Open Source Social Networking Platform

Viva Open Source Social Networking!

The MySource Matrix Open Source CMS Networking Platform Module gives you the freedom to unleash the power of social networking for any social networking application you please. Publishers, retailers, information hungry service companies, charities, schools, colleges, and universities.... just about anyone can use the Matrix Social Networking Platform to liberate the power of their people.

How It All Works...

The MySource Matrix Open Source Social Networking Platform can run either alongside an existing Matrix CMS web site or intranet implementation, or on its own as a web platform in its own right. It uses all the best bits of core Matrix module functionality - tagging, related listings, RSS feeds, asset management, user profiles, search, front-end editing, and more - and mashes them up to deliver an out-of-the-box social networking environment that's ready for community action in minutes.

And, because it's built on the Matrix backbone, it's also ready to scale to thousands of users overnight. It can also inherit all of the most valuable assets from a sister Matrix systems you may be running: design templates from your public web site; user profiles from your intranet or subscriber zones; and content assets like video, presentations, pdf's and more. In short, it's a quick-step, open source path to social networking heaven.

Open Source Social Networking Applications...

There's many ways to harness the power of the Matrix open source Social Networking Platform. In essence, all you need is a community and a will for them to share or work together - the technical bit is easy.Here's how we're seeing it being used...

Events Management

The Matrix Open Source Social Networking Platform can help you to start the networking before the event begins and help you to whip attendees into fever pitch before the first keynote. Use it ahead of time to help attendees to meet and greet, flag ideas for agenda items, offer you feedback before the event begins and then share photos, videos and opinions once the event's over.

Education and Campaigning

The Matrix Open Source Social Networking Platform can be used to give your ideas legs amongst a target community. It's perfect for education and charity or political campaigning: its community tools can be used to seed information, facilitate direct debate and feedback and enable your audience to take your content and ideas further afield into new domains. Think syllabuses, thought leadership collateral, lesson plans, speeches/lectures... and the ability for all of your audience to comment, remix and take it all on for themselves.

Subscriber Communities and Fan Bases

The Matrix Open Source Social Networking Platform can be used by any manner of publisher - from magazines to artists - to interact with and share ideas and content with their devotees. If you're already running Matrix to power your public web site, then adding a Community Platform is a no-brainer. You can recycle all those key assets like content, tags, and, most importantly, subscriber profiles, so you can have a thriving community up and running within days. Use it to get your most passionate customers closer to the source - let them input to your creative output, rate and review and also discuss amongst themselves.

Best Practice and Expert Guidance

The Matrix Open Source Networking Platform is an essential tool for any organisation operating in an information-hungry market. If you're an engineer, a developer, or a knowledge worker, access to rich and timely information can be the difference between winning and failing. So giving these people an inside track to your content can add an important extra layer of value to your relationships with them. Provide them with first access to your most important information assets; let them build on it and enhance it; and let them generate new, ground-breaking ideas together.

Product and Service Support

The Matrix Open Source Networking Platform can be deployed as a community support tool that reduces operational burdens for routine FAQ's and troubleshooting. Content can be built - knowledge-base style - by both you and your users, so that people are able to search for and locate answers to typical questions. In addition, the Platform's forum and user generated content functionality enables people to contribute their own ideas, fixes and advice to the mix, so that over time a portion of front line support can be taken out of your call centre and into your Social Network.

Why Matrix for Open Source Social Networking?

In short, if you're already running Matrix for a web or intranet implementation, then it's the fastest route to social networking nirvana. Because it's integrated with the base Matrix platform, the Social Networking Module simply snaps in and is ready to use all of your existing assets - content, users, design customisations - immediately. This means there's no opportunity risk to scaling the platform: it's not a case of 'build it and they will come', because as all of your users and all of your compelling content can be switched on at source.

But, if you're not already a Matrix user, the Social Networking Module also provides a compelling solution for building a user community. Unlike other hosted services, it enables you to retain control of your property on your own domain and on your own commercial terms. This means it's you who'll benefit from the SEO benefits of a running a social networking platform, as all the content and link equity goes to you rather than a third party. You're also free to develop and port the system assets as you please, giving you all the flexibility you need to grow and scale your efforts over time.

Matrix Open Source Social Networking Platform Technical Overview

Profile Management Highlights

On the profile page, users can store a range of information about themselves, upload files and tag themselves with keywords.

• Basic information: name, email address, telephone, location, profile picture
• Personal Information: description / introduction, likes / dislikes, Date
• Tagging: eg, skills / Interests. See tagging and search for more information on tagging capabilities
• Files & attachments: users can upload photos to their account, as well as pdf and other documents

Platform Feed Highlights

The latest activity within the community is listed in a variety of ways:

• Latest updates for related projects/events/discussions
• Newest projects/users/events/discussions

Users can also subscribe to RSS feeds for separate discussions and blogs.

Content Tagging Highlights

• Tagging in the Matrix Social Networing Platform is freeform, meaning users have the freedom to define themselves and their community through tagging in a way that suits them best. All content types can be tagged - including communities, documents, user profiles, events, and discussions.
• These tags allow users to search for related content using these tags, and can be used for presentation of navigation elements in (for example) sidebars
• Tags are displayed alongside content items, are searchable and are also displayed as tag clouds in appropriate areas

Users, Linking and Searching Highlights

• Users can find other people with common profiles by skill, interest, location and more
• Users can find communities/projects which match their skills and interests
• Simple search also enables users to search across all Platform content by keywords
• In addition, users can invite one or many contacts using a simple interface, allowing the community to scale more easily
• Where projects already exist within the Platform, users can choose to connect themselves to that project at the click of a button 

Project Highlights

• Small sub-communities (called projects) can be set up by users, enabling new knowledge/workstreams to spread easily from the central Platform
• These projects can be tagged as per above, and have events, documents and members associated with them
• These projects can be managed by users themselves, or permissions can be set so that tnetwork administrators can manage their creation

Events Highlights

• Users can also create and manage events calendars, using standard Matrix Event Calendar functionality
• Content surrounding these calendars can be manipulated in the same way by users, using tags, etc

Geo-Tagging Highlights

• The out-of-the-box interface with Google Maps allows users to locate other users on a simple map
• The presentation of Geo-Tagged search results can also be customised in line with required branding