Buddyzone Review

The Buddyzone social networking platform is created by Valstal, and is another commercial software package.   The software is very "code-intensive" and was written and marketed by a professional programmer.

Unfortunately, programmers can't market very well - so the overall packaging and delivery of this social networking software leaves much to be desired.  The website is one of the driest and offers the least information on the product than all other competitors.  Additionally the documentation on the software is poorly written and full of spelling errors and typos.

However the software scripting itself is actually impeccable.  Clearly, most of the effort of this endeavor went into the coding, not the marketing - and the performance of the product definitely proves that.  Unfortunately, for the features offered, the customer support level, and the overall unprofessional feel of the website and service, the price asked for this product is a bit too high.

Regardless, for developers who are interested in a well written social networking platform that performs well and has all of the features that most of the average social networking websites require - this is certainly a software package to consider, if you can overlook the cost.

BuddZone Social Networking Platform

My first impression of Buddyzone based on the website is that this is an amateur operation and a "young" software product that isn't ready for prime time.  However digging into the software a bit more, it quickly became apparent that this isn't the case.  While it can be said that for the price, users should expect many more features and functionality than the free open source platforms that are available.  However with that said, this script actually does offer a few of some of the more technically advanced features that only very few of the best social networking platforms provide.  

Upon even a preliminary review immediately after installing the software, it was apparent that my assumptions were incorrect - this platform can, in fact, compete with some of the best social networking platforms out there - however only in the market for developers.  Because of its complexity, this script would probably not be suitable for non-technically savvy website owners.

Despite its price, lack of good documentation, and poor marketing - Buddy Zone does fill a niche for the market of developers who are looking for a fast and quick core product that can be up and running quickly right "out of the box."  For developers who understand how to install such scripting without much outside assistance, this software definitely fits the bill.

Requirements

Most social networking software packages that need to be installed on your web server have a minimum set of requirements for your hosting service.  In the case of BuddyZone, the minimum requirements are as follows:

1. Minimum PHP 4.1.0
2. Minimum MySQL 3.1.10
3. Minimum GD Library 2.0.1
4. Mod Rewrite and .htaccess enabled

As shown by this list, the requirements are not very stringent, and the BuddyZone software will run on just about any web space that supports PHP and has a MySQL database available.

Major Features

The BuddyZone script is quick to install for developers who are knowledgeable about the process of installing these sorts of scripts on a web server.  Once installed, the software actually works quote well and offers a number of impressive features.  Some of these innovative features are what makes BuddyZone an attractive option.

The standard features that are initially installed with BuddyZone include:

•-          Live Video/Audio Chat - chats are hosted on Userplane

•-          Video conversion to Flash

•-          MP3 Player

•-          Video Blog

•-          Can integrate with IPB, PHPbb, FlashChat, and php121 IM module

•-          Can integrate with Paypal

•-          CSS Based templates

•-          Forums, Blogs, Pictures, Groups, Events, and Classifieds

•-          Messages

•-          Photo Albums

•-          Payment Packages

•-          Shopping Cart

A number of these features make BuddyZone somewhat unique and only some of the best commercial social networking platforms offer some of these features.  Developers who want a bit more functionality on their site that will impress and entertain users, BuddyZone is sure to fit the bill.  However it's important to keep in mind that installation and customization for this particular software product is for fairly experienced developers or webmasters.

Performance

Our test run of BuddyZone was simple.  I recommend that anyone planning to use this software should try the demo to make sure that the look, feel and performance is what you require for your social networking website.  When we tested BuddyZone, it became quite clear that the script was written cleanly and efficiently.  The software is very easy to install and set up - and the features that are included in this social networking platform are extensive and quite impressive.  Our five user test utilized a number of the software platform's features simultaneously.  While it is very difficult to test how the system may handle under a very heavy load, the platform was fast and performed well under this limited load.  However, considering the high level of scripting that is involved in the back-end of this platform, high-load performance should not be a problem at all.  

During testing there were no bugs or issues at all with the software.  Installation actually went quite smoothly, although again - documentation is lacking for those who lack the experience to set up the script. 

Overview

The latest version of BuddyZone is available from the website (http://www.vastal.com/buddy-zone-social-networking-script.html) for $399.99 per domain. Another option is to "rent buddy zone to run your community" for a monthly cost of $39.99 per month.   This price is for unlimited and indefinite use of the software on your web server or domain.

BuddyZone is created by vastal.com which is actually a technical support website that offers a variety of products and services - so users should understand that Vastal support covers multiple products, not just the social networking platform.  This means that customer support knowledge about the product will not always be specialized, and customization requests may not be quite as professionally handled as they would be at a larger company. 

Overall, this commercial version of a social networking platform is a very well written script, very functional, flexible, and full-featured.  However given the fact that other commercial solutions exist at lower cost, with more customer support available - it is not recommended that developers dish out the $399.99 for this software when the equivalent, or better, can be obtained for much lower cost elsewhere.

However in the case where a developer needs extremely efficient scripting for a social networking website running on limited resources and space, then the additional efficiency this well-written script offers may actually be worth the extra cost.