TOP 5 Best Free Social Networking Software

Previously, Abhijeet has highlighted three awesome sites where you can create your own social network easily. However, if you are one of those who wants more control of the site, including the branding, the domain name, the features, the design, the community rule, or even the database, the best way is to install and run a social networking software on your server.
While there are plenty of scripts (both free and paid) that you can use to run your own social network, there are only a few that are stable, good and easy to use.
Here we have handpicked 5 of the best open-source social networking software for you to choose from.

1. Elgg

Elgg has just won the best open source social networking platform for the year 2008, so there is no doubt about the usability of this software. Overall, Elgg is a powerful software that offers blog, networking, community, collection of news using feeds aggregation and file sharing features. In fact, it is one of the most versatile pieces of software that offers almost everything you need to start a social networking site.
Elgg operates on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql and Php) environment and it is easy to install and configure. With a little php knowledge, you can get your social networking site up and running in no time.
Before you install Elgg, try out its demo site.

. Mahara

Unlike the rest of the social networking software that is meant for general use, Mahara is designed as a platform to allow its users to demonstrate their life-long learning, skills and development to selected audiences. With Mahara, you can create an e-Portfolio platform and set up an online learner community. Features in the software include blogs, a resume builder, a file manager, institutions detail and the social networking aspect where you can add and maintain your list of friends.
Mahara runs on LAMP, although Postgres is preferred over MySql.
Check out the demo site

3. Lovd by Less

Lovd by Less is among the first and only few open-source social networking platforms built on Ruby on Rails. Some features of Lovd by Less include blogs, photo gallery with captions, site search for friends, activity update and user-to-user messaging. Other things that are built into the software include Flickr and YouTube integration.
One thing good about Lovd by Less is that it is easy to use and contains most of the applications that you need. For those who prefer Ruby on Rail rather than php, this would be a good alternative.
Try out the demo site.

4. Xoops with Yogurt extension

XOOPS is an extensible CMS that allows you to build sites based on your needs. You can first start off as a personal blog and expand later to include social networking, forum and much more via the use of appropriate modules.
Yogurt is the particular module that allows you to build a social networking site with XOOPS. You can setup your personal album of pictures, videos from YouTube, mp3 files, add your list of friends, a public wall for messages (scraps), to create communities (tribes) and many more useful features.
XOOPS and Yogurt are based on php and work well in the LAMP environment.

5. AROUNDMe

AROUNDMe is slightly different from the others. Instead of building a social networking site, it allows you to create your own collaboration server which enables your users to setup their own social networking site, community or webspace (like Ning, Google Groups, Snappville, CollectiveX).
With AROUNDMe, your users can have access to a guestbook (a wall), a group blog, a forum and a wiki which they can drop into web pages. Every single group is fully customizable using xHTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP and the user can decide if the group is private or public.

Other Candidates

Here are some of the candidates that didn’t make it to the top 5:
Phpizabi – works fine for a small network, but could become buggy as your network get bigger.
Dolphin – while it is free to download, you will have to pay to get the ad module removed.
Insoshi – a new social network software built on Ruby on Rails released only early April this year. It could have be better if some of its features are more polished.
Have you built your own social networking site before? Which software did you use? Which one would you recommend?

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How much bandwidth is enough? - Web Hosting Bandwidth

Bandwidth in its simplest terms refers to the monetary value of the rupture that crosses over a leak in a period when hardened. For highly lace hosting providers, that space duration is measured in a month. Web hosting providers are worked up to a certain amount per month or per year for an allocated amount of bandwidth backbone providers and wholesale data centers. This cost is then passed on to consumers in the form of web hosting plans.

How much will the bandwidth usage of your website?

With great ergonomics for distinction between hosting companies interlacing, it can sometimes be serious to learn supremely bandwidth your site needs trust. So how much is a one gigabyte of bandwidth anyway? Let's place in perspective. If a web page on average, images and all is 50 kilobytes, your site can be viewed 20,000 times! For the website, hobby average, which is more than enough. Let's put more than 20,000 in perspective. If each visitor to your website viewed an average of 4 pages per month, it would represent over 5,000 unique visitors to your site each month. Now, if your site has many pictures on this property, then a gigabyte of bandwidth will have fewer visitors.

Beware of overused term bandwidth when downloading level gift

Although not typical lace subscription pages mitzvah until very bandwidth, the caller can not be said about downloading files. If the answer to allow people to download files rock and roll, PDF files, flash files or video files, you can eat bandwidth in a hurry, even with a relatively small number of people who visit your site. If your site offers an Adobe. PDF file is 1 megabyte in size, with one gigabyte of bandwidth, you will be able to serve up to a thousand downloads. This does not, including the HTML code needed to get people to download the pdf first.

