Drupal to WordPress Migration

The old Bicycling site was built on Drupal and had no community component or forums. We had to come up with a solution to easily migrate the content from Drupal to WordPress and we tested all the migration scripts advertised online, but nothing worked. Ultimately Chris, our resident database wizard, created a custom SQL script that converted 5492 Posts, 2175 Tags, 216 Categories, 2984 Users and 7213 Images from the Drupal CMS to WordPress without any loss.

Bicycling Magazine’s shiny new WordPress powered home on the web.

The LightSpeed Publisher Theme

Our experience with Runners World helped towards the development of our WooThemes’ Canvas powered Publisher Theme, and the Publisher Theme was used as the base for the redesigned Bicycling Magazine.

Other features include a WPtouch Pro mobile Theme and the Feedmymedia WordPress specific hosting platform. Bicycling and MyBicycling is hosted on their own dedicated server on our Feedmymedia Hosting Platform due to the high amounts of traffic.

Unique Publisher Theme Modules:

• LightSpeed Ad module using Custom Post Tags for Adtags

• LightSpeed Events module for Canvas – We used the events module for the Race Calendar on Bicycling.co.za. We’ll talk about that in a bit.
• LightSpeed Recipes module for Canvas – (Not used on Bicycling.co.za)
• LightSpeed Q&A module for Canvas - (Not used on Bicycling.co.za)

The new Bicycling.co.za’s awesome WordPress features:

1. Bike Buyer’s Guide

CSV Importer

The Bike Buyer’s Guide on Bicycling Magazine is a key feature of the publication and presents a wide variety of bikes that readers can search for, compare and review. Each Bike has an editor’s review and rating.

The Bike Buyers Guide

The Bike Features that can be searched for are custom taxonomies, which makes it better for search.

Once a year Bicycling Magazine receives large amounts of Buyer’s Guide data from Bike companies in excel format that Kirsten (Bicycling’s online editor) needs to upload to the site. LightSpeed was tasked to develop a CSV importer allowing the magazine to easily upload the large quantities (100s to 1000s) of Bike information in one go. This functionality means that each bike no longer has to be uploaded manually, saving time and effort.

This has been our first step towards making a dynamic CSV importer for the Publisher theme.

Advanced Search

The Bike Buyer’s guide also needed some advanced search functionality to make comparing bikes easier. Warwick implemented the WooCommerce Pricing Slider to search bikes for specific price ranges.

Advanced Search with WooCommerce Price Range Slider

We used custom non-hierarchical taxonomies (tags) for the different types of bike parts. Prospective buyers can search on all taxonomies like Forks, Frame material, Wheelsets and Components to narrow down the search for their perfect ride.

The Bike Buyer's Guide Allows Search on different bike parts

2. Race Calendar

For the Race calendar we utilized the Events module developed for our Publisher theme.

The module was updated to included advanced search functionality that allows users to filter dates to search for races around a specific year and month. In the backend we upgraded the way all our algorithms work to use wp-query to work faster and more efficiently, instead of using a SQL call to find matches.

3. List Tools

Bicycling Magazine publishes a lot of content in the form of lists. These are articles with headlines like: “5 Sunscreens Tested & Rated”, “Cardinal Rules Of Cycling Fitness” and “How not to crash”. These articles are displayed on one page, with tabs to navigate to the next list item.

We developed this functionality as a Content type (Custom Post Type)  on request by Bicycling Magazine. In order for content to display in this format, the content has to be marked in the “List Tools” category (it can be part of other categories as well) and put in specific structure to work:

CODE:

Intro text</pre>
<!--more-->
<pre>Text</pre>
<!--nextpage-->
<pre></pre>
<h4>Headline or List Item</h4>
&nbsp;
<pre>Text</pre>
<!--nextpage-->
<pre></pre>
<h4>Next Headline or List Item</h4>
<pre>More Text

4. Gallery and Video

The site’s top navigation bar has a dedicated Media section with a dropdown for Video and Galleries. We implemented the Canvas Portfolio module for the Galleries on Bicycling.co.za. Like the videos, galleries can be sorted and filtered by categories.

The Video Category on the old Bicycling.co.za

The new dedicated Bicycling Video Page

The Design

BuddyPress powers new Bicycling community

We have extensive experience using BuddyPress to build community capability around online magazines and we were asked to introduce a community site element to the new Bicycling site, much like we did with Runners World and MyRunners World.

