Today Social Media has become a standard part of any major corporation. Even when your see a Target commercial you see that they are on Facebook. So it comes as no surprise that the CMS world has also taken suit and followed in the making of great social networking tools that you can make and create. There are even some CMS's that serve the sole purpose of Social Networking, and that purpose alone is complex enough that an entire CMS can function upon it. There are also extensions that can make CMS's function as social networks, Joomla and Wordpress both have excellent extensions and add-ons. All in all, we see the world completely embracing the social media movement and you too can create your own community.

Stand-alone CMS's

1. Elgg

Style: Community

Type: Non-Commercial

Elgg is an open source, community based content management system.  It features a unique user management interface that allows you to become friends with others on the site.  It includes user profiles that give the user control over the feel and look of their profile page.  A few other great features are group creations and group discussions, in a way it is the new look of the classic forum.  Another dynamic feature is the activity stream, it makes it easy to find out information on the community.  If the core system doesn't have what you need in it, well, Elgg includes a robust API that makes it easy to customize and extend.

2. Hotaru

Style: Digg style sharing

Type: Non-Commercial

Hotaru CMS is also an open source PHP platform that is based around social bookmarking.  It easily allows users to submit articles to the community and then lets users vote up based on the quality of the article.  It includes user profiles, comment system, and tagging.  One of the best features of Hotaru is the way you can create themes.  It uses a similar method to Wordpress and Joomla, themes are all PHP based which makes them highly extensible and easy to create.  Hotaru boasts a robust and easy to learn API that makes it extensible beyond it's original functions.  It even functions with html pages, so, instead of fighting the system you can just use the system.

Joomla

3. JomSocial

Style: Community

Type: Commercial

JomSocial is a true top notch contender when it comes to community software.  The features included in this fully loaded extension are comparable to that of any top social network.  JomSocail is not a stand alone CMS, it works with the popular Joomla platform to give you more options.  JomSocial comes with user profiles that are completely customizable to fit your communities needs.  It also includes group creation and group discussion as well as an extensive activity stream.  A few things that make this software stand out are Photo Gallery, Video Gallery, and Event Management.  When it comes to photo sharing and tagging JomSocial can do both.  You can easily share and tag your friends in sets of photos.  Another great feature is the Video Gallery.  With this you can let your users upload videos to your server and share to the world, it even lets you categorize YouTube and Vimeo videos as well.  And if you run several events or need to let your user base know when an event is taking place, well you can have them sign up right on your site.  JomSocial has even more included with their software, more than I care to put into this blurb so check out more.

4. J Social Suite

Style: Community

Type: Commercial

J Social Suite is a brand new contender to the community extension world, running on the Joomla platform JSS is the latest in community software.  One of the unique features of JSS is the ability to make templates for user profiles.  In some ways it is very similar to the profile control that you have on MySpace or even YouTube.  This extension features a built in messaging system as well as wall to wall commenting.  Another advantage of using J Social Suite is your users ability to customize their profiles.  The component allows users to select certain 'apps' or modules that they would like to have on their profile pages.  Having uniqueness in an online community can hard to do but J Social Suite puts the control on the community users.  J Social Suite has it's own API to allow you to customize and make it fit your communities needs.

5. Anahita

Style: Community

Type: Partner

This is also a brand new community software that is coming out for Joomla, hopefully soon, as it is still in Alpha 1 testing.  This social engine runs on the Nooku Framework and is said to be very customizable. There is currently no demo but they have posted some impressive screen shots on their blog.  The look and feel of the new extension is primarily based around discussion, and displaying it in new ways.  The concept they have come up with is very intriguing, hopefully it will be released SOON!!!

Wordpress

6. Buddy Press

Style: Community

Type: Non-Commercial

Buddy Press is the community solution for the popular blogging CMS Wordpress.  One of the best things about this community software?  Well it is FREE!  That is always helpful, another great thing that they brag is that you can have the extension up and running is 6 minutes flat.  Ease of use is always a factor when it comes to extensions. Well, since this extension is built upon the most popular blogging CMS, I'm sure you can guess one of it's greatest features....that's right you can have a blogging community!  Your users can create and manage their own blog's right in your community.  It includes groups and group creation as well as a private messaging system.  The groups come fully equipped with their own discussion forums, making the groups interesting and useful.