There are a couple of concepts that are important to understand up-front as they are mentioned throughout the tour and are key in getting the most value and power from our social networking software. They are: Locks and Keys, and Credits. These features are tightly integrated across all our services, and gives you the power to not only control user rights and privileges, but to monetize them as well.

Locks and Keys

Locks and Keys control access to individual services and activities within a netVillage. Locks are checkpoints in the software which screen users. Keys are the security codes locks look for. While keys can be assigned to individuals, they are far more often assigned to classes (which are groups of users such as DEMO, NORMAL, VIP, STAFF, etc.). Users do not need to know that they carry keys. It's all internal to the server.

The value of keys is that you can offer normal and premium services, allowing you to grant more features for paid subscribers, while tempting others to upgrade their access.

Credits

Our software is specifically designed for for-profit systems seeking to capitalize on every revenue opportunity. In addition to advertising and e-commerce revenues that are typical in an online community, we provide a unique ‘Credits’ based e-commerce system that, when combined with the surcharging options built into each of our services, gives you the ability to charge micro-payments for services.

A user maintains an electronic wallet (in the form of 'credits' applied to his account) and uses this currency across your community services. Credits are drawn down automatically from this account for any fee-based services used on the system. Using credits can increase your e-commerce throughput as people are often more inclined to spend intangible "credits" (that they have already paid for). Using "credits" puts less risk on the sale as the decision point is less dramatic than pulling out a credit card every time you wish to use a pay service.

Credits are the key to creating a successful revenue-generating online community. It essentially allows you to charge for everything a member does!

More on both these features later in the demo...