The BuddyPress @Mentions is it’s system for sending site members a public message, similar to writing on a users wall in Facebook since the mention will turn up in that users activity stream. @Mentions is normally a one to one thing, if you want to have more than one person in your mention then you must include @member1, @member2 etc. In your activity update.
BuddyDev Username Availability Checker is a simple plugin that checks a new registrants chosen username against those already registered and checks to see if the name has already been used, if it has been used then a warning is displayed telling the registrant to choose a different username before they complete the registration process and therefore improving the workflow for new member registrations.
Mycred is a full featured system for awarding points based on member participation at your site, the types of activities that result is points being awarded are entirely configurable and you can install add-ons such as Badges that allow you to create badges to be awarded when certain points levels have been attained. For all it’s power MyCred is pretty simple to install and configure.
Now that you have installed BuddyPress and have configured a number of eats features and those of add-ons it’s important that you get to know BuddyPress from a users perspective. This article will take you through some of the basic features of your BuddyPress Installation from a users perspective. The exact range of features available on any site will depend upon which features have been enabled by the site Admin.
Social Graph Protocol BuddyPress YR is a plugin that aims to improve the information presented to Facebook when BuddyPress pages are shared onto this social media platform, it allows you to edit Meta tags that will be passed to Facebook when your WordPress and BuddyPress Activity pages are shared. This means that you have greater control over how your site is presented.
Buddy Member Stats is a plugin that displays a range of statistics about BuddyPress site members in a tab on their profile.
BP Restricted Signup by Email Domain is a plugin that allows a site administrator to set domain whitelists for user signups. This means that if you only want to allow members with a gmail.com address you can, or more likely, people with a .edu mail account
BuddyPress Follow allows members of a BuddyPress social network to follow each other, it places follow buttons on each members profile and in the members page and adds extra tab’s in each members profile page, one showing who is following you and the other showing who you are following.
One feature missing from the default BuddyPress installation is media galleries and the ability to allow BuddyPress users to upload their own images to be shared with others. Typical hosted social platforms allow the addition of media in three ways – media can be uploaded to a members personal profile page, for sharing with others and display on their profile page, Media can be uploaded to groups and held in a group gallery and media can be uploaded “to the site” – typically placed in a single collective gallery for all to see and often these images are displayed in a front page slider showcasing the uploads of those members. Sometimes media uploads can be marked as “Featured” and will be displayed in a featured content area in the main gallery.
So far we have installed our basic BuddyPress install for our Ning style social network, we have done a lot. But still the site we have created lacks features, for example there is no Chat or sharing of photo’s and video’s, it would be nice to have events, the groups are pretty basic as are the member profiles. This article attempts to show you how you can move further towards your dream social site by introducing quite a large number of plugins and giving you basic information about how to install and use them.
