Free social networking software?

Alex Sass

28/07/2008, 09:50 AM

Hi there,

Sorry this is a long list (I’m an online social networks specialist, so have to look at them all the time!)…

Here’s a list I found somewhere online that my team looked through:

Open Source Software

Open Source refers to software that is available under a license that permits its use, study, modification, improvement and redistribution.

AZbb Forum based on PHP. Modify for nonprofit and personal use only. Developer: AZ Platform: UNIX, Windows

Backtalk Text-based linear forum software, compatible with YAPP. Comes with C source code. Developer: Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss Platform: UNIX

Bazaar Bazaar is configurable through template files, though significant technical skills are required for full utilization. Allows the creation of a variety of applications in addition to message boards, such as polls, FAQs, and announcement boards. Developer: Mike Sosteric Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

BBMatic Simple bulletin board software. Developer: Joe DePasquale Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

Beehive Forum Open-source forum based on PHP and MySQL. Features frame-based layout, email notification, private messaging system, and extendable user profiles. Developer: Various Platform: UNIX, Windows

BlazeBoard PHP-based message board software with email notification, instant messaging, polls, and other features. Platform: UNIX

Caucus Formerly a commercial product, Caucus is a high-end, powerful, and extremely customizable linear forum software, now available as open source. Support, services, and add-ons are available for a fee. Developer: CaucusCare

Platform: UNIX CFMBB Full-featured open source message board system with similarity to phpBB. Developer: Rick Root Platform: Multiple Class-1 Forum Software Based on PHP and MySQL, and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Developer: Class-1 Web Design Platform: UNIX, Windows

Code Project Discussion Boards Open source message board software, implemented as an Active-X control and ASP scripts. Developer: Uwe Keim and Chris Maunder Platform: Windows

COW - Conferencing On Web Exceptionally powerful; similar to YAPP. Source code may be available from cow.administrators@umich.edu Developer: Eric Klavins, San Francisco State University, University of Michigan D3E - Digital Document Discourse Environment Open Source tool for document-centered discussions. Works with customized versions of HyperNews and Phorum. Developer: Tamara Sumner, Simon Buckingham Shum, and others Platform: Windows, UNIX

E-Blah Open source bulletin board implemented in Perl. Developer: Justin Platforms: Windows, UNIX

eThreads Supports distributed servers. Requires Perl and mySql, though it isn’t clear if this software is still available for download. Developer: Eric Richardson Platform: UNIX Free Open Source Objects for Online Community Building Selver Tosic has written some code objects that handle various functions for online communities. Not a complete forum package, but these objects are freely available and could be incorporated into a custom-built forum system. Requires PHP and MySQL.

Developer: Selver Tosic Platform: Any (written in PHP) FruitWare BBS Displays all messages in a forum on one page. Developer: FruitWare Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

FUDforum Bulletin board with many features, including tracking which posts each user has read, moderation, support for multiple languages, and integration with newsgroups and email lists. Requires PHP and MySQL or PostgreSQL. Developer: Advanced Internet Designs Platform: UNIX

Galleon ColdFusion Forums Forums application built with ColdFusion. Supports various levels of organization, subscriptions, member levels, moderators, code display. Requires ColdFusion or BlueDragon. Developer: Raymond Camden Platform: Multiple

GrimmBB PHP 4 Open Source Flat File Bulletin Board. Uses HTML. Offers unique usernames, time stamp, categories. Requests user offers link back to GrimmBB. Developer: Grim Platform: Windows, UNIX, Macintosh

HyperNews Allows discussions to be distributed across multiple Web servers. Must display HyperNews license/copyright. [Description in WWW Unleashed] Developer: Daniel LaLiberte Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

Ikonboard Flat (linear) message board software featuring email notification and instant messaging. Developer: Ikonboard.com Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

InterMix Allows readers to register approval and interest ratings for each message. Complete source code is freely available. InterMix II is in development. Developer: Collective Communication Inc. Platform: Windows JForum Open source forum software implemented in Java. Requires a database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.) Developer: Rafael Steil and the JForum Team Platform: Windows, UNIX

jGossip Forum software based on Java and the Struts framework. Developer: jResearch.org Platforms: UNIX, Windows, Mac

LWGate Web interface to mailing lists; includes Web browsing of a mailing list archive. Development on this product appears to be frozen. Developer: David W. Baker Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

