SocialGO Owners

SocialGO is proud to announce the release of our Facebook Connect Widget.
Now available in our Widget Store.

Social Media integration is proving to be key when establishing a successful online community. With our new widget, any member of facebook and be a member of a SocialGO network in a matter of seconds.

How does Facebook Connect enhance a Social Network? Facebook reports it’s user base to be over 300 million users, and that connected users create 15-60% more content on external sites than non connected users. By increasing traffic, user engagement, and registrations, it can significantly affect your revenue and increase monetization opportunities.

All it takes is a quick Log-in to Facebook, an Email confirmation, and they’re in. The can even share content with their Facebook feeds right from the SocialGO network. It’s available in the Widget Store in your Admin Centre right now.

SocialGO is in the running for Best Social Media Gadget in Mashable’s 2009 Open Web Awards. It’s an international online voting competition that covers innovations in web technology and achievements in Social Media.

SocialGO needs your votes!

Click on the image above, connect to your Facebook or Twitter account, and click submit. The whole team appreciates your votes, and don’t forget to tell your friends! Thanks!

Massimo Bizzarro, founder of CircuSpacePremium.com, created his website to “make it super simple and fun to stay in touch with the Circus World.” After trying out other available platforms, Massimo embraced SocialGO as the new home for his online community.

However, it’s not all about fun and games on CircuSpacePremium.com. Behind the sensational custom layout lies a network that has some extensive business tools and makes great use of our powerful Member Billing system.  Massimo has tied his ‘Basic’ and ‘Premium VIP’ member levels to separate subscription fees, at once funding the website while rewarding his dedicated community members.

As well as utilising the many community features available, the network’s custom added business tools such as the Marketplace and the Business Directory really show what’s possible when you combine the SocialGO platform with your own savvy and imagination. CircuSpacePremium.com is a great looking, business-minded social network that will surely continue to prosper.

Petleys.co.uk is the online presence of Petleys art gallery; an institution which works with some of the most well known and exciting artists in Britain today. The gallery uses SocialGO to display an effectively minimal, clean looking website that serves to accentuate the fantastic displays of art found around the network.

The London-based gallery organises private views and exhibitions for artists, and owner Jason Petley describes how SocialGO has proven to be invaluable in the organisation of these events; “Our SocialGO network has helped to synergise our printed media and our online presence - blurring the line between the two. As a site development environment it is simply amazing how quick it is to get exactly what you want, how you want it.”

The network also has great hopes for it’s fully functional E-Store, thanks to the new GOCart widget. “The crowning glory for us is the shopping cart integration”, states Petley. ”SocialGO gives us everything you could ever need in a small business Internet presence under one roof.”

Petleys.co.uk is a testament to the flexibility of a SocialGO network - It’s clear that Jason has made excellent use of the Layout Manager whilst utilising some of his own custom design talents. We wish Petleys.co.uk all the best for their gallery and network in the future.

Published Monday, 5th October 2009

Created in 2008, SocialGO is smaller than Ning with slightly more than 100,000 sites on its network. But it’s easy to use, and you can still find thousands of potential customers on SocialGO from around the world.

Read the full article here.

We’re happy to announce the release of the long awaited Member Billing 2.0 for all SocialGO networks! Our developers have been working tirelessly to give you the power and control that’s needed to create a multi-leveled member subscription solution. Monetizing your network has never been so easy!

The new system is used in conjunction with Member Levels which allows you to set-up the permission structure of your site.  Owners can now charge people to access ‘premium’ areas within your site, which is a fantastic way to generate serious revenue and upsell your members from a ‘Free’ to a ‘Paid’ account. Feeling kind? You can even give your members to a free trial membership of your network, as Member Billing 2.0 gives you the chance to provide a ‘try before you buy’ offer within in your SocialGO network, while the system accepts several currencies and supports multiple billing providers.

To get access to Member Billing 2.0 you’ll need to be subscribed to a Premium or Concierge plan, and select the Member Billing option within the ‘Change My Plan’ section of the Admin Centre (http://my.socialgo.com). Click here for instructions.

