There is only one social network right now that puts a cap on the number of friends one can have. And that is the The Personal Network stroke Path. Based on Dunbar's research results, the guys behind it have put a limit of 50 friends for each user. And who are these guys? Dave Morin, once an executive at Facebook, and Shawn Fanning, cofounder of Napster. This gives credence to a view that I had that even though one can have hundreds to thousands of friends/followers on a social network, there is usually a small group that one particularly listens to or follows keenly. Here is how Dave Morin puts it:
"You usually have about five people whom you trust most, 20 whom you consider your BFF's (what's this, anyone?) and about 50 or so who are your personal network."

P.S: Did I hear one scientist say on BBC radio that man's evolutionary limit of their friendship networks is 150 people? May be Morin and Fanning aren't that off the mark in trying this out.

P.P.S: You can read the site's blog here.

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On the previous post, I outlined how you can set up a microblogging site using Buddypress. Note that I didn't specify on what Wordpress variant, as in Wordpress MU or the single user version. Well, since I installed the plugin on the single user site I see no problem if used on your personal blog (wrong?).
But here is one thread from the Buddypress Forums that is....: Installing Buddypress. And the jury is out.

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You should forgive me for this. This long entry was supposed to posted last year but due to procrastination...
If you really don't want to muck around with renting virtual private servers so as to run a powerful microblogging script, you can cheaply and easily create a microblogging service using Buddypress . Buddypress is a Wordpress plugin which you can easily install to your Wordpress blog to create a microblog. Twitteronia (service unavailable) is one such instance using this plugin.

Installing Wordpress

The first thing we should do is to install Wordpress. Hope you've got your domain name and hosting ready at this point! Now:

1. Download all the files that are required: the latest Wordpress release, Buddypress zip files or tarball, and Buddypress theme files.
2. Decompress the Wordpress zip file or tarball and upload the folder to your server.
3. Login into cPanel (I'm assuming your host is using cPanel). Go to "MySQL Databases".
4. Now let us create a database.Go to "Create Database". Give a name to your database plus a secure password. Click "Create" to create your database.
5. Go to "Create User" and create a user for this database. Ensure that this database user has all the privileges of accessing the database.
6. Now let us edit this file: the "wp-config.php" file that is in the Wordpress folder you just uploaded. Mind you, you'll be using a text editor here (Notepad++is my favorite). You can also use cPanel's File Manager application that has a text editor to do this.
7. To edit the "wp-config.php" file, involves answering 3 secret questions and also inserting your database username, database name and password. Do just that and save your changes. (UPDATE: If you are using Notepad++ to edit this file, you'll have to edit the file on your computer first before uploading to your server).
8. Let us turn to installing your script. Point your browser to the installer script. This should bring up a form where you'll have to fill in the name of your blog, your admin name and admin password. Click on the "Create" button. The installer will now connect to the database that you created and create tables and then populated it with data.
9. You have now successfully created your Wordpress blog. Hurray! Celebrate. You can now start posting, changing its themes and toying around with its widgets but....

Hey! Weren't we out to create a microblog in the first place. Oops, there is still some work to be done.

For the creation of your Wordpress database, you can use PHPMyAdmin too. Simply go to PHPMyAdmin. This will bring up the homepage listing all the databases on your account. Go to "Create Database". Chooser a name for your Wordpress database and then create it. You don't need to touch the other selection lists on this page. Now your new Wordpress database will be added to the others on your account.

Installing Buddypress

You are just close to having your own microblog.

1. Upload the Buddypress zip files to the "plugins" folder in the Wordpress folder.
2. Go to your administration's panel. Under the "Plugins" section, your Buddypress plugin should be available. Click on "Activate". Wordpress will first unzip the file and then activate it. To bypass this, just unzip your Buddypress download on your computer and then upload it to the "plugins" folder. If you go to the "Plugins" section, Buddypress should be available. Activate it. This is quicker than the previous step.
3. Unzip your Buddypress themes locally and then upload them to the "themes" folder in the Wordpress folder. Now go to the "Appearance" section in your Wordpress administration panel. Activate the theme that you want.
4. Visit your blog. OMG, it just looks like a microblogging site.... with your blog's name on it. Now you can post status updates. To post entire blog posts you'll have to go back to your admin section and create an entry. Woo hoo!

The beautiful thing about this plugin is that has got cool themes related to it. If you just don't like the default theme or if you want to clone Facebook's theme, take a look at the Fishbook and FaceLook themes. Above all, you can use this plugin to create a microblog on shared hosting. Cheap, isn't it? For those who would love to bring in their friends into the site for some action...

Wordpress MU

...Wordpress MU is just the script for you. With this script, you can let in more users onto the site with only a single installation. Couple that with the Buddypress plugin and we'll be talking of an online microblogging service like these 10 sites..

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Yup! That's from us. May be we should have said:

Happy Holidays

instead. But for us to convey the religious meaning of this occasion, we had to say it the right way. Could

Have a Merry Christ-Mass

conveyed it better than the common way? Anyway, that's up to you to decide. Now turning to matters of....

New Year Resolutions

Do you have any ready for 2011? Well, concerning about your microblogging activity:

• Have you planned to use content that is great and informative to woo more followers?
• Have you planned to tweet/post more often?
• Have you planned to revive that account that you neglected some time back?
• Or do you wish to have one in the coming year?
• Or may be you just want to engage more with those friends you followed/subscribed to this year.

Now I've added something on to your "Next Year's To-Do List". OUUCH!!!!

Enjoy your Christmas Holiday

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