Video files eat similar expenses due space. A succession of video is the second different megabyte of video. For half goes to show, your video could be juicy ranking due to two hundred megabytes in size! At this size, one gigabyte would be indivisible allow you to offer five downloads to your visitors. What you are doing with your website most definitely will affect the amount of bandwidth per month you expect to need.

Overselling bandwidth is inextricably linked with the sweat Net Hosting

Because using fresh clan own a good portion of their allocated bandwidth per month, including hosting providers clearing prices of their life plans that people use only a very fraction of the resources at their disposal . In fact, most businesses, if you use the maximum bandwidth available to you each month, you will most likely be closed. If you go with a shared hosting account, your website can be hosted with hundreds or thousands of other websites. If your website starts to use a significant portion of server resources, you can find them pulling the plug on your website. If you know your site will require significant resources, you should probably consider yourself a dedicated server or at least look for assurances in writing that your web hosting provider will honor your bandwidth needs .

Know what you are relegated to seal stunt allow you to differentiate how you exceptional greed

By nerd you with perfect vividness your hosting account, you can have a rightful deduction divine how powerfully you need some bandwidth. If you take to be that you agree to render service to a lot of multimedia, including video, music and large amounts of flash powered pages, you may need to consider going with a dedicated server. If your site is in its infancy and you have little money and no idea how much bandwidth you will need, choose a company that gives you more than you think you'll need at a reasonable price. Make sure you also know how much they will charge you for any bandwidth you use above and beyond what comes in your hosting package. If it is one dollar per megabyte and you've already exceeded the limit of twenty gigabytes of bandwidth, the changes are, you will get a high price at the end of the month. When you are shopping and looking at the bandwidth, the cost of maintaining surplus in mind and so you will do well.

This story was written by Joe Duchesne, Senior http:www.yowling.com, interlacing hosting house seeking to enter this child's play barn and advance your Web site. Copyright 2004 meows. Husky Reprint freely as you hugged to my website from this resource box.

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Difference between bandwidth and data transfer

Difference between bandwidth and data transfer
by: Yousaf Fayyaz

Difference between bandwidth and data transfer

Most web hosting companies talk about bandwidth and DataTransfer same as another but the truth is known, they aredifferent although very closely related.

Bandwidth is the amount of data can be transferredat time in other words it speed internet connection yourweb host server is connected to the Internet.

Data transfer is the amount of data beingtransferred in a period of months, as they say most companies are monthlyrates months so I used to help you better understand.

For example if the bandwidth were a bridge, the largest thebridge is the more vehicles can pass through it to Sametime. While data transfer is the number of vehicles allowed onthe bridge in say a month. In essence, data transfer is the ration of bandwidth.

Question arises of how it affects your site? Let meexplain this in a simple way;

The less bandwidth you have, the slower your site takes loadregardless the connection type of visitor. This meansthat your host has a slow line that is connected to theinternet. If you have more visitors, some of them have towait turn.

The transfer of data you have is monthly attributed by most hosting companies, if you bought a bandwidth quota say1GBmonth and you have a good traffic coming to your site thanyou'll find your site unavailable because you 'rereached the maximum allowed until a new month rolls or youupgrade your account.

Always consider this issue before choosing a hosting andpurchase a reliable hosting company as Netfirms, iPowerWeb and many others, their servers are connected to the internet via premium internetlines provide lightning-fast access to your website andvisitors do not have to wait for the page to load.

I wish you good luck for your onlinebusiness success.

Sincerely,

Yousaf Fayyaz

http:www.hostfinders.org

http:www.pakimp3.org

About the author

I'm running a few sites and love to write: http:www.getcashforfree.com http:www.pakimp3.orghttp:www.hostfinders.org

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10 good reasons to install an Anti-Spyware

