One of the reasons why WordPress is currently, and historically, the leading content management system (CMS) around the globe is that you can customize it the way you want it to work. For example, if you are creating a news website, you can add automated newsfeeds that fetch data from different sources among other things.

If you want to make a social network, you won’t find any CMS that comes close to the level of flexibility and functionality that WordPress has to offer. As social media continues to grow, many people are realizing the opportunities that can be leveraged to create an online community of like-minded people. So if you have a successful blog or website, here is how you can turn it into a social platform!

BuddyPressBuddyPress is undeniably the best WordPress plugin for creating a social network out of your WordPress website. This robust plugin comes with a suite of tools that provide great add-on features to your site. With 100s of extensions that include creating groups, integrating other social platforms, and creating activity streams (timeline). Not just that, but you get to build a full feature social media platform that can also be integrated with other popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. In other words, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get BuddyPress for your social networking needs. To get started, we recommend that you first outline the nature of your social network, as that will determine what extensions you download. Once you’re done, download the plugin and set it up with your WordPress website to enter a new age of social networking!

Social Locker Developed by OnePress, Social Locker enables you to lock valuable content on your social network that can only be accessed by pressing one of the social buttons like likes for Facebook, +1 for Google +, and tweets for Twitter. It’s a great plugin to boost the social performance of your website and drive traffic. you have you have You can set custom URLs that you want to be liked, shared, or tweeted, and gain valuable insight with the built-in advanced analytics tools to assess the performance of your campaigns. More importantly, the plugin is SEO friendly to help you climb the Google search ladder. What’s more? Social Locker is mobile friendly and one of the fastest loading plugins you’ll find on WordPress!

CometChat Obviously, no social platform is complete without a full-fledged chat feature, and CometChat provides you with that and more. Available in 9 languages with minimal server load, CometChat is a jQuery chat plugin that integrates with BuddyPress and WordPress seamlessly. It also allows your social platform users to chat in real time with Gtalk, share their screens, voice chat, video chat, play games, and much more. While chat plugins have a history of not working efficiently across different browsers, that doesn’t seem to be the case with CometChat as it supports all modern browsers and is mobile friendly as well!