The big difference between the two magazines is that Runners World had an online community to start with. Runners World had two existing forums (on phpBB2 and NING) that had to be shut down and the users had to migrate to the BuddyPress powered MyRunners World community site. Due to the BuddyPress features and strong editorial support for the online community (like placing ads for the online community in the print magazine) Runners World has been able to grow their online community on this new platform.

The MyBicycling Home page

Our aim has been to do the same for Bicycling, by drawing on our Runners World experience and even improving on it to create a comfortable online home for Bicycling Magazine’s readership.

The MyBicycling Forum is based on HubSA, the largest cycling forum in SA and we have used BuddyPress and bbPress to build our own. Forums are powered by the bbPress 2.0 plugin, unlike the Runners World website where we used the bbPress stand alone.

BuddyPress Features on MyBicycling:

• User sign up
• Profiles
• Forums

Conclusion

The LightSpeed Publisher Theme has been created to cater for the specific needs of online magazines and with WordPress and BuddyPress spinning the gears on the new Bicycling Magazine and the MyBicycling community site, we are confident that South Africa’s cycling enthusiasts will find great value in their new online home.

Contact us today for a quote and let our experience and skill guide you to get the most out of your online magazine.

Great technology in itself cannot guarantee online success for any website and especially not for online magazines. What sets Runners World apart from the competition is the strong and dedicated community that supports it, and the strong editorial leadership that nurtures this community.

In this Case Study I will take a closer look at My Runners World (MyRW), the BuddyPress powered community site for the Runners World readership and interview Amy Ebedes, RW online editor, on the development of MyRW and what it takes to foster a community around an online publication.

Runners World and Community

A large part of Runners World’s online success can be attributed to their online editor, Amy Ebedes. We interviewed her on the move to WordPress and BuddyPress.

Before LightSpeed developed a custom BuddyPress solution for the Runner’s World community the community was using phpBB2 and Ning. Can you tell me what prompted the move to a custom solution?

Amy: Before moving to BuddyPress, we had two forums (phpBB2 and Ning). I inherited both forums on my arrival at Runners World (RW). The Ning site was started because the phpBB2 site was inundated with spam and had therefore shut down access to any new users. The regular forumites continued going to the closed off phpBB2 forum, meaning that no one was generating conversation on the Ning site. The users that were on Ning didn’t really start any conversations as nothing was really going on there.

The only real solution to solidify a forum for Runners World was to shut down all existing forums, and start from scratch. Because the new RW site was being built in WordPress, we decided a custom BuddyPress solution would be best in order to integrate with the main website and create dynamic flow between the two portals, rather than two separate entities.

The decision was incredibly unpopular with the original forumites (phpBB2) – over a year later I still get the odd complaint – but a couple of them have moved across to the new website and the forum is growing. It did take a while to catch on, but the current regulars are fiercely defensive of their turf and get annoyed when old users log in and bitch about it. People are incredibly resistant to change, but once they lighten up they realise it’s not all that bad.

It’s been a slow process, but it’s been great to watch the relationships start to grow and strengthen on MyRunnersWorld.

Has Runners World’s online presence grown since the implementation of the new site? What strategies did you put into place to help grow your online presence?

Amy: The main focus of my strategy for Runner’s World as a whole (the websites plus social media)  has been social media, so it doesn’t entirely apply to only the forum.

In a nutshell (for the whole online presence):

• Generating sharable, relevant content (mainly via social media channels, e.g. Adding share buttons to site, posting relevant, sharable content on Facebook and Twitter about the site).
• Promoting conversation (particularly social media channels – gaining trust / loyalty, therefor increased likelihood of click-through when posting links; forum – live Q&A with role models such as Bruce Fordyce and Ryan Sandes). If something interesting is being discussed in forum, I will tell our Facebook and Twitter followers about it, encouraging them to go to the site and join the conversation. I also Tweet/FB after hours and on weekends (e.g. around races and other relevant topics)  – that’s when most of the conversation is happening and gives an approachable “human” element to a brand.

What do you perceive as the benefits that BuddyPress has over Ning?

Amy: Initially the BuddyPress powered MyRunner’s World seemed quite complicated to use  for our  users (but then, even Facebook was at first), but once they’re accustomed to the system it’s incredibly user-friendly. I have to be honest, I haven’t spent much time on any Ning sites so I can’t give an realistic critique.

It’s clear that RW has supported it’s online efforts by advertising the website and community in the print issue. How important do you think it is for online to be supported by print (and vice versa)?