MHonArc E-mail gateway: permits Web browsing of a mailing list or newsgroup archive. Developer: Earl Hood Platforms: UNIX, MS-DOS

miniBB A minimalist, yet nicely designed, bulletin board. Can be integrated with an existing user database. Open source. Requires PHP and either mySQL or PostgreSQL. Developer: Paul Puzyrev and Sergei Lariono Platforms: UNIX, Windows (written in PHP)

mod_virgule Open source forum and blog software which drives Advogato. Also see the Virgule scripting engine. Developer: Raph Levien and others Platforms: UNIX

mwForum Open source threaded forum software implemented with Perl and MySQL. The user interface is available in English, German, and several other languages. Developer: Mark Wichitill Platform: UNIX MyBulletinBoard (MyBB) Free bulletin board based on PHP and mySQL. Developer: Chris Boulton and others Platform: UNIX, Windows (written in PHP)

OpenACS A suite of open source modules designed for building web-based communities, originally based on ArsDigita’s ACS. Developer: Ben Adida, Don Baccus, and others Platform: UNIX

OvBB Open source, light-weight, fast discussion board. Retain copyright with distribution. Developer: OvBB Project Platform: UNIX, Windows, Macintosh

Phorum Open source message board software implemented with PHP and MySQL. Features e-mail notification and moderated posting. Developer: Brian Moon Platform: UNIX phpBB Popular open source message board software implemented with PHP. Features e-mail notification. Requires an external database (MySQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, or Access). Developer: The phpBB Group Platform: UNIX, Windows, Macintosh

PHP-Nuke A Usenet News system based on PHP. Developer: phpnuke.org Platform: UNIX

Pinguinite Highly customizable open source forum software designed for Linux/Apache/MySQL system. HTML template design with innovative features and administrative options. Developer: Neil McIver Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

Prattle Simple open source forum software with a linear conversation structure, implemented with PHP and MySQL. Developer: Steve Yelvington Platform: UNIX

PunBB Open source message board software implemented with PHP. Requires an external database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite). Developer: Rickard Andersson and others Platform: UNIX, Windows, Macintosh Quicksilver Forums Open source forum software implemented with PHP and MySQL. Platforms: UNIX, Windows

Ruboard Simple BBS software, originally modelled after WWWBoard but has been completely rewritten. Developer: Andrew Maltsev Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

Scoop Open source system similar to Slash. Developers: Brent Metzler, Rusty Foster, Chad Kreimendahl, and others Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

SEO-Board Simple message board implemented with PHP and MySQL. Designed to be search engine-friendly. Developer: Hristo Hristov Platform: UNIX

SKForum Open source system based on J2EE and MySQL, which also features an address book, a wiki, polling, a guest book, and other widgets. Developer: Anders Hovmöller Platform: UNIX

Slash Open source news and message board software implemented with Perl and MySQL. Developers: Patrick Galbraith, Chris Nandor, Brian Aker, and others Platform: UNIX SMF (Simple Machines Forum) Popular community software based on PHP and MySQL. The source code is freely available, but the SMF license differs from most open source software in that redistribution is not permitted without written permission. Developers: Jeff Lewis, Joseph Fung, David Recordon, and others Platform:Windows, UNIX, Macintosh

Snitz Forums Feature-rich message board software similar to UBB, based on ASP. Developers: Snitz Communications Platform: Windows, UNIX with ASP-enabled server

Sporum Freeware. Supports both threaded and linear discussions; stores messages in an SQL database. Developer: KaYue Mak, Smallpig.net, Mike Robb, and others Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

Squishdot Open source blog and discussion software inspired by Slashdot. This is a plug-in module for Zope. Developer: Butch Landingin and others Platform: UNIX

UseBB Free, open source bulletin board software based on PHP and MySQL. Features RSS and topic subscriptions via email. Developer: Dietrich Moerman and others Platform: UNIX

Vanilla Free, open source, multi-lingual discussion forum software based on PHP and MySQL. Platform: UNIX, Windows Venice Web Communities System Linear forum software with open source, under development. Developer: Eric Bowersox and others Platform: UNIX, Windows (written in Java)

