Sonico.com

Infobox Dotcom company
company_name = Sonico.com
company_
company_type = Private
genre =
foundation = July 28, 2007
founder = Rodrigo Teijeiro CEO
location_city =
location_country =
location = Buenos Aires, Argentina Mexico City, Mexico
locations =
area_served = Latin America Spain Spanish and Portuguese speaking regions
key_people =
industry =
products =
services =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
owner =
num_employees = 88 (May, 2008)
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
company_slogan = "Amigos conectados" (Friends connected)
url = [http://www.sonico.com sonico.com]


caption =
website_type = Social networking
language = Spanish, Portuguese
advertising = Banner ads, Rich media
registration = Required
launch_date = July 28, 2007
current_status = Active
footnotes =
intl =

Sonico is a free-access social networking website oriented toward the latinamerican audience.

Users can search and add friends, update their own personal profile, manage their privacy, upload photos and YouTube videos, organize events, challenge other users in 6 multi-player and over 200 single-player games and interact with other people by means of private messages, public comments, photo tags, 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 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 [ [http://mashable.com/2008/05/21/sonico Sonico: The Largest Social Network in Latin America?] ( [http://mashable.com Mashable] )] [ [http://www.telecom.paper.nl/news/article.aspx?id=216214&nr= Social networking page Sonico counts 15 mln users] ( [http://www.telecom.paper.nl Telecom Paper] )] registered users. It ranks 392 [ [http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/sonico.com Traffic details in Alexa] ] in the Alexa ranking.

A Portuguese 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 with over 4 million users [ [http://portalexame.abril.com.br/revista/exame/edicoes/0922/tecnologia/m0163624.html Todos contra Orkut (in Portuguese)] ] .

Funding

In June 2008, Sonico announced a $4.3 million [ [http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/03/latin-american-social-network-sonico-raises-43-million Latin American Social Network Sonico Raises $4.3 Million (Techcrunch)] ] Series A financing round, led by DN Capital and by various private investors such as Fabrice Grinda (Founder of Aucland, Zingy.com and OLX), Martín Varsavsky (FON, Ya.com) and Alec Oxenford (DeRemate.com and OLX.com). According to them, the funding will be invested to launch new product enhancements, strengthen its technology infrastructure and keep on recruiting. The company will also expand its international operations by stepping up its presence and leadership along Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets [ [http://corporate.sonico.com/en/imgs/pdf/Sonico_030608en.pdf Sonico.com raises US$ 4,3 MM in Series A financing round] ] .

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.

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.

Profile

The profile is a personal space for each member within Sonico. It can be personalized with different themes, colors, and backgrounds.How?

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.

Videos

Users can share any video existent in the YouTube platform.

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 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).

References

External links

* [http://www.sonico.com Official homepage] (in Spanish and Portuguese)