I really need some guidance. What is the best software out there for a social network

Hey DP, im looking to add a social network to my exsisting site and getting really overwhelmed by all the various scripts and options out there. DO you guys know which ones are the best and most customizable? my main concerns are login integration, design, and stability (incase i get alot of users). Most of them all share the same basics in terms of functions. Please help if you have any info or experience with any scripts

so far ive heard the 2 best are Social Engine and Elgg?

Thanks

 

There is no one simple "best" solution. If you search DP Forums you'll find a zillion different opinions. What is important beyond features is stability and speed. For example a lot of people seem to like Dolphin, then you'll read how it is very slow. You can read about PHPFox then how people don't want to pay for it. And on and on. There is no one script I've come across and I've looked at many of them that is easy to implement, upgrade, and keep running that still looks professional. Social sites are a lot of work.

Take a look at Hotscripts or one of the already hosted solutions and let someone else do the grunt work for you ... right up to the point they go out of business and you lose everything you have built.

Makes one wonder how many employees it takes to keep a myspace or facebook running.

 

I don't there is any.All paid softwares are buggy and free once lack support. If you are serious, get your own team and build it yourself, if you are not serious, you are probably wasting your time. There is no money in social network sites unless you can scale it up big

 

Try to look at Livestreet - it's free ang has a good tech support forum. Also it is very customisable

 

http://www.ning.com gets a lot of press...

 

Agreed with seo.wizard..... for a social networking site, best will only be what you get developed yourself!

 

This is very true, I've been looking for years and every single one of them is overwhelmed with issues.

The "best" one is probably Social Engine but it's going to cost you a couple thousand. What most people don't realize is that all of the add-ons are separate fees and you will really need all of them, and your final bill is going to be pretty astronomical.

Most if not all of the other paid solutions look like garbage - either poor programming, outdated features or look like they were designed in the 1990s...

As for a free solution, Elgg and Buddypress look promising.

 

Ning is decent - very easy to use, easy to set up and you can connect a domain name to it.

The only catch is that they charge a monthly fee for their non-branded service (so that you don't need to use whatever.ning.com) and it is overpriced.

 

have a look at wordpress mu and buddypress

 

ExpressionEngine & phpFox are the best if you want your own Social Network with EVERYTHING

 

Dolphin unlimited license worth 790$ is with me .
I can give you at a price.
contact.

 

As for me, Elgg is really one of the best in social network development. We have experience in work with Elgg. And during the recent
time we are working on development of social network for medical workers on Elgg framework.
Description of this social network you can find at http://www.web100.com.ua/eng/expertise/social-networks/index.html

 

hey steveone86 as internetmarketingiq said there is no single best social networking script but there is alot of them out there i'm a fan of boonex's dolphin but the licence's can cost alot of £££ but there is a free option which they have made sure that there name is all over.
my latest site i use buddypress which i found really good and easy to use
i've also tried xoops with yogurt plugin which was fairly simple. In my opinion if you want a good social networking site you've either got to pay for it or code it yourself.

 

you may also want to consider joomla and community builder.