Exactly, it's more than just a place to store code. Just doing git clone on your repo url is a lot easier to deal with than setting up your own git hosting and configuring everything.

Ah, gotcha. I guess I was missing out on the social aspect of it.

But I have to wonder: if you're hosting that many private repos...how much does "social" play into it?

You can add collaborators to private repos (ie people with push rights). You can have organizations with private repos and use the collaboration tools within the organization.

For me, the private repos are more about having them where I have my other code.

Change social to collaborative and you've got your answer.

Collaborating with colleagues is a very social endeavor.