While the World Wide Web is a blessing ways it presents dangers in the form of spyware, adware, Trojans and so on. While adware is usually not dangerous spyware can track your movements and your privacy is at stake Thieves can use the Internet to steal bank details and credit card or files as your computer system. Once spyware has entered your system, it is time to remove it. Thus, it is important to adopt systems that protect your computer at any time as an anti-virus or anti-spyware systems. The reason you need to install anti-spyware systems are many but the most important are: 1.A serious security breach can mean the loss of business failure or even. Information on the computer system that contains financial information to customers may endanger not only you but also your customers.
2.Cyber flight using systems spyware can destroy your customer base or business credibility and sales.
3.When a company depends downtime online traffic due to infection by viruses or efforts to remove spyware can be a huge return.
business plans and research 4.Important valuable marketing data and destroyed by spyware can be devastating. Theft of computer files is like stealing the intellectual property of a person or company.
5.The existence of wireless connectivity can compromise otherwise secure your networks. Identity theft can give free access to your criminal network of clients, as well as sales and financial data.
6.Spyware attacks can destroy your goals and your plans and put your family in danger. Personal information stolen from a computer can be used for illegal or criminal activities outside of the indiscriminate use of bank accounts and credit cards.
7.Spyware can track your online activities, which can be sold to your competitors resulting in loss of revenue and customer base.
8.Spyware systems can help competitors learn from your discount schemes or special offers long before you're ready to launch a new campaign. This means that you expose your online business strategy and provide other ideas that have led to increased profitability.
9.If you're on track to break the search for a kind of your work could be stolen or corrupted data systems by spyware. That means years of research may be vulnerable and your position in the scientific community could be compromised.
10.Spyware can expose your personal finances and investments for the thieves and you could lose your savings, because you have failed to protect your system against cyber thieves.
The list of hazards due to spyware is endless and expert advice as a personal computer or business should be like an impregnable fortress. You should be able to enjoy the pleasures and convenience of World Wide Web without losing your sanity and to submit to cyber thieves.
Arthur Raise is a writer for http:www.1855antispyware.com the first anti-spyware website without antispyware, super anti-spyware, anti-spyware software from Microsoft, reviews antispyware, anti spy software giant, download free antispyware software and more.

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Amazing Secrets Of A Free Traffic Generation MASTER

