MyTestBox.com :: web software reviews, news, tips and tricks

WebNetwork – a white label social networking software

Feb 17, 2008 by Veiko HernecloseAuthor: Veiko Herne Name: Veiko Herne
Email: veikoherne@hotmail.com
Site: http://veikoh.wordpress.com
About: Veiko Herne is lifetime entrepreneur, currently working as Independent Consultant with over 30 years experience in IT and starting his activities in Internet since 1993. After establishing and managing one of the most successful IT companies in Estonia after the collapse of Soviet Union, he later managed worldwide interest to his analytical financial accounting and HR management software packages from New York until September 11th. He is currently living in Belfast, Northern Ireland.See Authors Posts (10) Social Networks

WebNetwork is a social networking software platform developed to communicate between fans, filmmakers and musicians. It is developed by Web Scribble www.webscribble.com

The system contains following areas: Profile, Film, Music, Blog, Groups, Events, Videos and Photos.

It has been developed by Web Scribble Solutions, Inc, a 15 employees company based on US, Upstate New York, Albany. Other products of Web Scribble Solution are: Web Date, Web Jobs, Web Store and Web Classifieds.

It’s written in php 4.12, runs in Linux and Apache servers and needs Zend optimizer 2.62 and MySql database to be installed in the server. Web Scribble promises free installation service when purchasing the license but I assume that the installation could not take more than Uncompressing the files and directories and creating the database.

Usability
Registering and creating the profile is simple but you need to decide, do you want to be a filmmaker, a musician or a just a member. Filmmakers and Musician profiles will appear on separate sections from members.
Personal profile will contain following areas: Basic Info (such as name, gender, birth date and address), About Me, Interest and Lifestyle questions. I didn’t find any customization features for those in Administration module so I assume the need for some Database and programming skills to modify the profile fields.
For profile photo you should upload it to your picture gallery and mark it as profile photo from there which was little bit odd as I had need to classify the description and search tags for it assuming that this photo will be also searchable.
Profiles can be set for Auto Approval or system administrators must approve pending profiles. Others where able to comment your profile which was a feature I wasn’t able to set off in the administration module and I wasn’t able to delete or moderate those comments. Anything once spammed will probably stay there forever.

Events can be either public or private and those will appear in your calendar. Event categories are customizable from Admin module; events can take place when and where. The country selection in “Where” was always defaulted to Afghanistan so I assume most of the action taking place there. You can also upload the event image and invite your friends.
You can choose other people public events to participate and send RSVP with options Yes, No and Maybe or add those events to your calendar.

The Blogging functionality was extremely simple so I would not consider it to any serious bloggers even from the Rich Text editor I was able to include media files like Flash, Video, Pictures, etc to my post. Post comments didn’t allow any HTML code and can be restricted to Everyone, Members and Members in my Favourites using my blog settings. You can setup e-mail notifications to your post comments but again unable to moderate or delete comments.

Groups must have the place and category, so again the default selection was Activities in Afghanistan. Group categories can be modified using Administration module. You are able to choose following parameters when creating a group: Hidden Group, Automatically Approve Members, Allow members to Invite, Allow photo posts, Allow Bulletin Posts and Contains Adult Content.
Besides members, groups can have Photos and Bulletin and you can invite other members to join.

Member are able to upload videos and rate, comment, favourite other members videos. Videos are categorized and those categories can be specified using the Admin module. In addition to video Title and Description, you can also tag your video for better searches which will appear only Video section homepage as “Recent Video Tags” box with featured videos. Admin module allows to specify the maximum size and screen size of the video, also are uploads auto approved or will need administrator manual approval. MPEG, Flash and Quicktime formats seems to be supported.

Photos can be stored and viewed by albums and by photo categories, which can be again set from the Admin module. Like videos, all photos can be commented, rated and added to favourites. In addition to Category, Title and description photos can be tagged similar to videos. Admin module allows specifying do uploads need an administrator approval.
The application includes messaging mailbox and instant messenger. User can manage their contacts separately from friends. All friend request, join requests, event invites, group requests and invites will be managed thru messaging module. Users are able to block other users.

Customization
I found access to each page HTML code, database tables and columns, email templates, sub menu, banner and Plug Ins section inside Admin module.
The direct links to documentation and customer support (submit a ticket, request a feature or report a bug) can be found and you should create your site FAQ page using this module.
Web Network integrates with Google Sitemap and having programming skills, it could be very customizable.
Subscription based billing comes as separate module allowing setup which services will be billable and categorize the membership levels.

Sites running on WebNetwork
Web Scribble website lists 18 websites, like www.sprinko.com, www.thecaseroom.com, www.vetworking.com, www.usaspacenow.com, www.mysexyweb.com, www.petpalzone.com, etc however I have seen their platform much more. Interestingly none of those customers listed in their website are not using their system to manage musicians or filmmakers community and in lot of cases those menus has been disabled.

I evaluated further www.site595.com which was well designed and seems to run using their social networking software platform. However I will assume that this site programmer’s has done lot of modifications as the design was totally different compared to their demo. The profile section was around same but having several additional fields and tabs. Site595 had classifieds section, chat rooms and personal networks so it was more advanced. I got a notice from site owners that they are still beta testing their site will be launched soon. Anyway the site looks very cool so having some programming and website designer skills you could have unrecognisable and unique site using Web Network as base.

Conclusions
Web Network is simple to use Social Networking Software Platform for changing your photos and videos and creating your fan base. As unable to upload and share MP3 files, it’s not suitable for musicians even their event calendar feature could be nice for them to promote gigs. I was not able to find any significant bugs, but found several cases where the user interface could be easier for the first time user.

I found communication with them very quick and easy as I got their prompt answers immediately and their sales manager contacted me after I had registered to their demo willing to help on anything and promptly answered to my questions. Please note that the sent email address is general sales, support, etc and when replying you will be issued a new ticket. Their e-mail footer contains direct address to the person so you should reply using that address.

Web Network License costs $199 and there are several additional Plugins and payment gateways to ccBill, PayPal, WorldPay and Authorise.Net available to accompany the product for $40-$99. It’s a lifetime license which becomes with one year support.

Update

The new version 2.0 was released some time ago (end of March 2008). To see the full list of the new features and improvements checkout their blog.

————————————————
Veiko Herne is lifetime entrepreneur, currently working as Independent Consultant with over 30 years experience in IT and starting his activities in Internet since 1993. After establishing and managing one of the most successful IT companies in Estonia after the collapse of Soviet Union, he later managed worldwide interest to his analytical financial accounting and HR management software packages from New York until September 11th. He is currently living in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
————————————————

Tags: social network, software, web 2.0, web software review, webnetwork, webscribble, white label software

(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)

 Loading ...