I haven’t tried it yet, but a new WordPress extension (note how I call it an extension – it is a series of plugins that will transform your WordPress installation) called BuddyPress will you to create a social network from your WordPress installation.

What is BuddyPress?

BuddyPress is a set of WordPress plugins, designed for WordPress MU. MU stands for multi-user. WordPress MU is a version of WordPress that allows you to have lots of users, and lots of blogs. BuddyPress turns your site into a full social network – it’s probably as good, feature-wise, as any big social network.

Why would you want to do this?

Running your own social network may seem to be a little out of your reach, but it’s really not. This can greatly improve your website and it’s user base. As we talked about on a previous post, users will come back when there is something to do. If they are just reading articles, they might not return. But if they are chatting with their friends, or commenting on something they read, they might just return.

Well, now that BuddyPress is available, everyone is going to start their own social networks. How do I still make my unique?

This is the hard part. Since BuddyPress is open source, it is available to anyone for free. So basically anyone could start their own WordPress MU Social Network. How can you make yours different from everyone elses? Well, this is the hard part. Every social network is unique in some way. Facebook is for high school and college students, mostly, that all share a common “network”, Flickr is for people to share photos, Digg is for people to post links. What will make your social network unique? You might have trouble thinking of something because a lot of ideas have already been taken. You just have to think outside of the box. This is easier said that done.

Do you have more to say about BuddyPress? Have you already started your new social network? Leave a comment.