W-Agora BBS software that features a multilingual user interface and ability to upload file attachments to messages. Comes with full source code in PHP. Developer: Marc Druilhe Platforms: UNIX, Windows

WebBBS A template you can hack to suit your own needs. Formerly known simply as “Basic Bulletin Board Script.” Developer: Selena Sol Platform: UNIX (written in Perl)

Web Wiz Forums ASP-based bulletin board software. Free download, but there is a modest fee if you want to remove the Web Wiz branding and links from the user interface. Requires MS Access or SQL Server. Developer: Bruce Corkhill Platform: Windows

WWWBoard Very widely used. Developer: Matt Wright Platform: UNIX

W3news CGI-based Usenet newsreader. Connects directly to NNTP servers. Page layout is configurable through template HTML pages. Developer: Kasper Peeters Platform: UNIX XMB Forum (Extreme Message Board) Based on PHP and MySQL. Developer: XMB Group Platforms: UNIX

YaBB (Yet another Bulletin Board) Perl-based message board software. Developer: Zef Hemel and others Platforms: UNIX, Windows (written in Perl)

Yazd Open source, Java-based forum software. Uses JDBC to connect to a wide range of supported databases. The user interface is available in several languages. Developer: various Platform: UNIX

zForum Zope-based forum. Works with MySQL or Postgres. Developer: various Platform: UNIX, Windows

Zorum Based on PHP and MySQL. Supports both linear and threaded discussion views. A commercial release is planned, but the original will remain free for noncommercial users. Developer: Zoltan Nagy Platform: Linux

Social Networking & Content Management Systems

These products offer forums within a much broader context. Some are platforms for social networking (similar to Facebook or MySpace), others are content management systems (CMS) that help you create and manage large amounts of web content as well as various collaborative features.

AlstraSoft E-friends Commercial software. Lets you run your own social networking site, complete with group discussion forums, blogs, friend connections, chat, instant messaging, searchable member profiles, etc. Requires PHP and MySQL, Developer: AlstraSoft Platform: UNIX, Windows

Auto-Clubs Commercial software. You can give your users the ability to create their own “clubs” with forums, calendars, and other features similar to Yahoo! Clubs. Also available as a hosted service. Developer: BuildACommunity.com (Ecreations Software) Platform: UNIX or Linux

BAC Instant Community Commercial software. Includes Community Forums, with threaded and conversational styles, plus modules that support photo galleries, mailing lists, polling, video sharing, and ad management. Developer: BuildACommunity.com (Ecreations Software) Platform: UNIX or Linux

Clearspace Community Commercial, enterprise-class community software, meant for building customer social networks. Organizes discussions, blogs, and wikis by topic, making it easier for members to follow subjects of interest. Also available as a hosted service. Developer: Jive Software

Community Server (formerly ASP.NET Forums) Commercial software. Suite of applications for community building including blogs, forums, file/photo sharing and user management. Free for personal use with one domain. Service provider licensing available. Also available as hosted service. Developer: Telligent Systems Platform: Windows

Drupal Open source Content Management System. Features a sophisticated role-based permission system for controlling who can add content and perform various adminstrative functions. Users can add content, rate articles, write blogs, post comments, participate in polls, build picture galleries, share files, etc., and a large developer community continues to build additional modules. Platform: Apache or Microsoft IIS web server with PHP and either MySQL or PostgreSQL

Ektron CMS400.NET Commercial software. Content management system with social networking features, including forums, blogs, and wikis. Developer: Ektron Platform: Windows

ExpressionEngine Commercial software. Content Management System featuring forums, mailing lists, blogs, wikis, photo galleries, and other tools.

Joomla Open source Content Management System. In addition to forums and chat, features dynamic form builders, business or organizational directories, document management, image and media galleries, e-commerce, calendars, blogs, email newsletters, banner advertising system, and more. Platform: Apache web server with PHP & MySQL

Plone Open source Content Management System, built for ease of developing custom extensions. Includes forums, chat, mail, instant messaging, blogs, wikis, and many other features. Platform: Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac. Based on Python and Zope.

So far, for the smaller projects we have liked Drupal…. for the bigger ones we use bespoke technology. Drupal lets you edit things without knowing much code. Although you might need help installing it. It has lot of modules (and if you are lucky enough to have tech pals, you can create your own).

Hope this helps! Alex Sass