We’ve been busy over the past few weeks coming up with tools to ensure that your SocialGO community is the best it can be. Take a look at three new powerful widgets available right now in the Widget Store:

Twitter’s runaway success over the past year has forced website owners to stand up and pay attention to the importance of social media integration. Not one to leave it’s customers behind the trends -  SocialGO has released it’s new Twitter Connect widget, allowing visitors access to a SocialGO community through their Twitter account. Easily installed, the user’s profile picture will be pulled right from their Twitter account, and they can directly update their Twitter status straight from their SocialGO network.

Turn your network into a business with our new, BuyitSellit.com integrated, GOCart widget. BuyitSellit.com is a world leader in online store functionality, and gives you the tools and control needed to set up a powerful online store within your network. Simply purchase the widget, let us install it for you, and you and your members will be selling in no time.

Giving members control over their own online space is a great way to ensure they’ll stick around. We recognise that customisation is key, so SocialGO network owners can now offer their members the brand new Profile Designer tool. Using simple click and point functionality to choose customized colors, photos and text - your members will be able to customize their profile until their heart’s content. And what’s more, it’s pre installed on all Premium/Concierge Layout Managers and completely free of charge. Not bad!

Dirty4Money was started by Tim Young with the ambition to bring together people from the mining and construction industries of Australia and beyond. “The biggest problem with these two major industries is the lack of networking - especially with mining. It’s more about who you know, so I wanted to make it easier for people to gain employment and maintain strong connections within the industry.” says Tim.

With some help from the SocialGO Concierge plan, a plan that helps build and maintain your network’s layout and design, Dirty4Money came together swiftly - “The SocialGO software is much easier to operate than the competition’s, and the Concierge support team always responds to my queries in little time, which is great!”

The site has a full host of engaging features, from the standard forums, photos, and videos, to a jobs tab suited for those looking for industry work in their area, and there’s even a built-in store to sell products that anyone can integrate this easily into their network using the new GOCart widget - an easy way to embed a powerful shopping cart into your social network under its own tab.

Tim believes that a site such as this needs to go beyond the static - that it should be fully interactive. “The social aspect keeps the site active, and it could even work by itself as more members join the network and contribute.” With more functionality than ever, and lots more on the way, sites like Dirty4Money, and all others on the SocialGO platform, will have a limitless resource to keep their members coming back. “I’m looking forward to all the new stuff that keeps on coming with SocialGO!”

Jury Team is a political movement created with the ambition of making politics more accessible, politicians more accountable, and political institutions more transparent with the ultimate goal of fundamentally altering the way politics are practiced in Great Britain.

The idea behind Jury Team’s social network is to provide a space for candidates, members, supporters, and anyone else interested in the Jury Team project to touch base with one another via the network’s forums, messaging system, and groups - all standard features with any SocialGO plan.

Members easily connect with other politically interested individuals and organize events and upload campaign videos. Events are organized in an Events tab that allows the creator to choose whether it’s a private or public event and to place all details, including photos and maps, within the event listing to illustrate as much about it as possible. Videos are neatly organized under one tab and can be rated and commented upon.

Aimed at those who wish to discuss political issues important to them, Jury Team’s member base continues to rise as more people become politically aware and seek a unique, unbiased outlet to engage in political discourse.

Christian Military Wives is a multi-denominational, Bible-based, non-profit organization established to assist military wives and their families through encouragement, aid, and education.

“Military wives are very busy, and sometimes have a hard time going to local support groups - this social network is a wonderful asset for military wives. Our husbands are gone for months at a time. SocialGO allows wives to hop online and, at the click of a button, they can connect with other wives in their situation.” says Patti, founder and owner of Christian Military Wives.

The Layout Manager, included in the Premium and Concierge plans, allows you to easily alter the layout of your network with easy drag and drop. Patti notes, “The set up was very easy! We also contacted Ezra from ProSocialGO for some additional assistance. He did a fantastic job.” The site is bright, neat, smooth, and very visually engaging for its audience.

