Social Networking with Buddypress for WordPress

It’s been a long time since posting, but since using Buddypress for WordPress, I feel it’s necessary say something about this up and coming social networking solution.

Ever been frustrated with sites like Facebook, Myspace and other social networks, but feel that your company or organization could really benefit from being a part of a social network? Does not having control over the ads, branding and other aspects make them not an option, or a bad option?

There is a solution I will already recommend, even before its official launch from beta. I’ve been playing around with a couple installs of Buddypress, along with a couple custom plugins, allowing you to take complete control of your own social network, and offer a place that people can interact with your business offerings. There are other “free” solutions out there already for creating your own social network, but they tend to offer you a freebie version, with limitations, and lock you into buying add-ons. Many have limitations with resources, because the site is actually hosted on their server, instead of on your own. Not to mention, most are not open source, or have anywhere near the following that the WordPress community has.  Buddypress is run entirely on your own server, without any paid add-on limitations, and will change the way people and organizations interact with one another.

Buddypress is completely open-source, and one of the great reasons why WordPress is so great. Projects like Buddypress can arise from nowhere, because of the great extensibility of the WordPress blogging platform.

Buddypress is different than the other software already available, and I feel will be a major player in the social networking realm, as did WordPress for blogging. Buddypress is currently limited to running on WordPress MU, but will soon be released as a set of plugins for the WordPress standalone version. I feel this is an exciting thing, and can only help move WordPress forward as well. Obviously Automattic felt the same way, by taking in Buddypress and Andy Peatling, the lead developer, under its wings.

The versatility and extensibility that WordPress offers, along with a substantial community of great developers helping out, makes Buddypress an option for many organizations, including non-profits, in the need to expand their reach to a larger community-based audience.

I’m sure you will hear much more on this from me in the near future.

2 thoughts on “Social Networking with Buddypress for WordPress”

  1. Buddypress is one of those really handy WP plugins that makes it possible to utilize social media in ways most website owners just don’t have time for.

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