Social Network Site Framework Recomendations

Question

A new client has approached me with an idea to build a social
network site.
The site would be directed toward college "in class notes"
and "homework
assignments". Members would each have a personal page and
there would be a
general discussion forum. The site would allows members to
upload text (in
class notes and homework) and graphics (.jpg's) to be shared
with and
downloaded by other members. The site would have a search
function to locate
documents by class, instructor or subject.
My client wants to set this up for a single college but hopes
to expand to
more universities later.
I'm looking for recommendations, is there an existing
framework for this
type of site, preferably free and in php?
Jeff

Answer 1

I'm not sure if they'll do what you want, but there are some
Social
Networking "frameworks" out there that let you pick and
choose the features
you want and customize it. They might work for what you want:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-build-your-own-social-network/
http://www.elgg.org/
Etc
MD
Jeff wrote:
> A new client has approached me with an idea to build a
social network
> site. The site would be directed toward college "in
class notes" and
> "homework assignments". Members would each have a
personal page and
> there would be a general discussion forum. The site
would allows
> members to upload text (in class notes and homework) and
graphics
> (.jpg's) to be shared with and downloaded by other
members. The site
> would have a search function to locate documents by
class, instructor
> or subject.
> My client wants to set this up for a single college but
hopes to
> expand to more universities later.
>
> I'm looking for recommendations, is there an existing
framework for
> this type of site, preferably free and in php?
>
> Jeff