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Is BuddyPress Right For You?

I am in no way affiliated with BuddyPress, nor do I receive any type of compensation for referrals to BuddyPress from my website. The WordPress plugin 'BuddyPress' contains a free social network shrunk down into a 1.35 MB file. It lets website users connect with one another by providing them with the ability to post messages, create groups, and socially interact online. That all sounds great, but something like that has to got to be expensive, right? Not at all! BuddyPress is a free social networking software plugin for WordPress and is being used by popular sites including CUNY Academic Commons, Plazaa, Bettercodes, and Tasty Kitchen. The WP BuddyPress plugin is perfect for anyone that wants to build a social network for their organization, team, city, or school. With more than 330 plugins made specifically to work with BuddyPress that install automatically, you can do just about anything you'd like with your website. Want to optimize your website for the iPhone or Android audience? There is even a free BuddyPress Mobile theme! Are you an educator that wants to create a social network for your school? Look no further than BuddyPress ScholarPress Courseware --whew, that's a mouthful! The free ScholarPress plugin contains a class dashboard that indicates student progress, status, and grade evolution. Post curriculum for courses including lectures, handbooks, and syllabi. It comes with powerful functions for assignments, quizzes, forums, gradebooks, schedules, and calendars. Did I mention this is a free plugin? You can click here to view a BuddyPress 'test drive' demo page, but keep in mind that what you will see is the basic install. BuddyPress is easily customized through the use of WordPress and BuddyPress themes and plugins. For a better look at sites that have already integrated BuddyPress check out the BuddyPress showcase page. Installing BuddyPress is as easy as installing any other WordPress plugin. Just upload the zipped file, click 'Activate', complete the BuddyPress installation wizard and your website is social network ready! BuddyPress has been around since 2008 and the first official stable release took place in May of 2009. Since then, their plugin has grown into a dynamic and easily extensible software package. It is open source, meaning that the documentation, themes, and plugins are built by members within the BP community. You really cannot go wrong by taking the WP BuddyPress plugin for a test drive, seeing that it is free and all! Follow this link to download the BuddyPress plugin for WordPress.