Great social network script I have to say. Very easy to use and learn.

Just a heads up.. beware of Google's OpenSocial.. pretty much aims for the same purpose... good luck on your venture..

Nice, but waaaay to far from what boonex-dolphin does for free.

yeah good pitch, bad idea. Google has you dominated

My Space allows people to personalize their own profiles. Social Engine allows people to personalize their own Communities. Wisdom: History always repeats itself Welcome to the next generation of user generated social networking communities :~)

"far from what boonex-dolphin does for free." - I agree. SE claims to be a platform but has no api so that you can deploy social apps.What the market offers at $300, for SE you pay $600. You want something which you think basic? Wait for version x or pay developer abc $$$! Simple things missing : Users cannot edit their posts, and the blog compare yourself - http://community.socialengine.net/Charlotte/blog/146/ Invision : http://forums.invisionpower.com/blog/ips_news/index.php?showentry=2449

Sorry but please note this ADDENDUM If you are a happy user of SE - its fine. My advice for prospective buyers : compare the other products, some are free ( but better support than even paid) , some are paid ( but much LESS than SE) and then decide. Do not be mislead by any comments here - either from me or from 'hard-core' SE fans. Cheers !

How is this different than Ning?

I think dzoic is better and matured. Price $425 with brand-removal. SE with brand-removal at least $560. A sample profile with dzoic - http://www.handshakesdemo.com/profiles/taylor/ SE looks like a kiddi script - it has a lot of way to go.

Hey SE folks! Don't you have any APPs? Apps like http://www.facebook.com/apps/ to make my users keep engaged :) Hi Greer ! Joomla rocks, and have been a Joomla fan from the time they parted with mambo. Never knew they had started social networking also. Cool!

Joe, what I guess is that by default SE offers you "branding-free" - for this they already charge $300 With this $300 you also get the user registration and user profile page. That apart anything you need you pay $40 ( or $30 ). That sums upto another $300 at least if you want the basic modules for a very basic soc web.

We have worked extensively with SE. Compared with some of the other products mentioned here (dzoic, boonex etc. are dog's breakfast) SE is simply a better designed product and very easy to work with. It is still a new product but give these guys time, they seem determined to compete with the best.

Joomla + Community Builder + FireBoard.

SE is very difficult to work with - very scanty features, very crude module methods. Clients also do not want to pay double the price We've been very happy with both Dolphin and Phpfox. I run modification sites for both of these: DolphinElite.com Konsort.org

Ning and SE are totally different things. Ning is hosted, SE is visible source. If you are looking to just make a knock-off of one of all those other social site, catering to the same groups as everyone else, one of those other scripts might be fine (since they all seem to look alike and have the same functionality). But if you (like us) want to do something different and therefore can't just use standard modules, SE is the way to go. Clean well thought-out source code to work from.

Ning is a white label social networking host. SE is a cheap clone script. You can never start a Ning with this php script. Kickapps, on the other hand, is similar to Ning or even better and has recently announced support for a tight integration with Joomla :)

Hi VinlandViking - its not Community Builder but CB + jives. Joomla Groupjive is doing its new beta among testers, and way ahead in terms of coding and expansibility. See my and other friend's site at http://www.groupjive.org/component/option,com_weblinks/catid,13/Itemid,46/

I actually bought SE and all of it's plugins and now I regret buying it. It doesn't even have a simple things like editing your own post, name check when registering, inviting friends through gmail, yahoo and much more is missing. I have rather used Ning or Kickapps to built my community and its all free. If it takes off, I can always buy the advertising package from kickapps and make money without spending a single dime. And kickapps let you mask your domain. ....

LOLz. Every developer or user of clone scripts say their code is "cleanest and cutest" &&& "give us time - we will develope more with time". Every script has its set of satisfied 'n unsatisfied users. By surfing web it seems everybody is doing business. And none is coded so badly! My advice, go with timetested, standard cheaper one, and pay a developer to get your tweaks and a designer to get your unique template. Though by nature of pricing SE appears to be total rip-off, so better avoid it.

I'm sorry but I'm reading a lot of negativity about SE.. why? give them some time, it's new. Dolphin also started of less then it is now. SE has a lovely way of implementing templates and most of the other alternatives look pretty crappy. These days looks ar at least (if not more) as important as functionality.

