Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

     I was wondering if anyone had any experience (or advice) on running a social networking site catered to a specific interest or hobby? Like for Bungee jumping enthusiasts to meet up & converse for example.  If so, how was the foundation of the site created?  Because I am guessing the majority have to use a 'white label' type program like SocialEngine.net for example and just incorporate your theme, logo..etc.  If you have any advice on what steps you have taken or would take if you were to go down this road please let me know I would love to hear about it!  Thanks, Marcus.

There is a version of Wordpress that allows each of your members to contact each other just like they do on Facebook, etc... status updates, @'ing each other, ... but also to create their own blogs from your site.

http://wp.mu/

The link above is to a company that will install that version of Wordpress and BuddyPress along with everything you need to create that social network you mentioned above.

If you want to use something that's available right now without any hosting - you can use ning.com.

Another popular social networking platform is located at community.elgg.org and you can download and use the software. There is a forum for support.

There are many different programs available. When we looked into it we leaned towards the Wordpress option. It all depends on what you are willing to pay and what exactly you want to get out of it. Especially since social networking sites are becoming so advanced now a days.

hey Callmemarcus,

If you are looking for social networking sites similar to facebook for certain audience, I have good suggestions nand easy and cheap ones.

First you can try without spending any money using ning.com hosted under ning.com but if you want to host on your own, I have come across 2 of them when I was researching to implement my own which I am waiting on market study to implement it.

You can try Joomsocial.com which is tested and used by many well know sites. You can also try one product from http://www.mediascripts.com/ which seems to be good as well. Both will cater to you needs. There are few others too in the market which you can use. My one main suggestoin, if you looking to build a social networking hub, try to get a unlimited hosting site otherwise you will end up paying more for bandwith.

Just ping me if  you need help.

Vijai

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You don't *have* to use something like ning.
Personally, I'd build my own. But most people don't want to learn a programming language and design database tables. I just happen to like that sort of stuff.

This page will point you toward the resources you can research for your own personal needs and budget. Creating your own social networking site can involve time and money, depending on the route you take. Be sure to consider all of your options before selecting a software package that will be the engine for your social site

I was evaluating to build a social networking site using open source stuff like Drupal, Elgg. Elgg provides out of the box functionality for a social networking site like Orkut, Hi5, Myspace, but Drupal is far more flexible. It seems Elgg is not tested and used as much as Drupal. I have been working on Drupal for a long time now and my faith on it has only increased, though, I had to make changes to the code and modules at times.

Even though, I was skeptic about Elgg, I did some initial code evaluation and installtion. But, was not satisfied and therefore, decided to go with Drupal.

Why not is really the question here! Social networking is the wave of web 2.0, and it will continue to be in web 3.0. Niche social networking sites are popping up all over the place, as people are growing tired of broad solutions like Myspace. Why not create your own local social networking site? Or a fan site, or a product owner's site? The possibilities are endless. Best yet - your visitors create the content...all you have to do is moderate it!