XF 2.1 Has anyone made Xenforo look like a social site yet?

[drastic]

I'd like to have a setup that mimics the look/feel of Twitter/Facebook, so newcomers are familiar with the site and can figure it out.

I think it's possible if you skin/style the threads and give it a general timeline/newsfeed homepage, rather than a listing of forums/threads.

We already have the ability to do a quick post and tons of features for posting - it's just that the forum "look" is so outdated, that so many of the newer users are not figuring it out, or don't have the attention span to do so.

Xenforo software in general is just so damn good that I don't want to try any of the actual social scripts that already exist, and those I did try, like PhpFox, are just absolutely worthless.

It's a big task, but if anyone wants to chat about doing a custom style like this, I'd be listening for sure!

 

[Max Taxable]

Newsfeed on your profile

Latest activity

xenforo.com

"Latest activity" in the navigation does same thing.

Can be made the home, either by changing the "home" navigation link, or by making it a widget to use on "pages as homepage."

But.. If you want the fb or twitter platform there's several "clone" type platforms out there, for that.

Good luck!

 

[drastic]

Latest activity doesn't cut it though. And the clone scripts are all pretty much crap. I don't want some buggy $29 script that can't handle high traffic levels. Not even worth it if it's free.

I've seen XF handle high levels of traffic pretty easily, so it's worth investing on this if it's something that can be styled.

 

[MilesB]

@drastic I have been looking into XF alternatives for my private membership site because of the lack of social engagement....

Circle, mighty networks, tribes, etc.

They all have a social first approach and it seems to foster a lot more engagement in communities.

At this point I'm still on XF because I have a monstrous amount of content archived... So I've been looking into ideas about how to build around the XF platform to create a more social experience.

I'm not a developer I do have a budget for custom development.

If you have an idea of what's possible in vision for potentially implementing it I'd love to chat

 

[drastic]

We have the tech, but we don't have the look or feel that social users want or need.

A center column with where posts are displayed in full (extended if too long), with NO titles, and comments are threaded under it (like on Twitter/FB), is really all we need.

Users coming from social want to scroll and comment on tons of random uncategorized posts. They don't want to click on each post and reply, they don't like categories, they have no attention span whatsoever, nor do they have any idea what's going on half the time.

Social media is literally the dumbest form of Internet, but in order to make our communities grow tenfold, we must cater to that need.

I can't even get my users to register from Facebook and I have the Facebook login installed.

I sent FB pages messages about signing up, posting, and having the ability to NOT get banned for posting a meme...etc.

Still, they won't convert. They don't know how to navigate the site. Forums don't make sense to today's social media users.

We need an addon that disrupts the forum environment and gives us a social media like homepage.

I guarantee you this would spark some major growth.

You give the people what they want and they WILL sign up.

You confuse them with a forum, they won't.

And no, I don't like any of the social scripts out there, they're all half-a**'ed and full of features that are barely functional and they can't handle traffic.

Xenforo is superior coding and works great on xxx,xxx traffic per day - but come on developers and style makers. Give us a social look!

 

[Paul B]

they have no attention span whatsoever, nor do they have any idea what's going on half the time.

Glad I don't have members like that on my site.

I would close my forum before I catered to that.

 

[Mouth]

A center column with where posts are displayed in full (extended if too long), with NO titles, and comments are threaded under it (like on Twitter/FB), is really all we need.

Sort of like https://xenforo.com/community/whats-new/profile-posts/?skip=1 ?

 

[drastic]

Sort of like https://xenforo.com/community/whats-new/profile-posts/?skip=1 ?

The link goes to page 1 of 10, so I'm not really sure what part you're referencing.

 

[Mouth]

I'm not really sure what part you're referencing.

The bit I quoted. Add in smooth scrolling, and as a layout example it meets your expectations?

 

[drastic]

I think a nice looking page full of profile posts, of yourself and people you follow/friends with, would work and this could be the main page of the "community" without having any forum at all.

Funny right, using a forum script to focus on profile posts, and not having an actual forum LOL

The profile posts already have the editor, so adding pics, videos, and social media already works.

I'm tellin ya, we got the tech, the great coding, the addons - we just need a dev/designer to tighten it up and present it.

 

[drastic]

Waittttttt a second.
I just now realized this page exists. The what's new/profile posts.

