Are you looking to create a website that looks just like Facebook? If that is the case then we have some news for you. With the help of WordPress, it has become increasingly simpler to create Facebook-like websites with flawless themes that cater to all the important elements of a community website in an organized manner. But before we proceed to the necessities. Let us pay attention to how a website is created via WordPress and enriched with Facebook-like themes to make it look like a legitimate social networking site.
Create Social Networking Site Using WordPress Themes
First and foremost, you will be required to buy a domain and web hosting to make your website rent virtual space on the realm of the internet and work seamlessly well with the domain without encountering any issues. There are many subscriptions and plans available to buy a web host and make your website more workable on the internet. After that, the user will have to create a virtual domain or an address for their community website through which the other users will access their website and register themselves with the community.
Once installed, WordPress will launch a wizard which will further guide you toward setting up a simple website with drag-and-drop features and techniques through which you can easily create a rough outline of a website.
Once through with all this, your website is now powered and ready. You can visit the WordPress archives and download any community plugins like PeepSo and BuddyPress which we will discuss in the next segment.
Required Features To Create A Social Networking Site
Some basic features that are needed to build a sturdy website like Facebook are:
- A seamless and near-perfect UI that integrates easy responsive and community-driven design.
- A Facebook-like activity stream where members can subscribe, like, and share content.
- Member profile registration and option for private texting.
- Group discussion forums and engaging chatbox activity.
- Option to enrich their website via hashtags and other emoji facilities.
- Customized member profile options and the ability to make it customer-friendly.
- Ability to transform the website into a marketplace just like Facebook.
- Community features such as the ability to add and delete friends, share content, and like and comment on things liked and disliked.
- Open discussion pages for all sorts of communities.
Installing Plugins For Your WordPress Website
Once the website has been set up with the basic elemental structure, the website admin must install a plugin to power up the website and supply it with the essential amenities to make the website more productive and engaging.
You can seek assistance via these two plugins to make your Facebook-like website a bit more interactive and fun:
1. BuddyPress Plugin
BuddyPress plugin is one of the most sought-after plugins that ensures that all the necessary community-like features are integrated into a WordPress website with ease and simplicity. With BuddyPress, an admin can easily integrate community features like creating and customizing member profiles, the ability to send and add friends and friend requests, managing news feeds and streams like Facebook, and also sharing and liking various social content.
Key Features:
- Manage social media settings.
- Ability to create member profiles.
- The facility of sending and adding friends.
- Create activity streams like Facebook.
- Create user groups and forums.
- Send private texts and invites.
- Customize user panels and settings.
- Infuse community features via adding friends, managing news feeds, sharing social content, private messaging, and so on.
2. PeepSo Plugin
Make your community by using the top social network plug-in for WordPress. Beautiful profiles of users, an activity stream notification, member list blog post integration that includes comments and hashtags, reactions, and other features.
PeepSo is a lightweight free user profile along with a social networking plugin available for WordPress that lets you easily and quickly create a social networking site or an online community like Facebook, directly to your WordPress website. A social network that works with WordPress with just two clicks!
Key Features:
- The plugin is equipped with fully functional technical support.
- Thousand of extensions and widget availability.
- Ability to create engaging websites with member panels and profiles.
- Instant messaging and activity streams.
- Upload photos and videos.
- Make engaging groups and discussion forums.
Installing WordPress Themes
Once the plugin has been secured that has made your website gain considerable momentum in terms of functions and specifications, it’s time to make necessary changes in the overall look and UI of the website. For this purpose, we have listed some of our WordPress themes that will make your website look more professional and collaborative just like Facebook.
1. Reign Theme
Reign Theme is a community-driven theme that caters to all necessary functions like Facebook. Reign supports PeepSo and offers a multitude of services to make your website look like a professional Facebook social network. The theme facilitates building communities such as Facebook and adding elements such as add and send friend requests, the ability to create and customize member profiles and panels, social forums, and engaging activity streams.
Also, Reign supports BuddyPress & BuddyBoss Platform using which users can create engaging Facebook-like websites with all community features like adding and sending friend requests, making online discussion boards, and having an engaging activity feed. The theme caters to all hobby niches and can be used to create a variety of hobby/community websites.
Key Features:
- Reign theme offers multiple addons for social connections like hashtags and polls to make your website more happening and engaging.
- Discussion board via bbPress to manage discussions and online talks.
- Add community widgets like Reign Groups, Reign Groups Carousel, Reign Members Carousel, Reign.
- Site-Wide Activity, Profile Completion for members and groups.
- EDD and facility to monetize website via paid memberships.
- GamiPress integration.
- LearnDash integration to make your website sell online courses.
