How to Turn Your WordPress Site Into a Social Network

Did you know that you can turn your WordPress site into a social network?

A WordPress social network allows users to sign up, connect with each other, post messages, and more.

In this article, we will show you how to turn your WordPress site into a social network.

Starting your WordPress Powered Social Network

WordPress is the most easy to use platform to build your own social network using the free BuddyPress plugin. It is super flexible and integrates beautifully with any kind of WordPress website.

You’ll need a self-hosted WordPress.org website to start using BuddyPress.

If you don’t have a website yet, then follow the instructions in our how to make a website guide, and you’ll be up and running in no time.

What is BuddyPress?

BuddyPress is a sister project of WordPress.org. It is available as a free WordPress social network plugin that you can install on your website.

It turns your WordPress site into a social network allowing you to build your own online community. Here are some of the features of a typical BuddyPress powered website:

• Users can register on your website
• Users will be able to create extended user profiles
• Activity streams allow users to follow site-wide updates
• You will be able to create sub-communities with user groups
• Users can add each other as friends
• Users can send private messages to each other
• BuddyPress functionality can be extended using third-party plugins
• Works with any standard compliant WordPress theme
• Can be set up with your existing WordPress site

Setting up Your WordPress Social Network Using BuddyPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the BuddyPress plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation you need to visit Settings » BuddyPress page to configure plugin settings.

Creating and Managing Groups in BuddyPress

BuddyPress allows you and your users to create groups. These groups act as sub-communities on your website. Each group can have its own members and activity streams. Users can join these groups, invite other users, post messages, and more.

To create a new group, you can head over to the Groups page and click on the add new button at the top.