by: Willie Crawford

Copyright 2004 Willie Crawford Without traffic to your website, you're not going to make any money in your online business (unless you're able to tap into someone else's traffic). For many websites... especially new sites, one of the fastest, surest ways to drive traffic to the site is pay per click search engines. The RISK in using pay per clicks is that you don't know how well that traffic is going to convert before you've paid for it. You can adjust your webpages and your pay per click listing fairly quickly, but today I want to share with you two of my MAJOR free traffic generation methods. The most powerful weapon I've used in my marketing arsenal lately is actually... blogging. A blog is simply an on-line diary or weblog. Since they are usually updated frequently, the search engines love them and visit them often. The way that I use my blogs is that when I make a post, I include a link to a site or webpage that I want spidered by the search engines. Google actually visits my blogs daily, and takes snapshots of everything there, and follows links from the pages, and takes snapshots of those pages! So, I make minor changes to pages that I want to get ranked higher, and then I "help" Google to find those updated pages. It's a simple, ethical, and very powerful method. I'm fairly new at blogging, but I'm quickly getting the hang of it. Most of what I know about blogging I learned from a course by my friend Paul Short. The course is called RSS Exposed. I recommend you get a copy of Paul's course today and set aside 2 hours to digest it. Get it at: http://www.profitautomation.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=109478 Paul is like me... he's very busy, and doesn't have time for fluff. So his course is under 100 pages, and it's all "stuff" that you can read and then immediately implement. Does this stuff work thought. My friend Stephen Pierce taught me that NOTHING is more powerful than concrete PROOF. So let's look at how I rank for a few keywords that I'm focusing on right now. I'll show you with a few of the more than 100 niches that I have top 10.... often top 3 rankings for. I know that showing you these examples may attract the attention of potential and existing competitors, so I won't show you the most lucrative ones :-) Readers who know me, know that my real online success started with a simple soul food or southern cookbook! That one cookbook still generates a very nice six-figure income! This season of the year, I know that people are on-line searching for holiday recipes and also gift-giving ideas. My logs show me how my market finds me... keywords and sources. They show that for the cookbook, most find my site through Google, with MSN being a distant second. Here's how I ranked for a few cooking related terms (as of November 21st, 2004): Soul Food Recipes - #2 out of 1,220,000 Soul Food - #3 out of 8,840,000 Soul Food Cookbook - #2 out of 273,000 Deep Fried Turkey Recipe - #3 out of 257,000 Deep Fried Turkey Recipes - #4 out of 302,000 Sweet Potato Pie - #2 out of 614,000 Sweet Potato Pie Recipe #2 out of 394,000 Fried Chicken Recipe - #2 out of 861,000 Fried Chicken Recipes - #2 out of 1,160,000 Southern Fried Chicken - #2 out of 436,000 Deep Fried Turkey - #14 out of 330,000 Pound Cake Recipe - #2 out of 547,000 Macaroni And Cheese Recipe - #1 out of 207,000 Collard Green Recipe - #4 out of 21,200 Southern Recipes - # 15 out of 4,970,000 ... I guess I need to work on that last listing :-) One of my other markets is "Internet Marketing," and those looking to start or improve upon an online or home-based business. How do I rank there? Here are a few of the thousands of terms that bring me in free search engine traffic (again based upon my website logs): Internet Marketing 101 - # 1 out of 5,550,000 Internet Marketing Course - #2 out of 10,600,000 Free Internet Marketing Course - #2 out of 11,800,000 Free Internet Marketing Lessons - #2 out of 2,810,000 Homebased Business - #9 out of 1,930,000 Homebased Business Course - #1 out of 522,000 Free Homebased Business Course - #1 out of 483,000 For those of you without your own product, let's see how I do with products I have reprint rights to. One is a web copywriting course by Bob Serling called Power Copywriting For The Internet. When someone is searching for that course they search on very specific terms... but... since their search is so specific, a higher percentage of them will buy when they get to my website. This is a more niche market, but some of my rankings are: Internet Copywriter + Bob Serling - #1 out of 985 Web Copywriting + Bob Serling - # 7 out of 918 Web Copywriting Course + Bob Serling - #5 out of 16,400 Power Copywriting For The Internet - #2 out of 128,000 Another product that I have reprint rights to is an excellent course on how to increase your website, and advertising, conversion rates. It's called, "Small Changes - Big Profits." Here's my ranking on keywords customers have recently used to find (and buy) this product: Increase Website Conversion - #6 out of 2,480,000 How to Increase Website Conversion - # 6 our of 2,490,000 Note that when you enter that last phrases, Google tells you that "how to" is a very common phrase and therefore not included in the search. However, notice that Google found an additional 10,000 pages when I gave it that expression. Ok, so I'm confused too :-) My second most powerful weapon right now is that I write lots of ezine articles... like this one. Since 1998, I would estimate that I've written over 300. Those articles are a very powerful way of getting one-way links to my site. Those articles are a powerful way for people with specific problems or interest to find my sites. Here's a simple example of how powerful articles can be. I know for a fact that the majority of people in network marketing aren't doing that great. I also know why. The proof that I know what they are doing wrong, and how to correct it, is provided by the fact that I was recently the #2 producing representative in a major network marketing company for 2 consecutive months. The only reason I wasn't #2 longer is that I've only been with the company a little over 4 month, and that in my fourth month, I was the #1 top producing rep in the entire company! Recognizing what many network marketers are doing wrong... especially those that market over the internet, I wrote an article on the topic. This article targeted those who wanted to know why their network marketing is failing. So if you go to Google and enter... "Network Marketing Failing" without the quotation marks, you'll see that the returns for webpages featuring my article take up the entire first page. If a person were to type in the statement "My Network Marketing Is Failing" my page ranks #1 out of 312,000. Do people search on these terms? Not as many as search on more competitive terms, but why not go after easier terms... why not go after "the low-hanging fruit." People do visit my sites after reading the hundreds of articles that I've written, and they do make purchases and join my network marketing team. That's proof that writing and properly using articles is a very powerful traffic generation technique. I have lots of resources on how to properly do this inside my private membership site. If you're not a member, you should join today. Inside the site you'll find lots more solid, usable information like you just gotten in this article. I've just shared with you two of my most powerful free traffic generation methods. I actually know HUNDREDS but only use a handful. I believe that it's better to get really good at using a few rather than tinkering with (but never mastering) many. You need to do your research and find the techniques that work best for you. If you'd like a really comprehensive course on website traffic and sales generation methods, I recommend John Reese's Traffic Secrets Course. Check out John's course to learn a ton of ways to outflank your competition at: http://www.profitautomation.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=110203 It's 14 DVD's, so realize that it will throw a LOT of information at you. Make sure that you pick just a few techniques he covers, and then put them into immediate action rather than letting the sheer volume of information overwhelm you. As I've demonstrated, being a master at generating free, responsive traffic doesn't have to be complicated or even difficult :-) About the author: Willie Crawford is a corporate president, published author, seminar speaker and host, tele-seminar speaker and host, retired military officer, karate black belt, master network marketing trainer, and lifetime student of marketing. He shows people how to actually generate substantial income on-line using very simple, easily modeled systems. An example of such a system that you can study and duplicate is at: http://ProfitMagician.com

