Social Networking Sites powered by Joomla

Social Media
1

I’ve decided to use Joomla for my first social network site. I think listing the existing Joomla SN sites here will be a good starting point. They might give some ideas about the capability and design of Joomla sites.

Social networking sites powered by Joomla:

Koreatown Connected - http://www.ichoson.com/

Korean American Social Networking and News Portal. Entertainment, Lifestyle and Culture

MyPraize.com - Christian MySpace Alternative - Social Network - http://www.mypraize.com/

MyPraize is a Christian MySpace Alternative, based on Christian morals. Like MySpace we offer a community for Christians to unite, without immoral content, or pictures.

MommyClub - http://www.mommyclub.ca/

MommyClub.ca is one of Canada’s favourite pregnancy and parenting websites and is the perfect website for moms! It is a place for Canadian moms to connect with one another without having to go to different pregnancy websites, parenting websites and websites for moms for each phase of motherhood. We have set you up with “Everything Mom” to help you make the most of this fun, hectic mommy world. Resources, events, blogs, forums, friendship… its all here!

Golf Finder - Golf’s Interactive Search Engine - http://www.golf-finder.net/

Find Golf Courses, Golf Clubs and Golf Buddies. The only Golf resource you need!, Golf Finder’s interactive golf map is the perfect way to find golf courses, golf clubs and golf resources. The only interactive golf search engine you need.

Asian Addict - Asian Addict, write and learn culture traditions of Asia - http://www.asian-addict.com/

Your asian community, similar to myspace, hi5 or friendster where everybody can write about Asia and learn traditions, cultures and its wonders, make new friends, penpals, upload pictures and videos

Udugu! - The social networking, friendship community for 25+ - http://www.udugu.com/

Motor Sports site - http://csramotorsports.com/csratest/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

miXster - http://www.mixster.eu/

miXster is a european web site for on-line communities and relationships.

IMNetworked.com - Where People Know People! - http://www.imnetworked.com/

The Golf Space - http://www.thegolfspace.com/

Golf’s premier, and original network for friends and business.

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i’d be grateful if you share some other sites…

2

Nice sites, i have been in some of these!

3

Is there a joomla plug-in for creating social n’ks?

4

There isn’t just one plug-in (or component in terms of Joomla) for SN sites. There are many extensions which you can choose from to create your site such as:

  • Member Profiles
  • Blogs
  • User home pages
  • Forum (native Fireboard or plugins for vB, ipb, smf, etc.)
  • Videos
  • Instant messaging
  • Picture Galleries
  • Comments for articles, blogs, pictures, videos, profiles (guestbook)
  • Groups
  • Calendars and events
  • Newsletters
  • Invitations
  • Arcade games
  • hor or not
  • chat
5

JoSa,

Very nice looking sites.

I’ve been warned to stay away from Joomla in favor of Durpal, but to me Drupal seems so confusing and things don’t see to just “plug in” like it seems they do in Joomla. I’ve never actually tried to build anything with either. Do you find any limitations in Joomla – security, administration, usability?

I have a current project hat I need to do that is primarily the “Groups” function. I need it for a city site, but I want it specifically geared towards letting users start and join ad hoc groups, and have them listed under a directory structure of categories. But I want the groups to be on steroids, nothing wimpy. For each group I need:

  1. message board where user can start new threads
  2. update and see a calendar or event listing for that group
  3. View friends in that group
  4. post photos and perhaps videos
  5. post document type files
  6. Maybe, if possible, some sort of project management function

The type of groups I’m thinking of could be anything from a bicycle club that has limited needs to a local political group that has various projects that they are working on and certain people are assigned to.

Can this be done in Joomla? What components would I require?

Also interested in hearing any non-Joomla ideas?

JoSa, are you available for hire? If so, pm me.

6

There are lot of modules and plug ins for these! This is easy work to do! I will also advice you to look into PLONE CMS

7

I’ve looked around Joomla, and none of the group modules and plugins seem to do it all. So I guess that means I have to mix and match some together. This is where I get lost. I’d love to hear from a Joomla expert just what I would need in terms of components, modules and plugins.

By the way, I’ve heard that Joomla is full of security holes. Is this true, or was that perhaps an old post I read somewhere?

8

Jut checked out Plone. Too technical for me!

9

Hello,

I like Joomla, have worked on this and easy to work, but as for another choice, i have worked in PLONE as well as Xoops, i will also advice Joomla

Many of us like Joomla because they not have been with other CMS’s

10

The most popular open source programs are always being accused of having security holes, but this is partially because so many people install, test, and poorly maintain those apps. Joomla requires security patches like anything else, but it’s an excellent platform.

