Today I learned about SocialGO a tool that enables users to build their own personal social networking sites. I found great examples of Cheryl Cole fans and the Bible Baptist Church of Marilao who used SocialGO to create their own networking sites. What triggered my attention was the news that UK-based SocialGO has swung into profit for the first year. It saw its revenues rise by 183% year-on-year and generated profits of £238,000 in 2010, compared to a £24,000 loss in 2009.

I guess enabling people to build their own sites is nothing new. However, the social network aspect makes it a lot more interesting:

1. It’s social! – The platform that SocialGO enables you to build is all about connecting, sharing and commenting. For instance, French presidential hopeful Dominique de Villepin is using SocialGO as a central platform for his supporters in the run-up to the 2012 French presidential elections.
2. People are getting into it – More significantly from a commercial point of view, big brands like Hilton and Levi’s are starting to buy into in the concept of using personalised social network sites to engage with customers.
3. SocialGO is looking to launch a Version 2 – SocialGO has already released some screenshots of the new, improved platform and aims to tailor its tools more to the needs of group and business sites.

Main learning point: the rise of SocialGO hints at an interesting point; although Facebook is still the place to be for groups and businesses alike – both in terms of profile and scale – there is a growing market for creating your own customised social networking site. New platforms such as Diaspora and SocialGO certainly seem to be make making all the right moves in that direction!

Related links for further learning:

http://www.socialgo.com/blog/about

http://www.socialgo.com/blog/socialgo-raises-22m-and-version-2-screenshots