With Forums, Events, Groups, Blogs, and much more standard to most networks, it’s never been easier to communicate with other members. “SocialGO allows a much better communication between wives of all branches of service. It’s a very clean and professional looking platform. SocialGO and its support team have been a huge blessing to Christian Military Wives.”

We have to give a big "thanks" to the folks at Ning for doing such a good job of continuing to alienate their premium site owners and forcing them to seek advice from the LAB on how to escape migrate. Their latest "update" may have been the last straw for many folks.

Based upon this increased demand for help with migrating from Ning to SocialGO, the LAB has decided to introduce a package of one-click solutions to help site owners make the switch.

Our FREE solution is available now by utilizing our Member Migration Tool as well as the other how-to articles and Videos that show one how to easily make the move over using a little bit of "self-help".

Our Lab-Help solution is for those who want the migration and basic navigation setup handled by the experts at WidgetLaboratory. We will sweeten the deal by including our $49.99 TabDoctor completely free as part of the package. This solution delivers a functioning SocialGO site, with identical navigation and membership, ready for you to apply your own styling. This peace of mind comes for a one time purchase price of just $249.99.

Our Lab-Expert solution is for those who want the full package of migration, navigation, and styling. All of the features of the Lab-Help solution are included AND WidgetLaboratory will use our comprehensive knowledge of CSS to match every detail of your SocialGO site style to that of your Ning site. The result is that your members will hardly notice that you have migrated your site to SocialGO! This is the ultimate solution for the busy professional, entrepreneur, or large site owner who does not want to take the time or chance on making a mistake during migration. This fully loaded solution is priced at just $499.99.

For more information, or to get started, just click on the link above to send us an email and provide us with your Ning Site URL. We will provide you with a detailed instructional package and promotional pricing for obtaining your SocialGO site if you have not done so already.

Along with FootDoctor, our TabDoctor it is a "must have" for any SocialGO site and replaces our previous navigation menu product called LabTabs. A full refund credit will be available for any customers who previously purchased LabTabs and wish to make the upgrade.

TabDoctor provides you with an incredibly easy way to create powerful and elegant drop-down tab menus with just a few clicks. Full drag and drop capability make it easy to setup and modify at any time.

Accepts UTF-8 and individual CSS styling.

Video Below

Evil Genius walks you through the installation and setup of FootDoctor. A "must have" for any SocialGO site.

FootDoctor provides you with an incredibly easy way to create powerful and elegant multi-column footers with just a few clicks. Full drag and drop capability make it easy to setup and modify at any time.

Accepts UTF-8, individual CSS styling, and html content.

Video Below:

There are a few folks who have dark background sites on SocialGO. In such cases, the standard dark transparency of Who-IM Or Video Chat doesn't stand out strongly. No worries, it's easy to change the color (and the font size of the text) with some basic CSS.

Simply take the code below and paste it into the Ads & Custom HTML area of your Admin Center, into the Head and Meta Data box. If you already have CSS in that area, please leave off the <style></style> tags, as you only need those once. Feel free to change the Hexidecimal Color values to something that works for your site (colors shown are really strong for emphasis!)

<style>

div.wl_im_title {
background:#FF0000 none repeat scroll 0 0;
height: 26px
}

#wl_im_message div.wl_im_msg_body, #wl_im_settings div.wl_im_msg_body {
background:#FFFFFF none repeat scroll 0 0;
}

#wl_im_message div.wl_im_action, #wl_im_settings div.wl_im_action {
background:#CECECE none repeat scroll 0 0;
}


#wl_im_message div.wl_im_action, #wl_im_settings div.wl_im_action {
background:#CECECE none repeat scroll 0 0;
height:39px;
margin-top:0;
padding-top:8px;
}

#wl_im_message textarea.wl_im_ta {
background:#000000 none repeat scroll 0 0;
border:medium none !important;
color:Yellow;
font-size:15px;
height:100px;
}

</style>