I'm a really big Concrete 5 fan but would not use it for a social network.

Take a look at Elgg -http://www.elgg.org. It has lots of the same benefits as Concrete 5 - Open Source core driven by commercial developer, strong user community and lots of plugins.

It wins over C5 in this case as it's purely focussed on building networks/communities with lots of options for creating/joining groups, interaction between users etc. plus discussion and blog plugins are designed for use within a multi user/group environment.

i can't really compare it with elgg since i haven't used it, but a number of social networks have been made with concrete in the past. i guess this site is an example of one. Users can register, log in, edit their info, have a profile page viewable by other members, with a way to contact other members, the ability to befriend users, etc. Much more beyond that and you'd need to do some customization, but the basic foundation is there for you. what else specifically are you looking for?

I have used both elgg and C5. I am building a new social site. I choose Concrete5.

Elgg is nice out of the box. But customization is hard. Also, it does not cater to a static site on top of the social network. What I want is a site where users generate content, but then some of that content is promoted to a main site which is primarily informative.

Facebook is a pure social network. But that does not reflect the need of most niche social networks, which revolve around a core interest that is static and needs out.

Concrete5 is also much better at getting the site the way you want it. If you like elgg the way it is in the install, then great. If you want something different, it's hard. It can be done, but it needs some pretty niche expertise. I like elgg. But it locks you into a social networking model - very in-the-box.

If you want to build something very facebook like go for elgg, otherwise c5 is just great.

It takes almost no time to build a community like site with concrete5. I've built concrete5.ch in less than a day (including forum). Okay, it's definitely not perfect but it works..

Thank you- this was just the answer I have been looking for. I have been growing sick and tired of WordPress The bucket-loads of work that has to be done to make it a multi-blog, socially scalable type of site. Multi-press is a pain in the behind to configure, let alone update, and the whole thing is so slow I can see my grass grow in between edits. The next stretch of development for us includes user registration and a file sharing library for 3D modeling, so.... I'm attempting to rebuild my site from the ground up. I looked at Elgg and a multitude of other CMS/Blog/Web Builders (many tried over the years [Joomla, Drupal, textpattern, geeklog), but all of my paths of research have taken me back to Concrete5. I've only been playing with it for the last day, but so far am really happy w/ it.

I'm still researching the best way to go about adding some essential features such as:
> An image gallery and blog for art contests (preferably w/ flickr integration),
> A handful of blog pages for our team members,
- I'd like latest posts from all to funnel into one block on the main page.
> Profiles and a Facebook-like discussion system.
> Down the road, the ability for users to upload various file types for sharing and 3D print orders.

The big question is: how much of this can I utilize the core C5 system for, or is there a best add-on which includes most or all of these, or am I better off finding individual modules? To anyone here who has built a great social networking-type site, please share your experience!

It is possible to build a fairly basic social network with Concrete, especially if you're using 5.6 or newer. I understand that 5.7, when released, will have even better support for social-based sites.

There are plenty of addons in the marketplace that you can use and combine to create a rather nice social network.

Some addons I suggest for your project are:

- ProBlog (has the ability to allow users to create their own blogs)
- GalleryBox:http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/gallerybox/...
- SharingBox:http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/sharingbox/...

Plus there's many others, too!

This Sharingbox looks intriguing. It has me re-thinking the need for individual team blog pages. If I want my team to contribute, why make it redundant? Everybody wants convenience in this age of information overload. ;)