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Sunday, 11 October 2015


Building Custom Social Networking Websites


In this VTC course, author James Gonzalez reviews the best tools and practices for designing and creating Facebook-like social networking web sites customized for specific targeted audiences or needs. This course covers the principles needed to design effective and profitable social sites and the best tools available for building them. Four social website building tools are introduced in this course: Ning, Moodle, WordPress running the BuddyPress social plug-in, and Joomla! running the JomSocial and Community Builder Components.

Course Introduction

What You Will Learn from the Course
Target Audience
Why Build Social Networking Sites

What is a Social Network?

Definition of a Social Network
Options for Creating Your Own Network
Hosted Social Networking Solutions
Self-Hosting Your Own Site
Examples of Custom Social Networks

Elements of a Social Network

Users & Profiles
Groups
Activity Streams
Discussion Forums
Blogs
Photo & Video Uploads
Polls
Chat & Events
RSS Feeds
Apps

Planning Your Online Community

Focus on Your Audience
Encouraging User-Created Content
Fostering Community pt. 1
Fostering Community pt. 2
Be Dynamic
Simplify

Getting Started

What You Need to Start
Starting with a Hosted Service
Auto-Install Sites with Smart Scripts
Setting Up Local Servers with MAMP
Setting Up Local Servers with XAMP
Setting Up Local Servers with WAMP

Building a Social Network with NING

Enrolling & Setting Up a Site
Resources for Getting Started
Setting Layouts with Design Studio
Changing Site Colors with Design Studio
Customizing Member Settings
Setting Member & Content Controls
Setting Privacy / Language / Features
Adding & Removing Features
Adding Apps
Modifying Menu Tabs
FaceBook Integration & Other Tools

Building Social Networks with WordPress

WordPress Social Sites with Buddy Press
WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org
Auto-Installing WordPress with a Script
Self-Installing WordPress to a Server
Installing the BuddyPress Plugin
Configuring BuddyPress Social Components
Customizing User Profiles
Create Test Users to Learn BuddyPress
Creating Blog Posts
Creating Pages & Menus
Where to Learn More

Building Social Learning Sites with Moodle

Introduction to the Moodle
Auto-Installing Moodle on Your Host
Self-Installing Moodle pt. 1
Self-Installing Moodle pt. 2
Configuring Your Admin Account
Creating Courses
Adding & Moving Course Blocks
Adding Course Resources
Assignments / Forums / Other Activities
Creating & Configuring Quizzes
Site Appearance & Themes
Finding & Installing More Themes
Where to Go from Here

Building Social Networking Sites with Joomla!

Joomla! Features & Advantages
Auto-Installing Joomla! on Your Host
Self-Installing Joomla pt. 1
Self-Installing Joomla pt. 2
A Tour of the Joomla! Workspace
Creating Articles & Categories
Building & Configuring Menus
Creating & Positioning Menus
Extending the Functionality of Joomla!
Advantages of Using Joomla! & CB
CB Features & Capabilities
CB Configuration Possibilities
Installing Community Builder
Intro to the JomSocial Component
JomSocial Features & Capabilities
Configuring JomSocial pt. 1
Configuring JomSocial pt. 2
Installing the JomSocial Component

Earning Revenue from Your Site

Overview: Earn Income from your Site
Selling Subscriptions
Selling Products or Services
Advertising on Your Site
Free Content & Premium Content
Asking for Donations

Conclusion

Course Wrap Up

Credits

About the Author

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