What is the best way to go about creating a social networking website?

I am launching a non-profit corporation and we would like to have the ability for our members to communicate on a social network platform. Can you recommend existing companies that provide the service? Do you have experience with a particular service?

What is the best way to go about creating a social networking website?
You can try creating a discussion group . . .





e.g. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IT_SP...
Reply:Sign up for a free Webstarts account here: http://www.webstarts.com





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Reply:Blogspot.com...
Reply:I use LiveJournal for my online blog, but I also found out that most of their code is Open Source / Free Software. So if you were looking to create an in-house social network / blogging site, you could download their source and create your own site from it.





I've included a link to the source code and information about the open-sourceness of the code below.
Reply:Hi, I develope this site: http://www.gotomystory.com, take a look at it.
Reply:Orkut, I think, is one of the most popular social networking sites on the web. Try taking some pointers from it...
Reply:I'm a web designer. Emphasis on designer not programmer. It all depends on what your trying to build. It could be something like Flickr or YouTube so it depends. But mainly you'll have to pay for something to get a social network or build it yourself. i recommend you google it.
Reply:Ning seems to be perfect for this:





http://www.ning.com

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