I've been getting a lot of emails lately regarding SocialEngine 4 themes. So, I thought I'd give you all an explanation, and clue you in on why we've had that blank coming soon page for so long.
What is SocialEngine?
SocialEngine is a PHP/MySQL script you can purchase starting around $200 from Weblingo that will allow you to create an online social networking website. It can be purchased at socialengine.net.
The Background
Before the release of SocialEngine 4, mySocialEngine.com was quickly becoming the leading website for selling SocialEngine themes. We were selling hundreds of themes each month. All of a sudden, SocialEngine made the announcement that they would soon be releasing SocialEngine 4, which would be a completely brand, spanking new version. However, they didn't give a release date other than saying it was coming soon.
I noticed a sudden decrease in sales with our themes. Who wants to buy the old one when the new one is almost here, right? I suspect the folks over at SocialEngine saw the same results, as they posted a press release only days later stating that if you buy SocialEngine, upgrades to SocialEngine 4 will be free once it's released. They had charged for these major updgrades with previous updates.
This didn't really help us, because we knew we were going to have to spend time creating brand new themes, and not be able to start until the beta version of SocialEngine 4 was released. So, we couldn't possibly offer people the same promotion with selling themes at $20-$30 each. It just wouldn't make economic sense. So, we saw a pretty huge hurt in sales, and had to proceed with other business ventures.
Then, we didn't actually see the release of SocialEngine 4 for several months. I blogged about it here, as it was a pretty exciting time. As I looked back at the old mySocialEngine store and themes previously provided, I was almost embarrassed at how they looked. This is natural to everyone as they progress in their craft. So, I wanted to totally re-design the mySocialEngine online theme store and start creating new SocialEngine 4 specific themes. However, as I worked with new SocialEngine 4, I found it to be quite buggy and pretty restrictive. I even came close to finishing 2 themes which have several color variations. I just never posted them, anywhere. If you keep checking my blog over at JasonBobich.com, you might see them come for sale or as a freebie give away... Don't ask me when... But you may see that happen!
This is not meant to be an insult to the awesome team over at Weblingo, the creators of SocialEngine. Their work is amazing and SocialEngine is a stellar product. Anyone can create their own social networking site to go along with their own niche without a huge budget. However, at this time, it doesn't seem economical to put a lot of time into mySocialEngine. We're waiting for SocialEngine to progress just a little bit farther.
What We've Been Up To
After the slow of mySocialEngine.com due to the big SocialEngine 4 release announcement by Weblingo, we decided to pursue other opportunities, and not have all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak. So, ThemeBlvd was formed. ThemeBlvd is an ever growing project. It has started out doing pretty well on Theme Forest, a global marketplace for selling premium website themes. It's only a matter of time before this gives enough of a following to branch out and do more.
What's Coming Up
To be honest, we're still not 100% sure how we want to handle mySocialEngine. At some point, we definitely will be making some new SocialEngine 4 themes; we're just not sure when exactly that will be. We're waiting for SocialEngine to progress just a little further before we really put the time needed to "do it right." With that said, we still haven't decided how big we want to make the actual mySocialEngine online store.
Personally, I'm thinking we will start off keeping it simple. I might throw some themes up for sale over on my blog or even give some away for free in the near future. I would like to set some sort of quick system where you simply make your purchase via PayPal and you're emailed a link to where you can download the file. As I begin to accumulate more SocialEngine 4 themes, I'd like to start listing them here on mySocialEngine and have an equally simple check out and delivery system.
There's still a lot of work to do over on ThemeBlvd, but SocialEngine themes will soon come. So, don't you worry! Make sure to follow me on Twitter and on my personal blog so you're the first to know when there are some slick new SocialEngine 4 themes to download.
Jason BobichFounder, JasonBobich.com