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All Hits Are Not Created Equal

by: Jim Edwards

After all the debate over website design, shopping carts and credit card processors, every website owner eventually comes to the startling realization that they need one more thing to survive - website traffic! Without website traffic it's the same as building an expensive billboard and, instead of placing it alongside a busy highway, you hide it in your basement where nobody can see it. Upon realizing they need traffic, most website owners run out and start blowing chunks of money and time trying to get "hits" to their sites, but they fail to realize that all "hits" are not created equal. In their quest to get eyeballs to their websites, most online operators don't realize there's a big difference between driving "general" traffic to your website and driving "targeted" traffic. Just getting any traffic is the same technique TV advertisers use. They flash ads on the screen in front of people who can't afford or don't need the advertised product. Since general advertising can't hit specific targets, they hit everyone and hope that someone in their target audience is actually watching at that moment. Spam, banner ads, "safe-lists" and similar traffic techniques fall into this "general" category. "Targeted" traffic is made up of people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say or sell online. These people either share the same interests or have an immediate need or problem they are trying to solve. "Targeted" traffic is best because the people hitting your website have a much higher likelihood of actually making a purchase. Targeted traffic comes from people following recommended links on other sites, typing in relevant keywords into the search engines, or even reading articles you've written on a particular subject and then clicking over to your site for more information. If you don't already know where to find the best sources of targeted traffic for your website, you will need to experiment with lots of different sources to find the ones that bring visitors who give you the most "bang for your buck." The fastest way to determine which avenues provide the most targeted traffic is by using an "ad tracker". An "ad tracker" is a simple program, residing on your web server, that tracks how many visitors your site gets from a particular source and how many of them purchased. Though it sounds simple, most businesses don't do this! Most businesses can't tell you their visitor to buyer conversion percentage and, therefore, don't know exactly how much they can invest in traffic generation and remain profitable. Whether you pay for your website traffic with cash (pay-per-click search engines, ezine ads), or you pay for it with the sweat of your brow (article distribution, free search engines), you must identify your best and most profitable sources of targeted traffic that convert into buyers, subscribers, or leads. Failure to identify and track where your buyers come from and then calculate how much they really cost you ultimately translates into failure for your online business. About the author: Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links... Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate links... without spending a dime on advertising! Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

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Aim At The Bullseye And Your Online Home Business Will Prosper

by: Kirk Bannerman

By Kirk Bannerman Traffic is one thing, but targeted traffic is everything. You have no doubt seen dozens of offers similar to "10,000 hits per hour driven to your website!". This type of website traffic is completely untargeted and will undoubtedly result in a very low conversion ratio. It's basically "throw it up against the wall and hope something sticks". The big incoming numbers give the illusion of progress, but you will achieve better results with a lower volume of highly targeted traffic. I speak from experience because in the early days of developing my home business, I went for the big numbers instead of focusing on targeting prospects. It took me a while to appreciate the importance of targeting (quality) instead of just going for the big numbers, but it was a lesson well learned. Exchanging links has been an important part of generating website traffic for quite some time, but the vast majority of people looking to trade links don't understand that just wildly swapping links with any willing webmaster is not the way to go. For the last few years, most webmasters have been in a "pleasing Google" mode since Google had such a dominant position. Now that challengers are emerging, most notably Yahoo, MSN, and Ask Jeeves, the search engine ranking landscape is becoming much more complicated than just marching to the tune Google played. Many website owners seem to be of the opinion that the sole purpose of exchanging links is to try to improve the search engine ranking position of their website. While it is true that links pointing to your website can help your search engine ranking, the reason for obtaining inbound links goes far deeper than that. In my opinion, the targeted traffic that relevant links pointing to your site will bring can be as important as the traffic that comes to your website from people using search engines. This is where linking philosophy comes in. If you limit yourself to exchanging links only with websites that have a theme highly relevant to your own, the traffic you receive from those links will be far more targeted (valuable) than traffic you might receive from links with websites that have nothing to do with your theme. Not only do highly relevant links bring you more highly targeted traffic, but they also play a "customer satisfaction" role for visitors to your website who arrived there as a result of a search engine query. If someone arrives at your website after performing a search for, lets say "work at home" and then finds your website full of links to a bunch of off topic sites (Viagra, online casinos, hotel reservations, sports betting, etc, etc) the impression is often not favorable and may actually drive your visitor away before they consider whatever it is that your website itself is offering. Keep your eye on the bullseye and develop highly targeted traffic by having good content on your website and exchanging links with highly relevant sites that also offer good content. Remember, traffic is one thing, but targeted traffic is everything. About the author: Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

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