Using WordPress For Social Networks?

While many of us were in a cold panic over Twitter’s denial of service attack, there were many wondering what the fuss was about. Are you one of those people still trying to figure out what social networking is all about? Well, if you’re a member of Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter congratulations, you’ve already entered the world of social networking.

Social networking sites allow you to create an online presence of yourself so friends, families, and followers can find you. Typically, these networks allow you to share that information within the community of the site. From MySpace and Facebook, we have expanded to the worlds of Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon — places where we can update our status on recurring intervals letting anyone who follows us know what we have to say.

So, is WordPress a social network too? No–at least not yet.

WordPress MU (multi-user), is releasing a new platform, Buddypress, that will have built in features similar to existing social networks, giving WordPress the appearance of being your latest social networking site. If you don’t use WordPress MU, which requires dedicated hosting, don’t worry because WordPress offers many social networking plugins to their users.

There is one other main difference between WordPress and all the social networking sites. On WordPress and other blogging platforms, individuals come online to their own specific location. With the popular social networks, while users have their own ‘page’ or presence online, it is not really their own as it is just an extension of the social network that is hosting the user’s presence.

How do you implement the features of social networking while using a blogging platform?

The key is plugins, and WordPress has many free and user-friendly plugins available. Many of the networking plugins provide one-click access for your readers to other popular social networks where you reside. Most blog owners utilize either an icon or a form of drop-down menu appearing at the bottom of single posts or on their blog’s sidebar. Popular plugins include About Me, Social Links, Social Bookmarks, Social Dropdown, SocioFluid, and Tweet My Blog, just to name a few.

Examples of WP plugins that help spread your online social presence.

Socialite – This one publishes your WordPress posts to sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

Twitter Updater – Just what it appears to be, Twitter Updater is a plug that notifies Twitter of your new blog posts. WordPress even offers a widget form of this plugin that will display your Twitter feed in your blog sidebar.

Lifestream – Possibly the most complex, this plugin logs all your online social activity on other networks and provides a live stream for your blog readers to follow you socially online.
The key to successful social networking with WordPress is not just enabling your readers to follow you through your other connections, but engaging them to stay invested with your blog.

WordPress also offers several plugins to facilitate engaging your readers.

• Twitip-ID allows commenters to leave their Twitter ID in the  comments. It acts as incentive for visitors to leave comments and gain possible followers.

• FV Community News allows readers to publish news items to your sidebar.

• How about providing a space on your sidebar for top or recent comments? Top Commenters plugin facilitates this function.

As the Internet and the growing number of online communities continue to grow, you need to be ready to help plant your social networking seed and offer your readers their own presence on your site too and WordPress can help you do just that without the need to hire programmers or maintain a huge social networking site of your own.