Free Open Source Community Software
Since people realized the value of social networking sites in marketing, companies have also started to place their ads on such sites. This sudden interest in highly ranked community sites only calls for the creation of more sites for advertisers to reach the most number of their potential target market on a worldwide scale. So if you want to earn by being a hub for ads, you will need the best community software to use as a platform for a site that would attract advertisers and bring in more money for you. To do so, first thing you have to decide is whether you want free or open sourced social networking software.Free Community Software
By definition, free software has no restrictions in terms of use, modification and distribution. It can be a good platform to use if you are just testing the waters of having your own social networking site. A free software is best for personal rather than paid sites. Since it is free, you are free to experiment with it and you won't lose anything if it won't meet your needs, which is almost always the case.
However, if you use free community software as platform for your site, you will likely constantly face issues on security and reliability. The primary reason for this perceived lack of security springs from the fact that the entire source code is made available to the public. In most instances, nothing is withheld so security can be easily breached.
Also, free social network software may only offer basic functions. In some cases, you will be required to pay for an upgrade in order to use some additional features. You might also get billed for distribution, support and modification costs (if you do not know how to modify it yourself). Still, compared to paid software, you will be spending less or no upfront costs with free community software.
Open Source Community Software
On the other hand, open source community script is a form of paid software that can be modified according to your preferences. However, unlike the free software, the entire source code will not be seen by the user because files pertaining to license remain encrypted. Some open source software can be distributed too but some are against the idea in order to protect the software firm that developed it. Open source software that cannot be distributed and is not fully non-encrypted is called 99% open source.
In terms of security and reliability, the open source community software is better than the free. For instance, in the case of the Chameleon social networking software, updates are automatically downloaded and it is secure enough to include modules for payment gateways - something that may appear questionable if incorporated in free software.
In choosing between the free and open source community software, you have to consider three factors: a.) How you intend to use the site that you are about to build? b.) How reliable is the software? And c.) Will it be something that you can use for a long time? By knowing the answers to these questions, you will be able to build your social networking site on a firm ground.
