Social media plugin/function for ST

[Dan Robinson]

We've touched on this in other discussions, but I wanted to start a dedicated thread for this as I believe it is important. I've been thinking during my travels this year how it would be great if ST had a social media feed-like function that allowed the posting of pictures, quick/short thoughts, in-the-field reports and the like that aren't fit for a thread. Something that other users could reply to in an attached discussion much like Twitter and Facebook. Discord accomplished that to some degree, but the problem with that is that it was a hidden and separate platform that wasn't connected in any way with the main site.

I did some preliminary searching on this and it does not appear that Xenforo has a plugin that does this yet, though there is a long thread on their support forums that expresses the same desire:

XF 2.1 - Has anyone made Xenforo look like a social site yet?

I'd like to have a setup that mimics the look/feel of Twitter/Facebook, so newcomers are familiar with the site and can figure it out. I think it's possible if you skin/style the threads and give it a general timeline/newsfeed homepage, rather than a listing of forums/threads. We already have...

xenforo.com

If anyone knows or comes across something like this, it would be nice to see if it's a possibility. I had success using Upwork to hire programmers for the LCR icy road risk script, so that might be an avenue to possibly build or tweak something that already exists. There may be something like a chat plugin that allows threaded discussions that can be styled/themed to look like a social media feed that would be intuitive for everyone to use.

I would be willing to donate toward the cost of licensing or developing this if Jeff and others agree.

 

[Kyle Soldani]

I've used the ST discord in the past for the event day, other than the threads getting off topic a decent amount on occasion; I've found that a decent spot to share pictures and discussion throughout the day. If you can look past the people crapping on the setup just because they can't go chase, it may not be a bad option. But I agree, the integration lacks with the main site and it would be neat to have the two intertwined further.

Discord aside, I am in support of a larger scale project like you mention and would happily donate towards development if it would be helpful. This gets a thumbs up from me for sure.

 

[Mark Gressman Jr]

While I am by no means opposed to this, and would certainly use it if it was integrated into the main site, how would it differ from profile posts or the shoutbox chat? I know with the chat on the main page there isn't much you can do with it, but you can post pics on your profile posts and that shows on the main page with certain skins. I'm using UI.X and the top handful of the most recent profile post show up near the bottom for others to see and interact with. I never used Discord because I don't have any desire to have to go somewhere else, or set up something outside the main site.

 

[Jeff Duda]

The Shoutbox feature I added several weeks ago was an attempt to move in this direction. Unfortunately, that feature doesn't appear to be getting a ton of use, and the lack of ability to post photos or videos is probably a big part of why. I also can't do anything about that. But I'm glad this discussion has arisen, and I am very much open to finding Xenforo features that can mimic the short-fuse nature of social media apps without also clouding up our typical high-quality forums such as the Target Area.

If anyone hears about a Xenforo feature that can provide this, please let me know.