Amy: Vital! Embracing online has been one of the keys to Runners World’s success. Seeing it as a separate entity or just a platform to post word-for-word old articles will be the detriment of a web/print relationship. The online element means you’re at the coal face of the business: I’m on the firing line daily, as a direct method of communication between the readers and the magazine. Readers expect instant response (the nature of the beast that is online).

Using the magazine as a “marketing” tool for the website has been an important strategy in spreading the word about the online presence, from web tools, forum, to social media presence. Apart from the typical “adverts”, featuring readers comments (online, FB and Twitter) is a huge motivating factor in getting people to interact with the brand: they love seeing their name in print.

BuddyPress in action on My Runners World

BuddyPress is a set of plugins that adds social networking features to WordPress, complete with User Profiles, Friends, Groups, Private Messaging, Activity Streams, Media Sharing and Forums. It inherits and extends the functional elements of WordPress, including themes, plugins and widgets.

BuddyPress features can be seen in full effect on the My Runners World website, where members can create their profiles, post blogs and status updates, upload photos and keep track of their training.

A user's My Runners World profile page

My Runners World Training module

The My Runners World training module allows logged in users on My Runner’s World to post their daily training updates via a gravity form. Each user’s training page features a graph that represents the training distance accomplished on each day of the current month.

The My Runners World Training Module

My Runner’s World Forums

My Runner’s World forums run on bbPress. They are quite active and easy to use, with a membership of over 2500+ (and growing) runners meeting online to discuss topics ranging from favorite races, running mates, gear and various other running matters.

The My Runners World forums

Runner’s World and WPMS

Runner’s World and its sister sites (My Runner’s World and Comrades) run on a WordPress MultiSite (WPMS) installation. My Runners World is the base of the WPMS installation, it is where all the user registration takes place.

Conclusion

The combination of the BuddyPress fueled My Runner’s World, Social Media, and print promotion of online initiatives has led to a strong online community assembling around Runners World. Amy Ebedes’ continued cultivation of this community ensures that South Africa’s runners will always have a home on the web.

CONTACT US for more information on how we can use BuddyPress to help you start building a community around your online magazine.

Related Reading

• Runners World Case Study

Social Media IQ is a company concerned with helping you understand the impact of social media communication tools on your business and how to integrate them into your daily business functions.


Social Media IQ, helmed by Lisa Breedt and Peter du Toit, is a social company. They understand the importance and the impact of social media technologies on modern business and strive to educate and incorporate these technologies into the solutions for their clients.

They contacted us to build a public facing website and a private internal network for their client, The Success Academy (an office park developer and office rental company), as well as another satellite website for Willow Feather Farm. All these sites are hosted on their own dedicated server that we configured with Linux and WP MultiSite.

For the Willow Feather Farm website, we utilized a Canvas theme with Page Templates, Custom Post Types, Custom Widgets, Forms, Social Media, Gallery, Video, Blog, Sitemap, RSS Feed.

Social Media IQ and Yammer

One of the things that made Social Media IQ very different as a client is their use of Yammer and Google docs for communication and collaboration. All communication with the client was done through Yammer, with no emails sent between the parties. Social Media IQ is a company that knows how to use real-time communication technology and uses it well.

Yammer is a free private social network for companies. It is a tool that helps you to connect with your coworkers. Used by over 100 000 companies worldwide, it reduces the need for meetings, increases communication across silos, surfaces pockets of expertise and connects remote workers. It’s as easy to use as Facebook and Twitter and offers mobile connectivity.

We interviewed Lisa and Pieter about their experience with WordPress, working with the LightSpeed Team and using Yammer for client communication.
What made you decide on using WordPress for your web development needs?

Simply because WordPress allows for such versatility! Modern websites cannot be static environments and the ability to add such a wide range of plugins to accomplish what we want makes WordPress our platform of choice.

How did you hear about LightSpeed, and what made you decide to do business with them?

A developer pulled out of a project we were working on and we urgently needed a company to complete the project in order for us to meet deadlines. We were especially looking for a team that had BuddyPress development experience. A Google search for South African BuddyPress developers lead us to you!

As a social media company, what social media integration features do you feel is most important in a public facing website?

This is a great question. Too many companies make the mistake of thinking about the tools (Facebook, Twitter etc.) before understanding what tools their current and potential customers are using.  So the social technologies you use on your website should be those that your customers are using. This way you stay relevant to the people you are wanting to build relationships with. It’s pointless integrating Twitter on your site if your audience is on MixIt or Facebook!

You use Yammer for internal communications and also to communicate with service providers. What are the main benefits that this platform gives you, and why did you decide to forgo traditional means of communication, such as email, for this platform?

