A month ago BuddyPress was acquired by Automattic and today the new BuddyPress website was launched:

Right now BuddyPress is still in development,  but you can download the latest BuddyPress builds through SVN if you’re game.

Is this a game changer for social networks?

If BuddyPress becomes a popular add on for WordPress Multiuser, then I think, as I’ve said before, Ning and Facebook should watch out.  Come to think of it with the Prologue theme I could see local competition for a number of tools.

Now I want to think of something to try BuddyPress on…

News from: Photo Matt » New BuddyPress Site

Screenshot/image from BuddyPress.

WordPress is the bloggers platform of choice and with its array of plugins it can do nearly anything.  The WordPress Multiuser plugin BuddyPress let you turn a standard WPMU install into a powerful roll-your-own social network, now this plugin has been pulled into Automattic.

What I didn’t realize (doh!) was that BuddyPress was developed by Andy Peatling of Blaze New Media–in Vancouver!

This has been getting a lot of press today, and for good reason too because it tips Matt’s hand as to Automattic/WordPress’ plans for making a powerful, new social networking tool:

• Vancouver’s BuddyPress goes Automattic | Techvibes Blog
• Wordpress: Going after Ning.com? - - mathewingram.com/work
• Photo Matt » Backing BuddyPress
• BuddyPress (just shows a coming soon with an Automattic logo now)
• Another Andy at Automattic
• Automattic Assimilates BuddyPress, Moves Towards Social Networking

Ning on the ropes?
As Mathew Ingram notes that it could be a powerful competitor to Ning, especially if you can just install it all on your servers.  Rob muses on Techvibes if it will be rolled into WP 2.5.  That I doubt, I mean it could be possible, but I think the power and flexibility really comes with using it on WPMU.

Me?  I’d install it on my servers.  If it seems robust enough I’d sure recommend it to others groups like schools and small businesses.

Facebook should be worried
I’m still thinking that Facebook has peaked.  Social networking is as hot as ever, but Facebook, well I’ve grown weary of it.  Silly apps and no real use for me.  Sure I go there once and a while, but emailing me through there … I might respond, eventually.

With this kind of application, then a savvy company could build something cool for pretty much any group.

Yes the power of Facebook is how many folks are there, so yeah it won’t die easily, but using it for a business or something…I’d pass.  Tie it all in with OpenID and you have one ID for lots of different networks.

Sounds like a great idea.  Sounds like Facebook should be worried.

Great, great news this morning that Automattic received an investment, and the Gray Lady herself is one of the investors, of $29.5 million to build their business even more.  I like to see these reasonable amounts of funding.  Sure it’s a lot of money, but it also costs a lot to build a business as complex as what they are doing.  Just some of the coverage and kudos I read this morning about the investment:

• WordPress.com Creator Raises $29.5M - GigaOM
• » Open source business model reaching tipping point | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com
• Automattic Raises $29.5M Series B Round, New York Times Joins In - ReadWriteWeb
• Matt Mullenweg, Founder of WordPress.com, Raises $29.5 Million– bub.blicio.us
• A Fool’s Wisdom » We Raised $29.5 Million!
• Photo Matt » Act Two
• Wordpress lands a whopper - - mathewingram.com/work
• Automattic secures $29.5 million B round « Mark on WordPress
• Automattic for the Money ($29.5M to be Exact) | Mark Evans
• Automattic fundraising « Toni’s Garage

I echo Dan Farber’s sentiment that this gives the whole open-source business model serious credibility.  The fact that WP has taken off so fast (really if you think about it) and has been adopted by many large organizations (like b5media–all our blogs are on WP), is a testament to WP’s power, flexibility and stability.

Again, kudos to Matt, Toni, and the whole Automattic team.

The Crunchies were given out on Friday and the complete winners list was put up on Saturday.  Congrats, of course, go out to all of the winners, but there are a few winners who I want to give special attention to:

Best bootstrapped startup: Techmeme.
Founded and developed solely by Gabe Rivera, Techmeme serves as the front page of the tech blogosphere. The site’s advanced algorithms identify the day’s top stories by making sense of conversations across the web’s best blogs.

Best Startup CEO: Toni Schneider (Automattic)

Schnieder has lead the company from its roots as a open source alternative to Movable Type into a multi-million dollar enterprise that saves the world from blog spam and offers a free hosted blogging solution that competes with Google’s Blogger.

Most likely to succeed: Automattic (WordPress)

The open source blogging platform that powers the long tale and turned into a multi-million dollar spam fighting and hosted blogging service.

Best use of viral marketing: StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon’s service lets users bookmark and discover new sites they love. With only a $1.5 million investment in 2005, StumbleUpon gew to over 4 million Stumblers and was bought by eBay in 2007 for $75 million Source: 2007 Crunchies: The Winners

Gabe Rivera has done something great with Techmeme.  It might not be perfect, even Gabe sees that, but it is my source for finding the best conversations on the hot topics.  I generally know what the hot topic du jour is, but it’s who is chiming in and saying what that I use Techmeme for.

Automattic, well I’m a huge fan.  Congrats to all my friends as Automattic, Lloyd, Matt, Donncha, and especially Toni for pulling in the Best Startup CEO award!

StumbleUpon, before it was scooped up by eBay, was based in Calgary, so I have to give props to them.

With this kind of recognition, I wonder what is coming up for both Techmeme and Automattic.  Sure I could guess, but what fun would that be?  I’ll just have to see if I can dig up some tips.  Maybe DEMO in a couple weeks will give me some ideas.

Photo of Mike Arrington, Toni, and Matt by Scott Beale