I'm currently working with Lithium, Jive, and LOOPPA community platforms to create what amounts to an "application layer" for a larger social ecosystem. It's an intersting approach to managing the simultaneous requirements of rapid scaling, robust activity streams, and multi-constituent, overlapping communities.
In 2007 I was working with the Pluck platform on a project with Meredith (implemented across 20-odd magazine properties) when this idea first popped. Rather than building into a proprietary platform, you can avoid the long dev-cycle of custom while rapidly building onto (in other words, extending) a white-label social toolset.
The architectural problem really boils down to a few basic considerations: A data layer integrated with a single-sign-on that leads to the core white-label platform, sitting underneath a set of content partners and purpose-built applications.
The white label functionality provides the "quick set glue" that holds it all together: Personas and profiles, activity streams, basic CRM, and the acceptance/conveyance of the authentication credentials leading to the end-user apps. It's a pretty slick model for getting the most out of the white-label tools while avoiding the inadvertent (on your part) "lock-in" that can happen when the applications are built inside the white-label platform.
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