ning ning. Q. who there's ? A. 200k social networks.

teenage porsche
Originally uploaded by benbarren

It's always interesting to see ning's, creator of social networks in 2 minutes, metrics via their founder even if they dont really help prove much in the way of business model performance and how many social networks you have to create in order to get a 10x return for private equity investors that came in at a 9 figure valuation : "We're experiencing 0.5%+ day-over-day growth of number of networks on Ning, which means that we're adding more than 1,000 new networks per day -- and that's accelerating. In fact, at our current growth rate, we'll cross 300,000 networks in a matter of weeks."

Wordpress on the other hand, which alot of my day was based around (anyone dealt with how to connect Wordpress/MU edition into SQL:)? - that will give u a sample of my professional services like day - have some new funky features out : "A customizable dashboard, multi-file upload, built-in galleries, one-click plugin upgrades, tag management, built-in Gravatars, full text feeds, and faster load times.."

A typical question I got today + get each day is "Why use this (or which) social network/community platform should I choose ?" and really there are as many answers as there are companies saying they offer "white label social networking solutions" :

Pepsi for example, via Mashable, have launched a social network, under the subdomain of Youniverse.com. A few months ago they, maybe via their digital agency, would have conducted their social networking technology service provider audit, visited a few barcamps and came to the late night conclusion "goddamit, it's youniverse.com. they r our preferred solution. and heck we dont even need to host it ourselves. we'll just slot a pepsi subdomain in."

Presto, major FMCG brand meets white-label social networking solution, and a write-up on mashable. "We need to think bigger. I mean Mashable's good and it would be great to be on ReadWrite Talk, but we gotta manufacture some of that friendfeed buzz on techcrunch. Someone get Louis Gray and Duncan Riley on the bluetooth headset."














It all sounds like niteclubs : Ning, Wordpress ("hey moblogicTV u know the wallstrip chic Lindsay : they went with wordpress"), Youniverse (they've got pepsi, nudge), and an endless list of other providers like this list from techcrunch who operate in the space :

Affinity Circles AlstraSoft Awareness Blogtronix BoonEx Broadband Mechanics Converdge Crowd Factory DZOIC Golightly

introNetworks Kwiqq Leverage Software Lithium Technologies LiveWorld Neighborhood America Omnifuse Pringo Networks Prospero Technologies SelectMinds

Small World Labs Social Platform Sparta Social Networks Telligent Systems ThePort Network, Inc. VMIX Media Web Crossing Web Scribble Solutions Webligo

It's all SNO baby. Social Networking Optimisation, and becoming as cluttered and non-differentiated as SEO, which by the time ning gets to 1m social networks, that there may well be the same amount of white label social networking solutions providers.