This post has been migrated and imported into different systems over the years, I have not had a chance to format this post manually so it may be hard to read but I have left it here as a reference.

A service I stumbled across a few days ago which is called SocialEngine let’s you create a social networking website in minutes! You can choose to host it in the cloud and pay monthly or to buy the script and host it on your own. Social engine comes loaded with features which let’s you easily create and manage your social site. Try it today with a 14 day free trial!(image removed)

My Review

After signing up for the cloud version you will be presented with a getting started screen where you need to enter the name for your social site, select your URL and answer some simple questions.

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Submitting the form will bring you to your account screen where the url for your site is displayed. At this time you will have a working social network site. To login and begin configuring the site simply go to your site and click the sign in button as any user of your site normally would but use your email and password which you used for socialengine instead. Below is a screenshot of the sign in menu and as you can see, users are able to sign in using their email and password or with existing social networks such as twitter, facebook and linkedin.

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When you first log in you will be asked several questions such as if you would like a public or private site and if you want a site like Reddit, Facebook, or Twitter. The configurations are really nice and you are able to take bits and pieces from different existing networks to make your own custom social network.

After that we are done and you are free to explore the admin panel and all the different settings available.

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The first thing I went ahead and did was to go ahead and check the theme settings page and also change the current theme to something nicer.

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Here is a screenshot of my profile right after I created my social network

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Overall SocialEngine is great and highly customizable. There are many themes and options available and I have yet to explore them all. I find the script stable and easy to understand and I think my mom, who is learning how to use her iPhone at the moment, would even be able to setup her own social network if she wanted. The prrice of $39.99 for the cloud version is definitely worth it with the ability to move to your own server with even more customization abilities available for $299. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to create a social network. Try it today with a 14 day free trial!(image removed)