Thanks to Tina for the BARNRAISER tip. Just downloaded and tested it, its free and works like a charm. The openID thing is great. Now the dilemma is what to choose : ELGG.org or BARNRAISER :)

> give them some time, it's new Louis ----- How much time approximately ? Wrong time for the pitch then :(

The pitch is good but the product unimpressive. I have been using Orbit. If you want to see visit here http://products.agriya.com/orbit/demo/members/profileView.php?user_id=1 and enter with name/password - admin/admin

@Greer. I just went to your awesome Group Jive community, but had one little problem. DB function failed with error number 145 Table './MyPrai1_GroupJive/jos_session' is marked as crashed and should be repaired SQL=SELECT session_id FROM jos_session WHERE session_id = MD5( 'bcad136c6e6ad5f609b9f2c8d37912bb' ) SQL = A little word of advice. Before you talk about others, make sure site is working first! Thanks

Anyone who is interested can do a free download of Groupjive from here http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/groupjive/frs/ and test on localhost with XAMP or actual server. Everything is working FINE!

You cannot compare Dzoic to SE. Dzoic is clumsy, costly and of no practical use. It is hardly used by any real site. I agree Joomla + Community Builder + GroupJive + FireBoard or Boonex dolphin in the free sector is rocking. Probably SE should make the whole packagae available at less than $300.

Whats the hype about this pitch? It is yet another facebook clone script. Nothing innovative or original like twitter or reddit.

The pitch falls flat There is already a dozen php social clone scripts, if not more. If you are Ruby enthusiasts check out this http://try.lovdbyless.com/

...cont ... While we don't believe that the world needs another social network, we do believe that most sites can benefit from some sort of social interaction, software is about communication after all. Now everyone has a social networking platform they can write their application on without worrying about the details. We just want to help people get off on the right foot. We wrote LovdByLess for you. We wish you the best in your project. Enjoy!" Wow!! Well said, LBL!

Thanks for the warning. Never going to purchase this. The open platforms like ELGG or BARNRAISER looks extremely good.

ignore the haters... Phpfox is much slower then SE, but both have strengths. I suggest you try SE out for the trial period. it's free to try

@"Social Engine works great" ( is that your name?) - why shall someone hate you if you have reasonable price+performance? That is a point to ponder! Phpfox HAD EXTENSIVE BENCHMARK TESTS AT http://benchmark.phpfox.com/1_6_RC2/ before the final release to the satisfaction of customers. There has been NO such benchmark site at SE despite several requests. ( Though it will be now fun to see how SE now scampers to put up one to prove their silly points and slanders)

Either SE or phpfox are after your money with some halfdone products. You pay today, why you have to wait for months to get yet another half-done version? Switch to the free but professionals ELGG - http://classic.elgg.org (new version coming : elgg.org) --- BARNRAISER - http://www.barnraiser.org/software.php - DOLPHIN - http://www.boonex.us/ - All are FREE, unencrypted, compact codes, dedicated community support.

SE appears to be incomplete and to cost a lot and for every little thing. Does not matter if you are a rich corporation. If you are a small time hobbyist and want to run a snw not for earning from ads or memberships but for passion and fun - look at - ELGG and BOONEX . They have strong developer communities and they are improving a lot daily. See this comparison also http://siteanalytics.compete.com/socialengine.net+elgg.org+boonex.com/?metric=uv

I appreciate everyone's constructive feedback. I desperately need kind advice to incorporate the following elements into one site (that I can own all code): Community/Social Network + Forum + Custom "Yellow Pages" + Ad Server Capabilities IF anyone wants to provide me advice, please feel free to email me at andy (at) andymedia (dot) com

@Andrew - you can download and try boonex dolphin OR elgg OR see others above - these are FREE for you to test for yourself. As these are FREE and UNENCRYPTED FULLY at the same time with comments in codes as well as support forums you can decide for yourself what suits you best. They are also developing daily so that if you need something someone may just listen and incorporate that.

We have been using boonex dolphin for our business networking. The whiteboard and video are excellent. Its also free with sourcecode so anyone can download and test. Overall 10 in 10.

Elgg is the way to go - Elgg is an open-source social web application licensed under GPL version 2, and runs on the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) or WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) platform. It offers a networking platform combining elements of blogging, e-portfolios, news feed aggregation, file sharing, and social networking.

Additionally, all of a user's content can be tagged with keywords-so they can connect with other users with similar interests and create their own personal learning network. Each profile item, blog post, or uploaded file can be assigned its own access restrictions-from fully public to readable only by a particular group or individual.Using Elgg is the easiest way to create your own fully customized, hosted social network for your business, organization, or group of friends.

Heck! You cannot uninstall the plug ins via admin panel. Hello SE - r u listening?

It looks like a rudimentray copy Facebook. Phpizabi and Dzoic are more fresh and orginal IMHO. They at least do not look like or behave like any of those biggies.

Dolphin's documentation is also terrible. There's actually more infomation on boonex.com about dolphin's trac system than there is about the dolphin system itself! And good luck with theming: Dolphin uses templates but the presentation layer is still all tangled up with functional code.

