White label social networking platforms is a crowded field. Already out there is Wetpaint, Grou.ps and of course, the $560 million-valued Ning, among others. That's not deterring a new entry, Soceeo, from launching a vertical-driven network creation tool. In fact, the company openly acknowledges its competitors but believes there is more than enough room for one more player.
Soceeo, which is a play on the word "socio" (as in socio-economic), aims to be a social network creation tool that is so easy to set up and use that "my grandma could do it," says co-founder Emile Cambry Jr. Cambry, along with fellow co-founder Joseph Curralli Jr. believe tight integration, along with simple customization and management will help their product stand out.
With this alpha release of the product, Soceeo will give users one gigabyte of storage space and the ability to make public or private networks. Within these networks, users will have the ability to share files, send e-mails (both inside and outside the network), use discussion boards and create robust profiles with adjustable privacy settings.
Network operators will also be able to run there own banner ads while keeping 100 percent of the money made off of them. In the next iteration the plan is to allow any network creator to charge users to create accounts if they wish to go that route to make money as well.
In testing out the alpha version of Soceeo, its strengths are speed and straight-forwardness. The banner along the top is clearly labeled with sections for "My Profile", "Media", "Calendar" and "Blogs" along with other sections which can be customized. These make it very easy to find what you're looking for. The user interface isn't going to "wow" anyone, but this is still an alpha release.
As with most of these white label social network creators, the goal is to make it easy to create a community for just about anything by anyone. Say I wanted to create a Colin Farrell community (as in the screenshot below), I could set one up in a matter of minutes.
The same is true for some of its competitors, which is why Soceeo is pointing to more advanced capabilities that will be available in its next iteration such as an API platform that will allow for even more customization and flexibility. There will also be more applications specifically tailored to specific verticals such as the ability to sell ringtones, apparel and mp3s for musicians for example.
Soceeo is based of out Chicago, IL and is entirely self-funded for the time-being.
update: Be sure to check out Cambry's video comment in the comments section as well. He explains a bit more of his thoughts and plans for the service. A great use of a video comment.