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Will WPMU develop into social software

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Hi All

This is more a general question that I would like your opinion on.

I’m extremely impressed with example.com, and I wonder if WordPress will ever develop into something similar. The only real open source alternativ to example.com is elgg.org, but it doesn’t seem like a completely mature product yet.

Right now the only real cross blog-interaction in WPMU is users commenting on each others blog, and various cross-referencing feeds and links.

The WPMU “Friends” plugIn is an example of a “social software” plugIn that binds users more closely together and in turn feeds more activity. However, I would also love to see plugIns like:

* Ability to create networks around certain topics (I guess you could just create a blog for, say, New York, but it doesn’t seem to be the right way).

* All sorts of activity plugIns. This is what is really impressive with facebook. Everytime you log in you get a complete view of all the activities of your friends.

* Marketplace. One could argue that this has nothing to do with WordPress, but the ability to buy/sell stuff really enhances the interaction.

Do you think WPMU will eventually move in this direction (or maybe it already has and I haven’t noticed :grinning:

Thanks

Soeren

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 7:23:24
  • andrea_r
    • The Incredible Code Injector

    Core-code-wise, I don’t think it will evolve into what you’re thinking.

    via plugins? Yeah… and kinda sorta already, depending how you’ve used it.

    Livejournal also has open-source code available and is a heavy social network with communities & friends.

  • Luke
    • The Crimson Coder

    My 2c…

    I agree with the Doc. At its core, it won’t become such a thing. But that’s the core. It really comes down to plugins, and what people make available in some form.

    I’ll be honest, from my point of view.

    70% of those using MU either use it for personal, a few friends, family, or in some other way a select group of people.

    The rest are using, or trying to, use it on a larger scale. Of those, the odds are that they aren’t going to get “too big”. There are exceptions, but the odds are against you as the “market” becomes further saturated.

    This is overall, as there are many facets to becoming “successful” with it, as there is with any venture.

    There is also the crowd that finds out about MU for the first time. They see it’s what wordpress.com is built off of, and they get these big starry eyed pipe dreams. Then, of course, reality sets in when they find out there is actual work involved and knowledge required.

    Either way, looking at it from a developer point of view (mine, not “theirs”:wink:, it’s better to provide (or try to provide) a solid core for people to build around as they see fit.

    For example, Fred has different needs/goals than Sally. But, what do the two have in common amongst their needs and goals? It’s those common needs/goals that become the core, essentially. Basically taking what a majority of folks have in common as far as needs, and strive to make those basic essentials possible. Then, allow for customization for individual needs. Which is where plugins, hooks for plugins, and the fact that you can edit any line of any file to make it fully suit your needs.

    OK, so that was more like 75c, vice 2c. :slight_smile:

  • drmike
    • DEV MAN’s Mascot

    I actually found a multiuser software that looks more like facebook with blogs built in but the urls are horrible so there’s little “this is my site” feeling and a lot of the plugins are only available if you pay for them. Can’t remember the name of it now and, while I did bookmark it, I forgot to save that list yesterday. *grumble*