Sonico is a free-access social networking

Social network service

A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...

 website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 oriented toward a Latin American audience.

Users can search and add friends, update their own personal profile, manage their privacy, upload photos and YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 videos, organize events, challenge other users in 6 multi-player and over 200 single-player

Single player

A Single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. "Single-player game" usually implies a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" usually refers to a game mode for a single player, where...

 games and interact with other people by means of private messages, public comments, photo tags

Tag (metadata)

In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...

, and a web-based instant messenger.

History

Sonico was launched in July 2007 stressing the importance of having legitimate users rather than a massive amount of anonymous accounts. Hence, their motto is "real people, real connections". Unlike other social networks, Sonico has a so-called proactive moderation consisting in a team solely dedicated to check out every new profile and content uploaded to the site. They claim to be able to manage more than 200.000 profiles daily.

According to Sonico's CEO, Rodrigo Teijeiro, Sonico "managed to offer a useful, safe and fun social network, with real users and a regional scope" (Latin America). He assures that usability

Web usability

Web usability is the application of usability in those domains where web browsing can be considered as a general paradigm for constructing a GUI.-General:...

 is the key of their success.

One year after its foundation, Sonico has a 88 people staff and claims to be adding some 110.000 new users every day and reports more than 20 million registered users

Registered user

A registered user is one who uses a program or a website and provides his/her credentials, effectively proving his/her identity.-Technical differences:...

. It ranks 392 in the Alexa

Alexa Internet

Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...

 ranking.

A Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 version was launched in February 2008, and support in that language has been available since March, 2008. In only a few months, Sonico is already the second favorite social network in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 with over 4 million users.

Funding

In June 2008, Sonico announced a $4.3 million Series A financing round, led by DN Capital and by various private investors such as Fabrice Grinda (Founder of Aucland, Zingy.com and OLX

OLX

OLX is an internet company based in New York City, NY and Buenos Aires, Argentina. There revenues was in 2010 to 2011 is $45m.The OLX website hosts free user-generated classified advertisements for urban communities around the world and provides discussion forums sorted by various topics.OLX gained...

), Martín Varsavsky

Martín Varsavsky

Martín Varsavsky is an Argentine entrepreneur based in Spain.Born to Carlos Varsavsky and Silvia Waisman-Diamond, Varsavsky attended primary school at the New Model School and the Colegio Nicolás Avellaneda high school....

 (FON

FON

Fon is a company that operates a system of dual access wireless networks. Fon is the largest Wi-Fi network in the world, with over 4 million hotspots....

, Ya.com) and Alec Oxenford (DeRemate.com and OLX.com). According to them, the funding will be invested to launch new product enhancements, strengthen its technology infrastructure and keep on recruiting. The company will also expand its international operations by stepping up its presence and leadership along Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets.

Website

Sonico allows users to join one or more networks. Networks represent universities, high schools, and regions. By joining a network, users can easily search and get in contact with other people belonging to the same network.

PPP or Private/Public/Professional Profiles

Sonico has recently launched its new profiles that addresses real life interactions and privacy concerns.
You have three different type of profiles:

• A Private Profile that is a personal space for each member within Sonico. It can be personalized with different themes, colors, and backgrounds.
• A Public Profile that is your public space where you can share public content with your fans.
• A Professional Profile that you can use to share with your professional contacts.

This three profiles are complete isolated from each other, allowing sonico users to share content to friends without sharing it with professional colleagues (i.e. party pictures), or share content with the world in the public profile (i.e. holliday pictures)

Privacy

Sonico remarks the importance of allowing users to have full control over privacy settings related to their accounts. Hence, they have several options to adjust their safety and to designate who may see their information.

The Board

Every user's profile has its own board, where friends can leave comments and videos.

Friends

Users can add friends and interact with them by writing on their boards, tagging them on photos, sharing YouTube videos, chatting through the web-based instant messenger, challenging them in 6 multi-player and over 200 single-player games, organizing events and sending them private messages.

Groups

In Sonico, groups are communities for users who share common interests. Group members can participate in its forum, share photos and videos, organize events and post messages. Each group has its own personalized privacy level.

Networks

Each member can belong to one or more networks which are organized into regions, universities, and high schools. By joining a network, users can easily search and get in touch with people related to them in real life.

Private Messages

Users can communicate in private through messages. Private Messages are delivered to the user's personal in-box and are saved under a specific category, distinguishing those which were sent by friends from those which came from other users. Users can also send Private Messages to a group of friends.

Photos

Sonico users can upload an unlimited amount of photos and organize them in albums. Photos can be tagged and commented by friends.

Events

Sonico users can organize simple and professional events, with customizable visual and privacy options.

Games

Sonico provides a gaming section with 6 multi-player games and over 200 single-player games. Registered users can recommend games, challenge their friends and share their scores.

IM

Users can chat in real time using the web-based Sonico Messenger which is present throughout the website.

E-Cards

There is an e-cards

E-card

An e-card is similar to a postcard or greeting card, with the primary difference being that it is created using digital media instead of paper or other traditional materials. E-cards are made available by publishers usually on various Internet sites, where they can be sent to a recipient, usually...

section where users can choose digital postcards to send to their friends. Postcard sending can also be programmed for future events.

Reminders

The reminders section reminds users of friend’s birthdays and special occasions (editable).

External links

• Official homepage (in Spanish, Portuguese, and English)