Jomsocial - looks a bit confusing to me...
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- trumpeter
- Rocketeer
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Anyone else think this?
It looks less intuitive than phpbb3 and on all the sites that I've looked at, yes, there appears to be activity happening on the wall, but on closer inspection not a lot of purposeful activity.
I've just spent the morning looking at around 10 sites. On each one, the wall looks busy, yes, but then when I click on groups all I see is a long list, most of which has little or no activity in it.
So what are people doing on these Jomsocial sites? It looks to me like most people register, change their photo, maybe do a couple of other things such as start a random group or add a random picture but then drift off.
Unlike phpbb3, it does not seem to encourage users to stick around or do anything particularly purposeful.
Glorified messaging system?
I'm having second thoughts about implementing it now. Any thoughts?
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- Emma griffith
- Hero Rocketeer
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I don't think it has to do with the platform, it has to do with the WHY... Go and start a new forum and see how hard it is to get active members.
With so many sites out there now creating an environment that makes people stick around and want to contribute is not easy. I believe it comes down to point of differentiation, also you are confusing a forum with a social network, which really are separate entities.
You can use the connection of say Jomsocial with the contribution of a forum. I believe there is connection between Jomsocial and fireboard and phpbb3 also Kunena I think although not positive.
So personally and I could be totally wrong, don't blame the platform but look at the WHY....
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- trumpeter
- Rocketeer
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I have managed quite a few forums over the years that have been quite successful. It wasn't easy, but wasn't all that difficult either.
But why are you comparing forums if, as you say, forums are separate entities?
As I said, I think Jomsocial may have some intrinsic problems. I think many users will look at it and think, "what's the point? I have Facebook." And many of those that do follow through quickly lose interest when they discover that it is lacking in functionality and is not very intuitive.
To me Jomsocial appears to mimic Facebook but at the same time lacks many of the important ingredients that makes Facebook addictive. But maybe I am completely wrong. Have I overlooked a Jomsocial implementation that has been a real success and produced a website brimming with purposeful activity?
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- Emma griffith
- Hero Rocketeer
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What makes facebook addictive? Is it the plethora of third party integrations I know many people maintaining their farm. Personally I am not a fan of social networks, and the thought of a virtual farm makes me reach for a bucket.
But I see the potential these interactions have, I do have a facebook account and use it for the pure purpose of communicating with friends back home and scattered around the globe and that might be 5 minutes a week if that.
If you strip away all the applications from facebook you are left with a shell much like Jomsocial, and an open platform that can be developed on similar to facebook, so is it early days yet for Jomsocial maybe in 6 months or a year there will be many applications available for it so to some people that will give it more purpose.
Don't you see it as an added hook for extending the possibilities of say a popular forum? I still think it is what you do to it as a developer that will give it a purpose or not. I am not sure about popular Jomsocial sites, I am sure there must be a few around the traps.
What do you see as the inherent problems it has? I would be interested to know as we are developing a site at the moment that is using Jomsocial
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- Roeland_A!
- Preeminent Rocketeer
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First of, you are locked in to a layout, you need to recode the whole thing to make it more user friendly, that for me is a major pain. Strip it, rebuild it, recode the flaws and then you have a really cool app, but it will cost you a reasonable amount of time. You can always choose for a cheaper option, joomla + phpbb3 + k2. phpbb3 has so many developers, mod and the like, that running a good combination with a good choice of modifications will make jomsocial melt away.
There are just not enough that work with the combo and develop new things for this combination. Just my 2cents. - *Karma comes in many forms, my personal favourite is the random saucepan from the sky* J.Spencer 17-02-2009
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- Emma griffith
- Hero Rocketeer
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That is very interesting, there are so many options available it is hard to be up to speed with everything, I will look further at phpbb3 seeing as we are already using K2 maybe we are headed down the wrong path, and certainly do not need that.
Cheers for your 2 cents Roeland
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- Roeland_A!
- Preeminent Rocketeer
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Look for example at the success of RT and its community.
A sligthly modded version of phpbb3 (the actual modifications to phpbb3 are not that many, 4 or 5). A superb header that functions as a communications center, and then joomla for the downloads, articles and news. All put together with a simple, efficient and effective bridge, rokbridge (it overshadows all other bridges - I pretty much know the code inside out so I have some idea of what I am talking about :cheesy: ) and it is just amazing in my opinion what Andy has done with help of others.
Now, if you see that, that tells me a lot! If you take that some steps further, add a gallery and so on, you have a cheap solution. I have rambled about this before, it may give you some more insights :cheesy:
www.rockettheme.com/forum/index.php?f=15...pic&start=15#p295796
www.rockettheme.com/forum/index.php?f=15...art=0&rb_v=viewtopic - *Karma comes in many forms, my personal favourite is the random saucepan from the sky* J.Spencer 17-02-2009
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- Emma griffith
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 465
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Hmmm - the interest level is rising, I just read both of those posts and the facebook connect looks quite intriguing, with a seamless integration between, K2 phpbb and joomla core maybe this is a good way to go.
I just have to work out development details, as parse I am not after a traditional forum, we are more looking to connect users with developers in this scenario. I am glad this is the last section of the site to be developed as it seems far more research is going to be needed to work out a good development strategy.
I am thankful for your input, maybe you could cast your eyes over this post www.rockettheme.com/forum/index.php?f=21&t=72990&rb_v=viewtopic some input would be brilliant on that stage.
Cheers
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