Note: These are the notes for a presentation I gave at Minnebar on Saturday, November 21, 2009.

Definitions
BuddyPress is a plugin for WordPress MU (Multi-User) that basically allows you to install and customize your own personal version of Facebook and/or Ning.  WordPress MU is amazing software that lets users set up their own websites on your domain.  WordPress is the best content management system in the world (that I have used so far).

Things BuddyPress Does Out-of-the-Box:

• Allows users to set up and control their own profiles (with photos!)
• Allows users to set up and control their own WordPress installations.
• Admin delegates access as desired.
• Allows users to create groups and forums.  These can be public, private, or invitation-only.
• Users control which forums and groups they are part of.
• Users control notification settings (i.e. whether or not they receive emails for group posts, etc.)
• “Friending” other users (like Facebook)
• Built-in email messaging system (like Facebook)
• Status message updates (like Facebook)
• Template tags for displaying members, site-wide activity, user status messages, lists of user blogs, etc.
• Adds new widgets to play with! (Ex: “Who’s online avatars”, “Welcome Message”, “Site-wide activity”, “recent site-wide posts”, “Recently active member avatars”)

Other Cool Stuff:

• Plugins use the WordPress plugin system, so pretty much anything you can do with WordPress, you can do with BuddyPress.
• Same core as WordPress MU (PHP/MySQL)
• It is open-source.
• A full-time Automattic staffer, Andy Peatling, runs the project.
• Child themes are possible (and recommended).  This means that when BuddyPress updates its core files, you will have less updating to do.
• WIDGETS power a lot of the functionality!

Resources
How to build a child theme in BuddyPress
BuddyPress Template Tags
Creating a custom page in BuddyPress using only code (advanced)
Creating Communities in BuddyPress (presentation at Wordcamp NYC on 11/14/2009 by Lisa Sabin Wilson)
TestBP.org (Give BuddyPress a test drive!)
Sites using BuddyPress
BuddyPress FAQ