I thought it might be useful to compile a list of the current state of social networking solutions for the Joomla! CMS. I have included currently available solutions, as well as the mythical projects that have yet to come to fruition, as many people are following them, and hoping that they yeild tasty joomla fruits.
Availability: Currently available (1.2 version only available to paid documentation subscribers).
Cost: Free (GPL License)
Advantages: Wide Plugin Support
Disadvantages: Constrictive layout that leaves all websites that use Community Builder looking all too familiar.
Description: The current standard social networking component for Joomla. Well known for years by Joomla users, it has a very large following and a great deal of integration with popular Joomla! components. Community Builder (CB) is unfortunatly held back by the complex and largly un-customisable interface. This drawback prevents many users from adopting it. A recent update to version 1.2 (still not publicly available) did not address these concerns, however the 1.2 RC version for document subscribers did offer considerable improvements in sorting of lists.
Availability: Currently available
Advantages: Elegant Layout
Price: Core (free) and Plus (50 Euros) versions.
Disadvantages: Almost no integration with other Joomla! components.
Description: JCommunity appears as a Comminity Builder clone, and essentially it functions as this. It seems that JCommunity was built out of a frustration with the inegegant layout of CB, and some developers tried to duplicate CB, create a more modern interface and charge their users. JCommunity has not been around for as long as CB, and does lack some crucial features, such as a ‘friending’ system, and of course the crucial element of third party component integration. If the developers of JCommunity could intoduce a simple friend system, that was simpler than the convoluted CB approach, they would be well on their way. The integration with 3DP components is trickier. Perhaps the main reason that CB is so well supported by other developers creating their own plugins, is due simply to the large number of users, the sheer pervayance of CB. The only way that JCommunity can catch up is to select the top 20 Joomla! extensions, and create their own plugins.
Availability: Not Currently available
Advantages: N/A
Price: N/A (GPL upon release)
Disadvantages: Almost vaporware.
Description: Joomunity is a facebook clone for Joomla. The Joomunity website has an online demo, but it yet to be released. The best way to keep up with the latest Joomunity news is to keep an eye on the blog of the developer at Stony Hills Lab. The blog is posted to occasionally with screen grabs of new features, and looks very promising. However, a quick trip to the Joomunity forums, will unleash a world of discontent with users eagerly awaiting the release of Joomunity. The provocations to the developers with accusations and mocking posts about the apparent non-existence of the Joomunity project do get rather nasty. If the project does come to fruition, it will be a worthy contender to Community Builder. It also appears to be planning a decent extension framework.
Availability: Not Currently available
Advantages: N/A
Price: N/A
Disadvantages: Vaporware.
Description: Anahita is the mythical Community Builder killer that is almost mentioned in whispers amongst Joomla! users desperate to create a poweful social networking website. In development by RMD Studio, Anahita is the very definition of vaporware. Next to no information is known about this project, other than it was developed (or is in development) for a cliend of the developers, and was planned for a general release. Questions about the project are directed to a thread on the Joomla! Forums, where RMD Studio member Aristocrat (Jooma forum handle) posted in Feburary of this year:
“The GPL version of Anahita is on the way, we are working on it every week, but please be patient we do need some time to coordinate things, for example the fact that Joomla 1.5 is finally stable has helped a lot.” [link]
There has been no further information on the project since, although the Social Networking page on the RMD Studio website does appear to have been updated recently (23 June 2008), so there is a chance that the project may see the light of a public release.
The interesting thing to note about Anahita, is the unique approach that the developers seem to be taking. Rather than cloning Community Builder, or mainstream social networks (such as facebook), RMD Studio have a more modern and elegant approach. The article on Social Networking, where one assumes they have thier thoughts on the Anahita project is very exciting. [link]
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