- Woocommerce + Dokan support to build your multivendor marketplace to sell products and merchandise.
- Send and add friends requests, create activity streams, and send messages to friends with Reign Peepso.
2. BuddyX Community Theme
This theme is a 5-Star rated theme on WordPress theme archives and is one of the most exclusive and premium themes serving the community ideals of a website that embrace all the features of Facebook is the BuddyX theme. BuddyX theme has massive reviews on WordPress theme archives and is regarded as one of the most important themes that deliver all essential components of a community website. BuddyX can help create social networking websites with specifications that can accommodate a wide variety of features and specifications such as creating communities for NGOs, social learners, and so on.
Key Features:
- Community-oriented theme to make websites seek more elegance like Facebook and Twitter.
- BuddyPress and BuddyBoss Platform support.
- WooCommerce integration to convert website into a social marketplace.
- LearnDash integration to sell online courses via the community website.
- Dokan Support to make websites look more appealing have proper cart and product display/listing.
- Social gamification.
- Form integration via Gravity and Ninja forms.
- Gutenberg and Retina are ready.
BuddyPress Required Addons
WordPress themes provide only layouts, style, and widgets like Facebook in your social networking site. To add features just like Facebook, you need to add some addons which are compatible with the used social networking plugin. BuddyPress is the most popular and widely used plugin to create a community site.
Here, we have listed some of our premium and free BuddyPress addons required to get features like Facebook.
1. Hashtag Addon
Buddypress hashtag addon lets the users make use of hashtags on the BuddyPress platform with ease and comfort. The ad also supports the hashtag turning into links which can help facilitate a strong search output.
2. Giphy Addon
An exceptional addon for BuddyPress – BuddyPress Giphy, this addon makes the conversation flow seamlessly well by adding the feature of animated GIFs to make the everyday activity post more engaging and fun. Users can disable or enable the addon anytime to access its services.
3. Follow And Friend Suggestion Addon
Buddypress Follow and Friend suggestion addon helps the social networking sites on WordPress to help:
- Match the user’s profile with similar ones available on the data.
- Add friend suggestions that might be the promising lead for other member profiles.
- Lists the follow friend and list friend widget.
- Also adds matching conditions and mentions the match percentage.
4. Quotes
BuddyPress Quotes assists in features where the admin can upload images and allows the users to post activities with beautiful backgrounds and images and also provides an option for inverting color for texts and backgrounds.
5. NewsFeed
Buddypress Newsfeed addon lets the users create engaging and customized news feeds by combining all members to where they can see an activity stream. The addon also helps users where they can select which type of activity they wish to see and follow.
6. Status and Reaction
BuddyPress status and reaction addon add more productivity to a website by adding features such as status icons and tagline options as well as BuddyPress notifications when someone reacts to your posts.
7. Moderation Pro
Buddypress Moderation Pro delivers features such as the liberty to choose which BuddyPress component you need to enable or disable as well as set auto-moderation for BuddyPress activities. You can also set a limit for flagged content which after receiving five malicious reports will be removed from the website.
8. Private Community Pro
BuddyPress private community Pro lets the users make a private community on the website and is a premium membership plugin that enables the users to easily remove members and limit BuddyPress components based on activity.
9. Polls
As the name suggests, BuddyPress Polls facilitates engaging polls for your WordPress websites.
10. Profile Pro
BuddyPress Profile Pro addon helps in allowing members to add repeater Fields and displays site options to whether the admin can pick any fields as repeaters or not. It also allows users to change their profile field visibility.
Integrated Feature With Our Free BuddyPress Addons
1. Activity Link Preview
Buddypress Activity link preview helps the user to copy-paste the link on the BuddyPress website, and the link will later be converted into a beautiful image for preview.
2. Birthdays Widget
BuddyPress Birthdays Widget allows users to hide their ages and remind users of their upcoming friends’ birthdays. Admin can select the number of birthdays to show, map the date field, and set birthday range limit as weekly, monthly, or no limit.
3. Check-Ins
BuddyPress Check-Ins allow the users to update check-in on the website when they are posted an activity, or just like Facebook users can add places where they have visited.
4. Favorite Notification
BuddyPress Favorite Notification allows the users to mark favorite notifications and also the facility to remove them later from the list.
5. Activity Social Share
BuddyPress Activity Social Share addon helps install default social media on your BuddyPress.
Conclusion on Creating Social Networking Site
Building community websites like Facebook has become much easier with dedicated WordPress plugins and themes. Such powerful tools have made the process of creating a website from scratch a valuable experience that integrates many important features and elements to support community spirit and make a website like Facebook explore and cultivate community-driven ideals.
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