So.. drupal's hook system, while powerful, is neither efficient nor simple. Sure the PLATFORM is free, but you get what you pay for: try hiring a drupal team to build another teamsugar using drupal's *free* platform. We were told $100,000+

Kakooljay, which 'drupal team' said that '$100,000+' will be needed? LOL. Drupal has extremely well documentation, great support, very easy hooks and scales like anything - some of the largest sites use it. But you do not need to know this or even spend $1 or do anything like teamsugar, Drupal with Organic groups works straight out of the box, no money needed - I will make a very good snw out of Drupal and install it for you. Send me your details and domain etc :)

Guess again Palan: I've read that entire post, I worked with drupal 5.0 for 6 months buliding a site with 120+ modules, I presented a case study at our local drupal group meeting, I know people who work at lullabot, I've worked with several drupal consultants..

One last thg: Yes, some of the largest sites use drupal, but, with few exceptions, they are NOT s/n sites & don't use OG & buddylist.. they are music sites [like sony & Universal] or other content rich sites [like NYT, theonion & about.com].. teamsugar is an anomaly.. for good reason. Don't believe me? Here's Jesse's site: http://20bits.com.. you can ask him yourself..

@kakooljoy - which was the site you made and please name those 120 modules :) Lullabot says they dont know you. Drupal is ACTUALLY SUITED AS SNW for the heaviest and feature-richest site as well as for any lightest and clutterfree site. The same post http://drupal.org/node/213973 clarifies that those stats are ALL WRONG. With tens of thousands of posts in drupal.org there are many based on halftruths or utter lack of any knowledge. Those do not prove anything :)

SE is already making some money, and they will make more as people do not really understand what is robust coding or not. Those who are making SE sites will perish in next 3 or 5 years as will SE itself , just like their bloghoster or whats-the-name. By that time SE will have made some more money. So why to quarrel ?

Thanks Gueno for the okphp. We got in touch with them. They are excellent. We are very satisfied with the purchase. Those interested can visit http://en.okphp.com/

Wow! Okphp! We are very happy with it. We'll say something are objective like the price and support. Okphp is $339+$79 which includes brand removal, and album, blogs, groups, events, polls. Any module can be installed or uninstalled. But show me one social site that has no album or blog or groups or events. SE is $300 which includes brand removal and for album, blogs etc another $230. Thus okphp $418 and se at least $530. This is not subjective,se price stinks. Okphp also has 2 months moneyback.

Just downloade Barnraiser and I am ready to install it. But after reading the terms, I have decided not to bother!! It says you can't remove the Barnraiser word logos etc!! It would be hard to make a site unique, whith the logo and the Barnraiser name over the site!!!! Oh hum, I wish I could write my own code!!

I am sorry. I did not read Barnraiser terms. I feel so stupid that I posted the above like a fool. Barnraiser has no such requirements and it works great for me.

Too many opensource and free proprietary competing products. But good pitch!

What everyone is failing to see in this geekfest about codebases, is that once you have made your choice, a social network will only be worthwhile if it has a unique pitch and some clever marketing. You guys carry on twittering while others make their choice and then work to develop it as quickly as possible to be a unique and actually being used! SE looks a bit pricey for a new script but given time the price will come down and it just might provide a decent white label starting point. Anyone seriously thinking their joomla plus bolt ons is gonna attract 100k members needs a reality check.

jason i totally agree with you on the reality check measure :))) Social Engine will evolve..

Thanks god I get here. I was too to close to give to SE people the $600 the ask for their expensive. If a think better. SE, a new program is MORE EXPENSIVE THAN the perfect, experimented and beatiful PHOTOSHOP??? NO WAY!!! How this new people with a couple of years working in their software is charging more than the price Adobe charge for Photoshop and their other softwares. Come one!! this people is crazy!! their customer service is terrible. The answer you after more than 24 hour, and their answer are: yes, no, we can't. yes, or no... well.. anyway... I didnt know there are many tools to create a social network for free.. it was close.. I'm going to LAS VEGAS better with that $600.... hehe!

Great template, bets i ever seen to SE v3 http://www.social-engine-template.com

I am evaulating upgradeing my site www.trainwithfriends.com build using Joomla, CB, GroupJive and other free and paid mods. I am having no end of trouble getting my paid ParaInvite working. It just stopped working and its crap not support from mike.. So I am looking at upgrade and i am comparing elg and SE. As Elg won the best open source SN.. Looks like SE gives me exactly what i need, simply things like the ability for the users to login using there email, is a big plus for users. I hope they contuine to improve.

SE is good. Easy & friendly but their support service es terrible and only 1 month after you get the license. It sucks!

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