Open Source CMS Social Resources
We received a request the other day from someone interested in finding social networking-type resources focused on open source content management systems. We did a bit of looking around at the larger social networks and found a number of different groups and resources focused on the open source CMS.
Large networks, like Facebook, actually host a fairly large number of special interest groups. Some are broadly concerned with software or web design, but there are also quite a few that are focused on specific CMS platforms. While the majority of the groups are concerned with major systems like Joomla! or Drupal, you can also find a surprising number of other systems represented. Channels like Twitter, offer even more variety.
We’ve put together a list of what we found — at least for the larger networks and the larger groups. This list is not intended to be comprehensive, but you should give you a good idea of what it out there and how to contact them.
FACEBOOK GROUPS
Perhaps not surprisingly, (given the wide range of interests on the site) Facebook includes quite a few groups concerned with Open Source CMS-related topics. There are quite a few fan sites for popular systems like Joomla!, Drupal and WordPress, but only a couple of groups that cut across lines and cover the category as a whole. Here’s a short list of the biggest and most active groups.
General Interest Groups
- All Users of CMS (members = 957)
- I Use a CMS (members = 274)
- Open Source CMS (members = 104)
Groups Focused on Specific Systems
- Drupal (members = 2,766)
- Drupal Theme (members = 368)
- Joomla (members = 5,484)
- WordPress (members = 2,467)
I was surprised at the strength and variety of Groups in action over at LinkedIn. A number of systems are the focus of various groups, with Magento showing a large following.
General Interest Groups
- CMS User Group (members = 957)
Groups Focused on Specific Systems
- Drupal (members = 2,321)
- Drupal Users Group (members = 908)
- Joomla Professional Users Group (members = 1,414)
- Joomla CMS (members = 489)
- Magento Users Group (members = 1,099)
- WordPress (members = 915)
MYSPACE GROUPS
Despite the size and vitality of MySpace, there is very little group activity focused on the Open Source CMS space. I guess they just can’t be bothered…
General Interest Groups
- CMS Groupies (members = 12)
Groups Focused on Specific Systems
- Joomla (Joomies) (members = 44)
ORKUT
Orkut has a very active user base with a large number of relevant groups. While the vast majority of the groups are focused on specific systems, there are a couple of nascent general interest groups.
General Interest Groups
- I Use an Open Source CMS (members = 3)
- Open Source CMS (members = 3)
Groups Focused on Specific Systems
- Drupal (members = 354)
- Drupal Development (members = 165)
- Joomla (members = 900)
- Joomla and Website Development (members = 813)
- WordPress (members = 612)
SCRIBD GROUPS
Scribd provides a social document sharing site. People upload documents, white papers, sample book chapters, etc. Here I list both the size of the group membership as well as the number of documents in the group.
General Interest Groups
- Open Source CMS (members = 63; documents = 67)
Groups Focused on Specific Systems
Several of the open source CMS projects have their own Twitter accounts, here’s a quick list of the most active ones:
- DotNetNuke (Official?)
- Drupal (Official Site?)
- Joomla (Official Site)
- Magento (Official Site)
- Mia (Official Site)
- OpenCMS (Official Site)
- Plone (Official Site)
- WordPress (Official?)
note: This article was updated on 18 March 2009.