Social Network Software

jimmybeige

Hi,
I was hoping to play around or build some kind of small social network using some open source software. I was planning on doing up a small site for something like car restoration. The main objective would be for people to exchange and rate their projects. Upload photos and rate them and maybe have some kind of top 10 projects based on these ratings.

The photos would need to be categorised maybe for interiors, exteriors, engine etc etc. Does anyone know which software would be suitable for this?

I was playing around with Elgg but had difficult getting it to do exactly what I wanted. It didn't allow different categories of photos using tidypics. I couldn't see how to search through photos either, or create a top 10 photos using this software. Admittedly I only spent a little time with it but thought I would be better off asking here before I invested any more time.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

jimmybeige

I was hoping for something a little cheaper!

p

How about xing? It's a service, rather than software that allows you to create your own online communities.

jimmybeige

Thanks P,
it looks a bit corporate. Have you used it? Not sure if it's what I'm looking for. I can't see if it has the capabilities I was saying about ranking photos and creating leaderboards. I was kinda hoping for something I could get stuck into myself, edit a good bit and change the template designs as well as having the modules that I mentioned. Any more ideas?

was.deevey

I'd highly recommend Joomla + Jomsocial + Kunena (as a forum)

I recently did an install of it here and it works a charm, lots of management options and not too expensive ($150) ..

You could set up a group per project, allow users to add their own or lock them out etc...

The addons like live chat etc.. DO however cost money, but integration plugins and joomla modules for video / latest pics / Kunena profile link etc..are free .. We are NOT using any Paid Plugins on the site I linked to.

Of course you have the ability to skin it yourself along with joomla (and add Joomla Plugs like event list:)

Support is top notch and you can try it for $1 (i think it was)

Community builder is another option, but to give the same functionality as Jomsocial you are into spending a bundle .. I DID try it, and even bought subscription .. but to be honest there was just too much time being spent on configuration and skinning compared to Jomsocial which just "worked" outta the box.

ukdirect

I prefer Elgg.Elgg operates on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql and Php) environment and it is easy to install and configure. With a little php knowledge, you can get your social networking site up and running in no time.

nellyshark

There is a CMS about called MediaCore but that would be more applicable for video formats

jimmybeige

Yea ukdirect, Elgg seems good. I am decent with PHP so I might just continue with Elgg. I was just wondering if anyone might know something that would be more suitable for my needs. I also downloaded Boonex Dolphin but had some problem installing it. Not sure if it's any better than Elgg.