How Do I Create My Own Social Media Site?
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I’m hoping members might be able to aim me in the right direction for services I can use to create my own social media site. My goal is to create a meeting place limited to folks interested in the topic addressed by my WordPress site.
(I don’t mean software that will help me promote my site on Facebook and Twitter etc, but software that will allow me to create a new social media site.)
I’ve been building sites since 1995 and am very tech savvy in some regards, but know very little about social media. I barely use Facebook, that’s about the limit of my social media knowledge.
Free is fine of course, but I expect I’ll need to pay for the level of service I’m looking for.
Does WordPress offer any tools of this type I should be considering?
I’m at square one here, anything you can share will likely be educational for me.
Thanks!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi again @nukeban, yes it’s possible with a plugin like BuddyPress (which would require a Business Plan.) I’m sure there are other options out there too. I’d suggest researching over at https://wordpress.org/support/forums/ to see what folks there are recommending.
Or you can use something as simple as P2: https://p2theme.com/ — that’s what we use here internally. You can make the group private / invite-only or not. You can even have a main site with a separate site for the group.
Let us know if you have more questions on this.
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Quick update: I asked the BuddyPress guys to introduce me to some of their client’s sites so I could join a site using BuddyPress as a member and learn how their system works etc. They replied I should search for such sites on Facebook.
I’m not sure if they don’t know who their clients are, don’t have any clients, or are just having a bad day.
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BuddyPress, like WordPress, is free, open source software that anyone can download and install on their own servers.
BuddyPress doesn’t have any “clients”, as they’re not a business, and one doesn’t even need to register an account on buddypress.org in order to use that software, so there is absolutely no way for the people who make that software (many of them unpaid volunteers) to know who actually use that software.
The only way I can think of to find sites that use BuddyPress is to browse through their support forums on buddypress.org – there will very likely be people who included links to their sites when asking for help with that software.
But as BuddyPress is free, the simplest way to get to know how it works is simply to use it. Get WordPress hosting at a cheap host, install the plugin, and play around with it.
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Oops, duh, sorry, I was having one of my stupid attacks. I was referring to BuddyBoss, and got the names confused. But that’s what you get for allowing goofy geezers to infect your platform, so it’s actually all your fault. :-) So to correct the record, it’s BuddyBoss that doesn’t know who their clients are, as has been confirmed in multiple email exchanges.
If I had a business plan I could use BuddyPress here on my existing WP site? Right?
If yes, then I just need to figure out a way to test it?
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Yes, you could use BuddyPress with a Business plan here.
We don’t offer a way to test it or any sort of trial period, but we do offer full refunds: https://en.support.wordpress.com/manage-purchases/#refund-policy
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Thanks guys, I’ve headed over to the BuddyPress site to explore further. Thanks for your assistance.
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We’re happy to help how we can, @nukeban! I don’t know that BuddyPress will have clients sites due to the reasons Kokkeih mentioned, but you can likely find more information in the community forums here:
https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/buddypress/ -
Thanks some more supernovia. I’ve posted in the BuddyPress forum, so we’ll see where that leads.
Here’s another question for you. If I upgrade to a Business plan and then install BuddyPress, who is responsible for the proper operation of BuddyPress on my site?
It’s going to take a LOT of work to build a social network on my topic, and so naturally I want to be able to count on the software running that network. I’m wary of situations where no one is really responsible and everyone can point the finger at someone else, and I’m left holding the bag.
With the WordPress software alone I don’t have concerns as I’m paying you directly and you guys have tons of experience and a good reputation.
But I won’t be paying BuddyPress, so they are not obligated to me in any way. If BuddyPress were to have problems on my site, is it up to me to figure out what the problem is and solve it?
I guess I’m asking, what is the relationship between WordPress.com and third party plug-ins installed within WordPress accounts?
Thanks as always, you guys are great.
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But I won’t be paying BuddyPress, so they are not obligated to me in any way. If BuddyPress were to have problems on my site, is it up to me to figure out what the problem is and solve it?
I guess I’m asking, what is the relationship between WordPress.com and third party plug-ins installed within WordPress accounts?
This is an excellent question.
We aren’t at all related with BuddyPress, and our support primarily pertains to WordPress itself. But, generally speaking, when you have a Business plan, staff will do what they can to help you work through common issues. And then if they’re hitting a wall, you’d look for help from the folks at BuddyPress. Basically we try to offer the best support we can, though we will need to refer you to third party support at times. And, if you needed actual developer help to resolve something, you’d hire them separately.
Does that help?
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Thank you, yes, that explains it, and is pretty much what I thought was likely.
So while I’m exploring BuddyPress, we might also discuss this (when you’re not eating fruitcake and opening gifts)….
1) Does WP offer a social site system which it would take full responsibility for?
2) Are there perhaps other 3rd party social site apps available which I would have to pay for, and thus could hold someone responsible for? I looked at BuddyBoss, but they don’t seem ready for prime time yet.
This isn’t an urgent matter, I have a considerable ways to go before I’d be ready for any social site system. Just trying to get educated where I can.
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Let me try to answer your questions one by one.
Does WP offer a social site system which it would take full responsibility for?
No, we do not offer a functionality like this. The closest thing to that is what hat @supernovia mentioned before, the P2 theme: https://p2theme.com/
Are there perhaps other 3rd party social site apps available which I would have to pay for, and thus could hold someone responsible for?
We encourage you to search for recommendations on WordPress.org forums as the users who use these forums are mostly on a free plan and do not have access to plugins.
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Thank you. Ok, it seems the first place I should be exploring is the P2 theme, as has been suggested.
1) I have two accounts, a paid account for my real site, and a free account for testing things. Is it possible to switch the theme of my free site to P2 for testing? I logged in to free account and searched the themes but couldn’t find P2.
2) Do any of the WP accounts have the ability to act like regular hosting accounts where I could upload files via FTP? For example, if I wanted to install forum software, could I host that with you guys?
DO NOT answer these questions until you’ve had another piece of fruitcake, and maybe some eggnog too. Yea, spiked eggnog, definitely that. If you want to also sing a Christmas carol while wearing your favorite Santa hat, that would be fine too.
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Hi there,
1) I have two accounts, a paid account for my real site, and a free account for testing things. Is it possible to switch the theme of my free site to P2 for testing? I logged in to free account and searched the themes but couldn’t find P2.
You can switch to that theme from the following page. Just make sure you’re logged in to the correct account.
https://wordpress.com/theme/p2
2) Do any of the WP accounts have the ability to act like regular hosting accounts where I could upload files via FTP? For example, if I wanted to install forum software, could I host that with you guys?
Only the Business and eCommerce plans give you SFTP and database access. However, that’s limited to your WordPress installation only and you’re not allowed to install any other software on our servers. For that, you’ll need to use a typical hosting provider.
DO NOT answer these questions until you’ve had another piece of fruitcake, and maybe some eggnog too.
Oops! Too late. I already answered them :D Have a Merry Christmas!
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that’s limited to your WordPress installation only and you’re not allowed to install any other software on our servers.
Ok, I actually like this answer, because it means my site won’t be going down because somebody has clogged the server with their poorly designed custom software. Ok, I hear you, good decision.
However, for clearly violating the terms of my previous post, I hereby sentence you to two more eggnogs.
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