Requesting suggestions for Web Community software

[WebFreedom]

Hi All,

I'm in the process of developing a Web Community website, similar to MySpace and Facebook, and I'm looking for input from anyone who can recommend a good source for Web Community software. Please let me know if you can recommend a resource, and please also include the reason(s) for your recommendation, e.g. reliability, features, ease of use, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Sam :)

[richrf]

Hi there Sam,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I have looked high and low for community software and have come to the conclusion that the ready-made scripts are all pretty poorly designed and written. If I wanted to build a community, I would probably choose something like the hosted software of Ning or Kickapps. The downside of this approach, is that they own the data, so it is a poor idea if you want to build up your own site.

I also came to the conclusion that building communities is very expensive and time-consuming with little hope for monetizing the results. I recently wrote an article on the subject:

Can anyone make money from social networking? (http://www.links.com/make-money-myspace-facebook-youtube-digg-google-microsof-social-networks/)

So, you can count on some pretty steep mountains to climb to come out of this with a successful community. Ones that are providing a good ROI are very rare.

I hope you find this info useful.

Regards,
Rich

[jamesr]

Take a look at www.barnraiser.org - I made my own "ning" style groups site and gave all our employees their own web site and OpenID using their software - saved us a fortune!

[WebFreedom]

Hey Guys,

Thanks very much for your input and suggestions - it's all good. :)

Sam