Websites like Facebook and Twitter have attracted hundreds of millions of users by simply giving users a way to connect and communicate with each other. With Liferay, you have the power to either build a portal around social features or enhance a portal built around content and collaboration by providing users with the tools to connect and interact.
To get started, you can use a selection of portlets designed to make users’ personal public pages a place where they can interact with each other by learning about other users and communicate using a simple messaging system. Using the now ubiquitous concept of “friends,” users can also form a long term connection with other users they frequently work with or with whom they share similar interests.
Outside of users’ personal pages, you have a variety of portlets, like the activity portlets, which are designed to help users identify other users that might be working on similar projects, and keep track of what’s going on around the portal. You can even use the Social Activity feature to give credit where credit is due and recognize the users who contribute the most.
Reaching even further out, Liferay provides integration with other sites and services that enable you to connect with users outside of your portal, either by pulling content from other websites using OpenSocial integration, or by pushing content on your portal out to a broader audience using Facebook integration. We’ve outlined the tools you have available, now it’s up to you to leverage Liferay’s Social Networking features in the way that best fits your portal.