So if we added a left sidebar, a "add new profile post" option to the top of the page, the right sidebar, and hide the "What's New" menu - then we're basically already there. We could hide the rest of the forum, route this as our index, and there we go. Absolutely no organization whatsoever, but that's what the social media crowd is into. :/

New profile posts

xenforo.com

 

[beerForo]

I wish that was integrated with content. XF could use a good integrated feed. Like someone said above, Latest Activity just doesn't cut it.

 

[Brad P]

Waittttttt a second.
I just now realized this page exists. The what's new/profile posts.

So if we added a left sidebar, a "add new profile post" option to the top of the page, the right sidebar, and hide the "What's New" menu - then we're basically already there. We could hide the rest of the forum, route this as our index, and there we go. Absolutely no organization whatsoever, but that's what the social media crowd is into. :/

New profile posts

xenforo.com

You could possibly achieve this using widgets or it might need custom development but I lt does sound interesting.

 

[bzcomputers]

Waittttttt a second.
I just now realized this page exists. The what's new/profile posts.

So if we added a left sidebar, a "add new profile post" option to the top of the page, the right sidebar, and hide the "What's New" menu - then we're basically already there. We could hide the rest of the forum, route this as our index, and there we go. Absolutely no organization whatsoever, but that's what the social media crowd is into. :/

This partially exists already also...

[cXF] Status update on What's new page

If you got our add-ons on websites other than customizexf.com or xenforo.com, then you got them on pirated sites. If so, we suggest you remove the add-on from the server and download it from the original site. Please, support the developers and...

xenforo.com

 

[webbouk]

If you are going to copy ****ter and FaeceBook why not save yourself all the hassle and just open up a T or FB Account/Group ?

 

[bzcomputers]

If you are going to copy ****ter and FaeceBook why not save yourself all the hassle and just open up a T or FB Account/Group ?

I think the whole point of having a socially driven landing page option like this is to create something that is already familiar to most of the general public out there. Familiarity can bring a higher percentage of visitors registering, making an initial post and returning. Then over time they can get more familiar with all the site has to offer.

A forum environment, by itself, is strange to most of the world out there. I believe XF, as it currently exists in 2.1, lacks a new visitor friendly, familiar front-end to easily transition completely new visitors into new members. I think a socially driven landing page / front-end option has possibilities to increase member numbers and post rates. It may not be quality content initially (purely social posts almost never are), but if you don't have a steady stream of new members to begin with the quality content will never come and veteran members will eventually get bored posting among themselves.

 

[beerForo]

If you are going to copy ****ter and FaeceBook why not save yourself all the hassle and just open up a T or FB Account/Group ?

I couldn't care less what social is doing I just want better discovery. Not, look over here for profile posts, now, look over here for new media. Click over here for this, and, oh I never knew that was there. One feed with the activity of members but in a read/unread title format, and not the always unbold action-first listings like the current Latest Activity.

 

[Paul B]

I couldn't care less

You get a like for writing/saying that correctly. (so many people use "I could care less")

 

[MilesB]

Waittttttt a second.
I just now realized this page exists. The what's new/profile posts.

So if we added a left sidebar, a "add new profile post" option to the top of the page, the right sidebar, and hide the "What's New" menu - then we're basically already there. We could hide the rest of the forum, route this as our index, and there we go. Absolutely no organization whatsoever, but that's what the social media crowd is into. :/

New profile posts

xenforo.com

This looks good (needs the sidebar nav, obviously) but it does neglect all of the actual forum based conversations...

I wish that was integrated with content. XF could use a good integrated feed. Like someone said above, Latest Activity just doesn't cut it.

This is what I'm dreaming of...

One feed that mashes up the most recent new threads, new replies and new profile posts into 1 feed, chronologically ordered based on most recent post or comment.

Kinda like the activity feed without all the 'likes' and showing more content than a 1-liner... Mashing up a new post to the first few hundred characters/words with a 'read more' and showing the most recent 3 comments with a couple hundred characters and 'read more'

And showing hte profile updates...

All together mashed up...

A way for people to infinitely scroll through the post content and activity updates, find a couple paragraphs on a topic they are interested in and boom, jump into the conversation...

My forums are private and they work for question and answer but they don't work for giving my members the ability to hang out with each other... to foster a little more banter is all I'm trying to do.

And looking at the modern community platforms, everyone leads with this timeline/newsfeed as the number's homepage...

I appreciate the conversation

 

[drastic]

Maybe folks like @Russ and @DragonByte Tech can jump in and take a look, see if they can come up with a style or addon that would give us that social landing page/feed where it's based on profile posts and users can mindlessly post and scroll.