Email is not a collaboration tool. Yammer allows us to have real-time communication internally and with our clients and other service providers. Social technologies (like Yammer and Chatter) allow us to be more agile and efficient. Think of it this way: Yammer allows us to publish one piece of content which everyone involved in the project can look at and comment on vs the content to several people via email. It is just much more efficient.

So for us the main reasons for using Yammer are:

1. Faster access to knowledge
2. Reduction of email
3. Quicker and often real-time resolution of issues
4. Easier access to internal experts
5. Reduction in communication costs
6. Reduction in travel

How important is blogging to a company’s online initiative?

Again this differs from company to company and is completely dependent on what the objectives are. For organizations who want to establish thought leadership and want their content to be easily discovered in search engines, blogging is a good option to incorporate. However, for others using a microblogging platform like Google+; Facebook or Twitter may be a better route to go.

Again the decision of whether to blog or not is heavily dependant on the company’s objectives and very importantly, the socialgraphics of those that make up the company’s ecosystem, employees, customers and potential customers.

LightSpeed’s view on Yammer

Would you say that you prefer the use of systems like Yammer in client communication, instead of email?

Ashley:  Yes. If you look at how effective our communication with Social Media IQ is, it’s clear that Yammer makes all the difference. It’s a shared inbox without the pain of the inbox, that sends you notifications when your @name is used. It’s truly a brilliant system, and as easy to use as Facebook and Twitter. Having said that, I don’t think it will work with most clients, as few clients are as technologically savvy as Peter and Lisa.

Was there a bit of a learning curve involved for the team to transition to a system like this for communication with a client?

Ashley: Yes. As with the adoption of all new technologies and business methods adapting to use Yammer as a communication tool had a bit of a learning curve. Once the team mastered the new tool, we saw an improvement in effectiveness.

Do you think that the use of Yammer has made managing your relationship with Social Media IQ easier?

Ashley: Definitely.

Conclusion

Social media tools like Yammer and the collaborative authoring capabilities of Google docs have made collaborating on The Success Academy and Willow Feather Farm projects much easier and efficient for both LightSpeed and Social Media IQ. These – and similar – tools will continue to impact the way we work, reducing the pain of the email inbox and surfacing new methods to increase clarity of communication and productivity.

Keep an eye on our blog for a follow up Case Study on our work with Social Media IQ, building a unique BuddyPress solution for The Success Academy.

I was very buzzed for a good day of networking and insightful talks. Despite the very long queue to gain entry and the absence of free tea or coffee (Rather shocking, considering the price tag for this event), I was determined to have a good time. The list of Panelists included Kelvin Jonck of Cell C, Bellinda Carreira of Standard Bank and Patrick Kayton of Cognician. Their talks ranged from Social Media Monitoring and Strategy, Big business’ approach to Social Media and Social Media start-ups respectively.

The conference led to many insights into Social Media and how social media is being practiced in South Africa. I’ve already recapped some of the most profound lessons in our Social Media Strategy (Part 5) blog post, and for insight provided by others I suggest these blogs written by Anthony Coe and Darren Gilbert.

Social Media VS Traditional Media

One  of the most interesting insights gained at SMWF was that in the South African context, social media on it’s own is not enough, and it has to seamlessly integrate with what companies are already doing in other media. As Kemi Benjamin, Brand Manager at Nike said “Everything is not digital. Blend digital with physical.”

This is something that we have witnessed ourselves with one of our clients, Runner’s World. Runner’s World is a magazine aimed at runners and they have taken an integrated approach by driving their readers to their website with ads and articles pointing readers attention to extra content only available on their website. This has allowed  the magazine to leverage their existing readership and build a community around their publication online (With the help of BuddyPress)

Social Media and Mobile

We’ve blogged about the importance and the continued growth of the mobile web at length, here and here. The SMWF once again underscored the mobile web’s importance to the South African market with some interesting statistics:

SA is a Mobile first Market

• 12 million people are currently using the mobile web
• 6 million people are on the traditional web
• The projections for mobile web access in Africa are that it will double year on year
• 80% of status update for Facebook come from mobile platforms
• 91% of people keep their phones within a meters reach 24 hours a day
• The success of advertising on Facebook: In SAFM’s experience, 75% of their Facebook fans come from seeing a Facebook ad promoting their Page.

