Open source social network

Question

I looked through the existing questions of this kind but didn't find what I was looking for so here goes.

I need an open source framework where people can...

Create user accounts
Invite friends
Have a friends list
Write messages to each other (some kind of inbox system)
Create posts on a standard message forum
Facebook login (Added, I forgot this in the original question)

On top of this I will create some kind of game where users interact, so it must be posibble to extend the framework with new database tables and functionality.

The platform is Windows, but other than that I'm willing to try pretty much anything.

Thanks for suggestions!

Answer 1

It sounds like Pinax might have all/most of the functionality you need. Pinax is an open source project aiming to provide a generic but extensible community web site on top of Django.

I believe it has the features you are asking for:

• user-to-user messaging
• friend invitation (both internal and external to the site)
• threaded discussions

Besides these features, the platform comes with tons of other applications out-of-the-box, and there really are no limitations on what you can add on-top yourself.

While most Django lovers would probably choose a non-Windows platform for hosting their site, the official documentation does contain instructions on how to install on Windows as well.

Answer 2

I haven't use it, but check out elgg.org. Here is what it says about itself:

Elgg is free and open source software. It provides the components you need to build a fully-featured social environment...

Also take a peek at opensocial.org.

If you don't want the hassles of maintaining yourplatform, but just want to create a social network and add a few extensions, you might be able to use one of the existing social networking platforms like ning.

Answer 3

I know you can implement all that stuff with Drupal, as I've done it. That might be a bit heavier than you are looking for, though.

Answer 4

Lovdbyless is an open source ruby on rails one. Well written and easy to customize for yourself. http://lovdbyless.com/