Recommended Social Networking Software?

Hey guys,

I'm launching a membership site next month and would like to add a social networking section similar to myspace/facebook etc...

What would you guys recommend?

I just need all the basic features... member profiles, picture uploading, video uploading and the ability to add friends/send messages etc.

I would basically like a site that has all of these features (example of one member profile):

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/BuffMother/

Any suggestions? I've seen a few sites that charge something like 3-4k to have this kind of thing customized and installed...but then I'm also seeing a bunch of free scripts around as well so I'm kind of confused.

Any suggestions or help would be appreciated,

Sean

ps. I have run some searches on this site for this but I'm getting all kinds of different info so it's tough to narrow it down.

 

hmm, I would expect at least 3-4K to have this all coded specificially for your site. I'm not sure if you have a system already in place - which would probably be even more to integrate into. Basic Features to a standard user like "member profiles, picture uploading, video uploading friends/sendmessgaes" is not a simple addition. It might seem like a "basic feature" to people, but it requires a lot of work to develop.

 

I have a budget of around 5k or so to do this. (ideally under 5k, but if it takes more then that's fine)

The truth is that I really just didn't know how complicated or simple it was, since I've seen so many "free" scripts for it.

If it requires a lot of work, then I'm willing to spend the dough to get it done. I currently don't have anything in place for this, as it's a brand new site that I'm launching as part of a product/member base that I'm already selling.

If you have any recommended resources please let me know.

I came across this site which looked pretty good:

http://www.webbizideas.com/community/community.htm

 

I've been doing some research on this myself and came up with PhpFox and HandshakesHandshakes

Both give you the basic package and you can have someone re-skin it to meet your needs. Which I assume would be cheaper.

I hope this helps

 

Hello Sean,

I am Brian from www.webbizideas.com. Recently I have received a lot of requests to review www.bodyspace.bodybuilding.com and I have to say that it is a very very nice website. In all honesty though, the price will more than your budget.

It is important to note that although there are free scripts out there, they aren't necessarily good scripts. To put is plainly, although the car might look nice, the engine might be a piece of crap. What's more, the script might be too taxing on the database and cause the site to crash if you have to many user functions taking place at the same time.

For example, www.bodyspace.bodybuilding.com has a script that communicates with the product. In addition, the progress reports system is very well done and executed. Finally, the profile layouts are probably the most perfect of any I have seen. I can imagine that the backend of this website is just as amazing as the front end.

The good thing that bodybulding.com has going for it was that they have an active programming staff that executes programming changes. The progress report system wasn't even added in completely until just a few weeks ago.

What I am trying to get at is that this website is complex. I can say that it will cost more than 3-4k to develop a clone of this website. However, it is important to remember that ever social networking website has a starting point, and by adding features you create an excuse to send annoucments to people to bring them back to your website.

My recommedation is that you start out with your budget. As the website growns, so to will your returns on the investment. At that point, you will see the positive effects that adding in features will have. Scaling a webiste is the key. Myspace didn't start out like how it looks now, neither did friendster, facebook, youtube or multiply.

If nothing else, send me an email at brian.peters@webbizideas.com and I will be able to, if nothing else, help you set up the requirements for your website so that you can address those elements to other programmers. Thanks!

Sincerely,
Brian Peters
webbizideas

 

Check out PHPFox Konsort. Its an opensource community site which is free.

 

OK, phpFox is a good piece of software. I think it is a great STARTING point. However, I will point out several things:

1. It isn't free. It's $300. http://www.phpfox.com/konsort/pricing/
2. It doesn't even come close to what bodyspace.bodybuilding.com is.
Example: no progress reports (which is quite in depth), no proper video upload, no music on profile, etc.
3. Layout is not very eye appealing. Design is important.

-Brian