Mobile types

• Only 5% of cell phones in South Africa are smartphones
• Iphone accounts for 1% of emerging market phones
• Of the 4 Million smart phones in South Africa, half are Blackberry

It seems as though South African apps developers are focused on android first and Iphone second, but one has to wonder if their isn’t a market for Blackberry apps to make some money.

The Social Media World Forum was a good experience. It’s a bit over priced, had some hiccups (competing sound!) and  didn’t offer up any real surprises, but the value of meeting other social media practitioners and hearing their thoughts and insights cannot be over looked. Social Media is a continuously evolving industry and it is important for us serious practitioners to always stay abreast of the latest developments and do our research.

I’ll leave you with, for me, the most significant quote of SMWF 2011:

When it comes to Social Media, you must be prepared to learn, unlearn and relearn.

BuddyPress Integration

Shape Magazine required a solution that would enable their readers to access tailored content on the go. This included the ability to read and post recipes, training logs and food journals to their Shape profiles, and accessing the Shape Magazinecommunity from anywhere – the gym, office, beach or home.By using WPtouch, we were able to render a mobile version of their website that is viewable on any smartphone, extending their web presence to mobile devices. A custom Integration of BuddyPress and Wptouch, allowed us to enable the community features of BuddyPressfor the Shape mobile website. These community features include everything you expect from a social network, including personlized profiles, activity streams, friends, private messaging and journal (custom post type) posting.

Custom Warning Messages

BuddyPress will extend WordPress MU and bring social networking features to a new or existing installation.

As an avid facebook and WordPress user I have taken to the idea of extending WordPress-MU with social networking features very well. Foxinni was the first person to tell me about BP, the I caught my attention immediately. I started testing out the very early stages of the software in May 2008 while preparing to do a talk at WordPress Cape Town Meetup.

Andy Peatling is the lead developer on the BP project. Andy started the project as ChickSpeak.com a WordPress MU Based Social Network, see about blurb below:

ChickSpeak is an organization for young women created to inspire Big Dreams, Strong Values and Success in the world.

Here are some important BP links for more detailed info on the Automattic driven project:

• Testdrive -This is a great place to test out the software with out having to install
• My profile on TestBP.org
• LightSpeed TestBP.org Blog about our BuddyPress Development efforts
• Main Website – Find out all about the project, download and much more
• SVN – Grab the latest code from Subversion
• BuddyPressDev on Twitter – Follow the latest tweets

The past few months LightSpeed has been Contibuting to Change (C2C). Traffic Brand introduced us to the DA who needed a small volunteer registration website called Contribute to Change. We started with a standard 5 page website designed as a landing page for a PPC campaign and volunteer registration formto allow people sign up and help promote the DA.

We have been researching the Obama political campaign and how they built My.BarackObama.com a.k.a MYBO to enabled supporters to be more involved with promoting the party. We have been busy developing BP powered volunteer system to drive the C2C website. This will allow people to join in and help the DA grow its support base. More on how to sign-up to the live system at the end of this month when it launches to the existing & new volunteers.

We will be making use of all the existing BP features and adding some interesting new modules. See details below:

Modules:

1. Authentication modules – Google’s OpenID Endpoint + Facebook Connect
2. Recruit a friend + Contact Importer – Friend importer tool and more advanced tools for recruiting new community members
3. Spread the Word – Tools for mailing the press or prominent blogs
4. User/Volunteer Points System – Volunteers earn points for every action and these are displayed in a sidebar widget
5. Action center – User dashboard page displaying member points, call-to-action tools and much more
6. Import Users – Import existing volunteers into the C2C BP system
7. Events – Create/host an event, find events, featured events
8. Go-door-to-door – Voters use this module to organise neighbourhood walks going door-to-door to discuss and help promote the DA
9. Make Phone Calls – Talk to Voters, record/update details and promote the DA
10. Mobile Theme – mobile theme for buddypress making the site more accessible to users

BuddyPress Modifications:

1. User Sign-up or User Registration needs to be extended and integrated into
2. Members Only system accessible only to registered volunteers
3. Buddy Press Top Menu Bar needs to be extended to cater for the new volunteer tools by adding new quick links

Potential modules:

• Facebook style bottom bar with Jabber Chat built in to enable volunteers to chat to each other trough the system

Some interesting research links:

• BuddyPress: Adding Twitter And Friendfeed
• BuddyPress: Expanding Settings Menu
• BuddyPress: Building Your Own Components With These Building Blocks
• BuddyPress Notes by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
• WP-FBConnect

I will be blogging further information in the weeks to come. Stay tuned in.

