does revenue sharing if I recall. They don’t provide a top to bottom service. People can come to us with just an idea and we’ll take them and hold their hands throughout the entire process - designing and implementing their social network. Our business model directly vest us in our clients’ success. We want them to be very profitable. Our platform and abilities are very diverse and flexible. We think out of the box but our software is as far from that as possible.
Our marquee product is an engine called Social Platform Enterprise. It gives us the ability to adapt our software to our clients’ vision. If a client wants a blog, we don’t have to make it look like every other blog out there. We can use our blog engine to make it look and operate the way they would like. However, if they want a custom module or a custom piece we also write that from scratch for them.
What kind of clients are you seeking?
We work with a number of clients in start ups, established companies in the Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 and sometimes internal networks. As a privately held company we don’t rely on venture capital to sustain us. Instead, our success is based on our execution and how successful our clients become. We’re not really geared towards any particular industry. We look for clients that are engaged, knowledgeable and open.
Would you say that the corporate sector, the Fortune 500 who are looking for their own internal social network, is that the most lucrative segment?
The Fortune 500 is definitely a growing lucrative area to be in. As time goes on, we will see a lot more movement in the Fortune 500 and beyond. We are experiencing a great deal of exploration in this segment.
What are the top three web addresses you can give us to get a better idea of an example of some of the services that you’ve put together recently?
Most of our sites are protected by non disclosure agreements that protect our clients’ anonymity or may be HIPAA compliant or a closed corporate community and do not allow for public access however we do have a few that we can offer:
http://www.omotion.net/
http://swagswap.thecubefarm.com - created for headset maker Plantronics, launched in late August
http://beta.personalityzone.com/ - created for the http://www.advisorteam.org/ - in beta, full launch before
the end of 07. This site will import 6 million users from their existing site.
What are your goals for 2007 through the end of 2008 for SocialPlatform.com?
We’re integrating some of the more recent developments in the social world such as Open Social and some of the API’s that have just recently opened. At Social Platform, we’re big believers in the saying that ‘the most connected wins’ so we’re trying to be a better fit for existing websites.
We’d like to build more agency relationships and business development opportunities where our team has already had great success for a firm of our size. Our roadmap also includes the desire to build on our traction at the enterprise level with the Fortune 500 and larger clients we’ve established. Additionally, we’re contemplating ways to better serve smaller budgets and companies with a starter package that will launch mid-2008. Though we’re completely approachable and accessible to the smaller companies and work with many, we’ve had much more concentrated attention and success at the enterprise level.
