August 28, 2009

How can you make a social bookmarking website for free

Posted in Social Networks by Alex | Tags: how to, media, newtworking, social

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The world of social networking is expanding so having a very good profile with a lot of friends can make a difference between a well read blog/website and a mediocre one. So here is how you can create a very very good social networking website based on user submitted stories completely free.

Pligg the Digg clone – Download | Demo

Pligg

If you are a website developer you may have heard about Pligg (the open source Content Management System (CMS) that you can download and use for free). Pligg provides a open source social networking resource that allows people to register, set up profiles, submit stories and connect with each other. Pligg is based on open source PHP and MySQL technologies that allow it to be installed on most web hosts with no additional costs. You can download Pligg here.

Installation

Here is how you can install pligg on your web host very easy using this step by step video guide. Also you can follow up on these tips on how to install Pligg on this very nice tutorial: Pligg IIS install (basics).

Pligg Theme system

As of most CMS`s Pligg comes with a variety of templates to customize your newly installed social networking and bookmarking resource. These themes are developed by Pligg users within the Pligg community. Here is a list of the themes you can download and use on you resource, also there are more free themes on the pligg homepage.

Joontz free Pligg template
Joontz-template

Classic Template for Pligg 1.0
Classic-template

Blue news 1.0
Blue-news

Motivate Template for Pligg 1.0
Motivation

Other Pligg CMS resources

Drigg – the Drupal social networking resource – Download | Demo

Drigg-site

Drigg is a Drupal powered module developed by Tony Mobily that allows stories to be submitted and voted by interconnecting registered users. Here are some nice Drigg features: Flexible voting, easy theme system, improved drupal compatibility, distinct code, very flexible. You can download Drigg here.

Installation

To have a fully working Drigg website you need to install drupal first, these steps are covered in the Download and Install section of the Drigg support site.

Support

You can find support about Drigg issues you encounter on the Drigg forum section. The forums provides help for installation, configuration, theming and more so be shure to check it out if you have problems.

Showcase

You can get inspired by visiting the website`s showcasing section where you can find the best Drigg powered websites on the web. Some of the websites that are Drigg powered that I use and are very popular are: DesignMoo, DesignBump and WPScoop.

PHPMotion the Youtube clone – Download | Demo

phpmotion

PHPMotion is the world famous YouTube clone, a free video sharing software and a free audio and picture media sharing software. Here are some of PHPMotion`s features like 100% free software, template based design, fully featured admin area, full support for mp3 audio and play lists and many more. You can download PHPMotion here.

Installation

You can follow these tips about installing PHPMotion on the website`s forum here.

Documentation

The documentation about PHPMotion is available on the official wiki pages of the website. Be sure to check them out if you have any questions about the software.

Templates

With a fully functional template design system, you can find phpmotion powered templates here. The templates are free and match any versions of the software.

Alex G. who is a web developer a student and a part time blogger from Romania. He writes about WordPress and other CMS platforms on Design Strike, a blog where you can find a lot of things about WordPress. Also you can follow him on Twitter.