About

Elgg is an open, flexible social networking engine, designed to run at the heart of any socially-aware application. Building on Elgg is easy, and because the engine handles common web application and social functionality for you, you can concentrate on developing your idea.

Elgg is open source. That means, when you use Elgg, you have the benefit of being part of a large developer community, with the security and stability that hundreds of eyes can provide. It's also headed and used by Curverider and its partners, so you can be assured that it's in commercial use and will cope with the demands of a popular application. read more...

It runs on Apache, PHP and MySQL - the same open source platform that the majority of web applications are written in. Elgg is compatible with enterprise technologies like the Zend Platform and any server environment that can run the Apache web server.

We believe in an open, distributed, social web. As a result, Elgg supports technologies like OpenDD, OpenID and OpenSocial, and we are directly involved in community efforts to push the envelope when it comes to data portability, federation and the user experience. Elgg is a great way to future-proof your social applications.

Elgg was founded by Ben Werdmuller and David Tosh, and has been powering networks since 2004.

People

Lead Developers

Advisors

  • Leonard Lin
    has spent more than a decade developing social media and online community tools for the Web.
    Blog - On Twitter
  • Matt Fix
    is a Principal at Vodafone Ventures, a $200M fund focused on the mobile and digital media space.

  • Biz Stone
    is the co-founder of Twitter, a global service for the social exchange of news, ideas, events, and more.
    Blog - On Twitter
  • Stan Stanier
    is Head of Learning Technologies at the University of Brighton.

  • Sasan Salari
    has been immersed in technology since 1995. As one of the founders of eLearning software WebCT.

Elgg in print

ReadWriteWeb (Sept 25th, 2008): RWW Interviews David Tosh of Elgg, The Open Source Social Networking Platform

Linux.com (Sept 23th, 2008): Roll custom social networking sites with Elgg 1.0

InfoWorld: 2008 Best of Open Source Software Awards

Water and Stone: Elgg highlighted as a rising star

Packt Publishing: Elgg Social Networking

Packt Publishing: Elgg second best Open Source Social Networking CMS

Mashable: Open Source Social Platforms: 10 of the best

.NET Magazine: Build a social network

Mashable: Explode is a New Social Search Engine

Techcrunch: Look out MyBlogLog - Here comes Explode (powered by Elgg)

Wired:Don't Tell Your Parents:Schools Embrace MySpace

Webpronews.com: Elgg - Social Technology Software

The Guardian: A space on the web that we control

ZDNET: Run your own 'MySpace' with ElggSpaces

NetworkWorld: An Open Source Education

TechLearning: Community 2.0

ReadWriteWeb: Elgg - social software for Education

Some Elgg-powered sites

UnLtdWorld
UnLtdWorld is a social network aimed at connecting social entrepreneurs, social innovators and socially-minded people.

Snippr
Snippr is a custom social networking site built on Elgg.

Rucku
Rucku is the web's largest social network dedicated to rugby.

University of Brighton
Community@Brighton is a social networking system for students and staff at the University of Brighton. It was the world's first campus wide social network.

Stop Heathrow Expansion
Greenpeace UK
Site visitors can upload a video from their mobile phone or computer to add their voice to the lobby.