social networking software

[Brigid Manning-Hamilton]

A friend has just asked this question:

I am in search of good free or very affordable social networking software.
Any suggestions?

And I thought some people here might have some answers.

Thanks!

Brigid Manning-Hamilton

[Kristen Horton]

Brigid, You should contact Kyle Lacy for info.

[Jon D. Speer]

Have you looked into Ning.com? This is the platform used by SI.

[Tom Marsh]

Ning really is a good choice for making your own community--the price is right and it does a lot out of the box.

If you need more customization or need to host on a platform you control for legal reasons, then you should check out this great article. It is a summary of a bunch of free and open source applications you can use to build a social-network.

[Mike Seidle]

Ning is good.
Groupsites.com are fine, too.
If you want to host yourself, elgg is pretty neat.
If you want to build, there are one or two very good Drupal shops in town.
Lacon.ia is "twitter in a box" if that is what you need...
There are nice tools to ad social features to nearly any traditional website... depending on what you want to do.

Of course, you should discount my answer as I have no idea what you really are wanting to do.

[Lorraine Ball]

With all the recommendations of NING. I wonder is there anything else out there which does this as well?

[Mike Seidle]

Lorraine - Ning is good at doing a make your own Bebo/Myspace style social network. There are other tools that can do this, but none are as cheap/easy/fast to get started with. If you look at each category of social media, you'll find that there are many install your own packages that work well.

[Nicki Laycoax]

Check out ZooLoo. For $29.99/yr, you can even have your own domain name vs yoursite.ning.com.

Let me know how it goes if you try it!

[Mike Seidle]

Did you just recommend using the restroom at the zoo for social media? Someone needs to rebrand.

[Nicki Laycoax]

I don't get it... Is another name for a restroom "loo"?

[Jon D. Speer]

Yes, in England.

[Lou Begnel]

Makes me glad I live over here instead of there ... wouldn't want anyone to get confused.

[Todd Muffley]

No, that would be ZooLeu :-)