My last post for today is about a small module that will help users spread the word about the network. My focus is to create a platform for volunteers to assist in promoting a political party and growing its support base. We are building the following tools to aid the volunteer growth:

• Recruit a friend (includes an address book importer)
• Tell the press / Spread the word – simple form allowing emails to be sent by volunteer under their name to the newspapers
  • Clicking on “spread the word” must bring up the “Send to the Press Form”
  • Form should be populated with the user’s email address.
  • Clicking on the newspaper must populate the “To:” field with the newspaper’s relevant email address.
  • Once the letter is written, the user clicks “send”, and the letter is sent to the newspaper from the user’s personal email address.
• Go-door-to-door – a type of event that calls on fellow volunteers in your area to join and walk around neighbourhood going door to door to discuss and promote the party

Drive community outreach to government and local municipalities

Our aim is to use our volunteers to work for or against parliament and constitutional issues, by helping them generate letters and phone calls to members of parliament, ministers, municipal officials, or other target groups. The tools should let users choose eligible voters and voter groups, identify and prioritize targets, suggest letter text and phone call scripts, deliver letter content by email or fax, and track and monitor the results. We would like promote the outreach campaigns with integrated custom Web pages, outbound email, and more.

Use petitions to identify your most fervent supporters — and to spread the word virally

Create and manage petition campaigns that help you identify your most committed activists, channel their energy, and lead to viral activity and more signups. Petition content and look and feel are fully controllable, and signups are archived and tagged in your customer database so you can quickly build a supporter file around a particular issue of concern. And with “tell-a-friend” functionality, word of your petition campaign can spread around the world at Internet speed.

Speak out to newspapers, opinion leaders, and the public

The “Spread the Word” tool for BuddyPress aims to get thoughts to news editors and opinion leaders, in the real voices of volunteers and supporters. We would pre-populate the system with talking points and sample text, to help make sure that volunteer messages are targeted and focused. The system will keep track of communications so we can follow up where appropriate.

In closing

We need to put the power into the volunteer’s hands and allow them to spread the word for us. As always your feedback is most welcome!

I would like to be able to use OpenID, Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect authentication services with BuddyPress.

There is already an MU OpenID plugin developed by Automattic, hopefully we can revise this plugin and adapt it for buddypress. See details about plugin below:

Once installed, OpenID 1.1 link tags will be added to the homepage of every hosted weblog. Users can then use their weblog as an OpenID; when they authenticate against third party sites using that URL, WordPress MU will ask them if they wish to share their identity with the site in question. If they say yes (or click “always”) they will be redirected back and logged in to that site.

The plugin also adds a new “OpenID” menu item to the Options tab in the WordPress admin application. This new page allows users to manually add and remove sites from their “always trust” list – although normally they will only modify that list indirectly by clicking the “always” button when they sign in to a site.

The plugin includes simple defence against phishing attacks. If a user tries to sign in with an OpenID but is not logged in to their WordPress MU account they will be told to navigate to the site manually or using a bookmark; presenting a log in form at that point would train users to enter their username and password at the instruction of untrusted sites.

In the above scenario, their attempted OpenID login is recorded in a cookie. When they next log in to the site (within a 5 minute window) they will be taken to the dashboard for the OpenID which they attempted to authenticate and will be presented with a link to continue that action.

In May 2007 facebook launched the Facebook Platform, which allowed third party developers to build rich social applications within Facebook. On the 9th May 2008 facebook announced Facebook Connect the next iteration of Facebook Platform that allows users to “connect” their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any site. This will enable third party websites to implement and offer even more features of Facebook Platform off of Facebook. Here are just a few of the coming features of Facebook Connect:

• Trusted Authentication
• Real Identity
• Friends Access
• Dynamic Privacy

These are just a few steps Facebook is taking to make the vision of data portability a reality for users worldwide. Hopefully we can integrate this into BuddyPress in the coming months?!

Next item up for discussion is Google Friend Connect, uses OpenID, oAuth and Open Social to let users log in to their favorite apps using a trusted ID provider and then access their friend info from those apps – all while on another website altogether. That could be any website that has chosen apps from the Open Social/ Friend Connect app gallery and pasted the iframe code onto their page.

In closing

We can expand the social networks we build much more rapidly by allowing users to tap into  their own networks. Feedback most welcome!

I am a big fan of the WordPress.com stats plugin and its super to be able to get stats on testbp.org! Thanks Andy for adding in my favourite plugin. If you have a testbp.org blog for BuddyPress I suggest you go and enable the plugin!