Drupal may be technically better in a few ways, but when it comes to easy of use, support, community, etc. Joomla is best.

11

I would have to agree with you Sagewing, joomla is far more superior then drupal when it comes to functionality and ease of use.

12

Yeah, I get completely confused reading about Drupal. It seems like they discuss everything, but it’s so confusing to figure out how to get anything done. Joomla at least just says plug this in and that in.

So can anyone help me out with which addons I would need in Joomla to do the groups project as I described a few posts up?

13

Installing extensions is very easy in joomla. You can make a fresh joomla install, mod and configure it in just 10 mins. There are lots of templates out there so templating wouldn’t be a problem neither.

I can’t say much about security issues except that once they are discovered they get patched with new versions.

There is a component named Groupjive that handles some of these features. But it doesn’t have the direct ability of sharing photos or videos. You need some other extensions to achieve these.

Groupjive component can also be integrated with other extensions such as

  • Joomlaboard/Fireboard forums (so that each group has its private forum category where they can discuss topics and share photos, videos, etc.)
  • community builder [CB] (so that group members’ names are linked to their profiles and subscribed groups are listed in user profiles).

Community Builder and its plugins - Custom profile fields, integration with other extensions, profile gallery, guestbook

Groupjive - It gives all registered users the capability to create and moderate their own groups, if the adminstrator allows it. Groups can also be created from the backend by the adminstrator. There are currently three types of groups which can be created: Open, Private, and Invite only. This component is great for sites that host bands, artists, or any social networking type of site.

JIM - Instant messaging component

Fireboard - Native joomla forum component

Eventlist - EventList is just that what the name would lead you to expect. It’s not a calendar but an easy way to manage and present your Events for your group, company or community. EventList offers a lot features and possibilities which makes your work easier, like the Venue database, Picture resizing and much more. But also for your site visitors EventList has some additional features to offer, like a simple registration system, map service links, or the submission of new events and venues from the frontend.
(will be integrated with Groupjive in the future)

Seyret Video Component - It is a native Joomla component that gives you chance to share videos (either uploading to own servers or linking from youtube and other servers).

MyBlog/Mamblog - user blog component

I think those are the basic components that you would need.

14

I know this thread is about Joomla but still just curious to know in terms of plugins to build SN site, which one offers more, Drupal or Joomla ? I was looking to same with drupal as what OP is looking to do with Joomla

15

[I]There is a component named Groupjive that handles some of these features. But it doesn’t have the direct ability of sharing photos or videos. You need some other extensions to achieve these.

Groupjive component can also be integrated with other extensions such as

  • Joomlaboard/Fireboard forums (so that each group has its private forum category where they can discuss topics and share photos, videos, etc.)
  • community builder [CB] (so that group members’ names are linked to their profiles and subscribed groups are listed in user profiles).[/I]

The above sounds very promising! I love the own private forum thing. I’m going to go look at it, but does this stuff, adding Groupjive, Fireboard/Jomlaboard, and Community Builder pretty much work out of the box, or is there a lot of tricky things that have to be done? In other words, could I as a brand new Joomla user (not even loaded up yet), spend a few solid days on it and get something working in concept, or would I need a Joomla expert?

16

Groupjive + Fireboard + C. builder integration is easy; I don’t think you’ll encounter any problems during the integration process (in fact, the basic installation and integration takes just a few minutes).

Both groupjive and fireboard have c.builder plugins which are installed through the c.builder’s plugin manager. These plugins add “my groups” and “my forum posts” tabs into member profiles.

So basically, you should install the following extensions:

Components

Community Builder Suite 1.1
Groupjive 1.6
Fireboard Forum 1.0.1b

After installing these components you can integrate them through their configuration pages.

For a better integration you can additionally install the following C.Builder plugins which will make the subscribed groups and latest forum posts appear in member profiles.

C.Builder Plugins

Fireboard CB Plugin
Groupjive CB Plugin

Also don’t forget that there are many modules for each component (such as latest groups, newest groups, largest groups, latest group bulletins for Groupjive) and there are lots of cb plugins for different components that help to integrate those components with CB (such as instant messaging, galleries, hot or not, blogs, friends, arcade games, etc.).

Just try the integration and if you face any problems, i’ll try to help.

17

Thank you so much. You’ve been very helpful!

18

anyone know where I can find decent joomla templates?

19

It is very helpful to know about Joomla. I know joomla but I still didnt try using that. Is Joomla template very helpful for SEO.

20

check out compassdesigns.net for all sorts of good Joomla information…