Given that you’ve arrived on this page, you’ve probably decided that you want to build a social networking site, and you want to build it on Drupal. Thanks to Drupal’s power and scalability, the CMS (content management system) provides a great foundation for building a growing social network, and this is made possible with the help of Drupal modules.
Drupal modules provide extendibility, the ability to build upon the foundation your CMS provides and enhance the existing power of your Drupal site. Not only that, but Drupal modules can provide you with the necessary features to adequately serve your new online community’s needs.
Here are 11 Drupal modules for building the social networking site you’ve been envisioning.
1. Profile
No social networking site is complete without the ability to create users profiles. With the help of the Profile module, it’s possible to provide users with both a “my account” and “my profile” link.
Beyond this, administrators can use these profiles to assign roles and permissions to different users. This is particularly beneficial if you are creating a subscription-based membership system.
2. Group
With your users now able to create profiles, you may want to make it possible for your site’s administrators and users to create social groups, and one of the easiest ways to do so is by installing the Group module.
From creating specific user roles to granting certain permissions to specific user types, there are several supporting modules that can be installed alongside the Group module to accommodate the specific scenarios your users will encounter on your site.
3. User Relationships
Just as users should be able to create their own social groups, you may also want to allow you users to identify (or categorize) their relationships to one another. For instance, adding someone on Facebook, you become “friends” on Facebook.
With the help of the User Relationships module, administrators and users alike can be granted with the power to set one-way or mutual relationships with one another.
4. Invite
You’ll also want to set up your social networking site for growth, and one way great way to do so is by providing your users with the opportunity to send invites to their friends, family, and colleagues.
With the Invite module, your users will be able to invite a friend with ease, and even better, you can track those invites as well. In this way, you can take advantage of worth-of-mouth marketing to build your social network.
5. Facebook-Style Statuses
Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and other major social networking sites, users are accustomed to sharing status updates on their favorite social networks.
To ensure that you stay with the trend, you can install the Facebook-style Statuses module. This module emulates both the Facebook status updates and comments, providing your users the opportunity to share and converse as they do on other platforms.
6. Drupal Chat
In addition to socializing with other users through statuses and comment threads, users may wish to converse via chats, and with the Drupal Chat module, users can have the option to communicate through one-on-one or group chats.
These chats can also be made either public or private, allow users to include emojis in their messages, and notify users when a new message has been received.
7. Embed Media Field
Being social online often involves sharing not only written content but video, image, and audio files. To make it possible for your users to share their favorite content on your social platform, you can use the Embed Media Field module.
Because this module is merely an engine, you’ll also need to download the supporting modules relevant to your audience, such as the ones YouTube or SoundCloud. As such, you can accommodate the content your user group is most likely to share.
8. LoginToboggan
You can’t have users without providing them with the opportunity to create an account and login. With Login Toboggan module, your users can login with either their username or email address.
9. Voting API
Most social networking sites these days give users the power to vote for the content they enjoy, particularly in terms of comments. By using the Voting API module, users can vote on videos, games, users, or whatever makes the most sense for your platform.
10. Flag
In addition to voting for content, you may also wish to give your users the option to flag content as important (or bookmark). Likewise, for the purpose of creating a positive forum experience, you may also want to give them the option to flag inappropriate content.
The aforementioned actions can be made possible by installing the Flag module. To take this feature one step further, you can use the Flag Friend module to make it possible for users to “friend” one another, send messages, and more.
11. Open Social
Don’t feel like installing all of these individual modules yourself? The Open Social module is an out-of-the-box tool that provides all of the functionality you need with one install. It should be noted, however, that this module is not free and requires a paid subscription through Open Social.
Need Help Building a Social Networking Site with Drupal?
With these 11 Drupal models, you should be well on your way to building the social networking site that you’ve been dreaming of. You can also check out the Drupal documentation for creating a social networking site. That said, some of these modules can only be used with Drupal 7 and new integrations may need to be developed to accommodate a Drupal 8 site.
If all this seems a bit overwhelming, there’s no need to worry. You can hire a Drupal development team like ours to help you build your ideal social platform. Here at ClikFocus, we’ve built social and membership platforms for non-profits and enterprise-level businesses alike using Drupal.
Take the first step toward getting started, and contact us today.
