You are here: Home » buddypress

Will BuddyPress And Self-Installed Social Network Platforms Ever Become A Threat To Facebook?

November 13, 2011 by 5 Comments

Faustos Fernós asked on Facebook: Lets talk about social media and Buddypress- will self-installed social networks ever become a threat to Facebook, or just another place to network?

Probably with all the Facebook suing companies over trademark, you have to wonder if they would ever go even more senile and try suing other social networks. Heaven forbid that happen, but I do not see a problem with this happening.

There are millions of users online and millions of sites- and you know, everyone still has plenty of places to go. Facebook is a nice stomping ground, even if we might grumble at some of their cockeyed plans sometimes. With the ability to use WordPress and install the BuddyPress plugin to turn it into a social network, this allows you to create your own little social circle, devoid of Facebook drama.

You can make your own little niche for anything from WordPress fans, to a class reunion site for a high school, or even perhaps for an organization that it is not always easy to get all the members to the weekly in person meetings.

Facebook has been around for a while and will be for some time, so no- social network platforms or BuddyPress will never threaten that lifestyle. Just to show a somewhat similar case- It works out like Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation. There are hundreds of Media Wiki websites out there with the same platform, but are niche based in topics, but they have not brought Wikipedia down. It merely has brought more users to enjoy their special corner.

Thank you for asking Faustos!

What are your thoughts on this?

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: ,

BuddyPress goes 1.1!

October 4, 2009 by 1 Comment

Andy Peatling, announced BuddyPress 1.1 Released on September 30, 2009. There were a few updated to the core and now the social network platform offers:

  • One click internal bbPress forum integration
  • global forum directory
  • Easier theme integration
  • More freedom for administrators to control their site
  • Allow plug developers to hook their BuddyPress installation into outside web services
  • Group API to extend features.

as well as a few more attributes. The one-click install for the bbPress integration is something that I have particularly looking forward too as it is just less hassle than installing the files and then the plugin to fit it into the site. I have been working on my own installation for my class reunion site so we have a central place to talk, rather than use Facebook to sort through all the messages. Although I can say the class reunion was a success in September 2009, many people were informed last minute even though they were online to find out about the event.

Also, loading new themes had been quite the struggle for me in the past. In fact, even based on the FAQs and reading the forums on BuddyPress, I still had to wing a few things to get my theme working correctly, so this is a true relief.

I still wonder when BuddyPress might become available for a one-click install for webhosts to offer their clients (example: cPanel’s Fantastico Deluxe.)

Have you tried out BuddyPress? What do you think?

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

BuddyPress For Dummies: Lisa Makes It Official

July 20, 2009 by 6 Comments

If you have not visited Lisa Sabin-Wilson’s blog yet, well, you should. For those not aware of her and use WordPress, she is the one who wrote WordPress for Dummies. I recommend it and have it. In fact, the copy I have is the second one and I admitted to Lisa via Twitter that a former friend (note ‘former’) never returned my first copy. However, this is not why I am blogging. Lisa announced that she is officially going to write BuddyPress for Dummies. This announcement came a day after BuddyPress announced the release of its 1.0.3 version.

What is BuddyPress?

Months ago, I talked about BuddyPress, a CMS geared toward social networking. It contains activity streams, groups, extended profiles and more. I have tried this out for clients and it has been amazing. In fact, I am in the process of putting up a class reunion (yes, my own… can you believe it has been 10 years already) with BuddyPress. BuddyPress uses WordPress MU as its core, which for some of us who heard from Matt Mullenweg at WordCamp (I heard when I went to WordCamp Chicago 2009), eventually WordPress will evolve and have WordPress MU. It is kind of like a light weight Facebook with a WordPress core and as I recall Matt saying “all that MU goodness” at WordCamp.

This is a great project and I wish Lisa all the luck and know she will produce another great resource! For those of you interested, Lisa has a link on her block to the Amazon placeholder. The link to the WordPress For Dummies that I put above is her link as I would want her to get full credit and the money for her work. Stop by and congratulate her. :)

Do you have WordPress for Dummies? Have you used BuddyPress? What do you think of it? Have you or will you sign up to be notified when BuddyPress for Dummies is ready for purchase?

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

BuddyPress Is Finally 1.0

May 1, 2009 by 2 Comments

With social media being big, WordPress MU, which allows users to install mutiple WordPress and connect with other bloggers has finally developed even more into Buddypress. Months ago, I plugged BuddyPress as I thought it was great. It is a great alternative for those tired of Facebook and MySpace or Ning, but with those who had a big love for using WordPress.

I am a little bit behind from the announcement of this over at the BuddyPress blog, but I remember that there were people really interested in it. Personally, I think this takes WordPress over the top and heads above most blog scripts (or for some of you, blog platform.)

I think this is great, especially for those people who were into doing forums. Not only can you do forums, but basically just about anything from blogging. It makes socializing a heck of a lot easier. With people who offer subdomain hosting, Buddypress might prove to be a better alternative. BuddyPress contains some great features like extended profiles, friends section, private messaging, groups, streams (kind of like a Facebook/ Twitter feature), forums, stats so you can track your blog, and more.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , , , , ,