Below are some of the options available to you if you want to put some social aspects on your blog and/or grow your own social network.

WordPress themselves have built a plugin buddypress.  This is designed for creation of a social network on/via WordPress. Bear in mind that it does need, however, dedicated hosting.  That’s likely to be an option for most of ClubBlogger’s regulars.

It’s worth taking a look at these:

WP-Polls

This plugin adds AJAX polls to your blog (whether to the posts or to the sidebar). It encourages participation, amongst other powerful features.

OpenId

Allows users to register in order to post comments. OpenID is a universal authentication protocol which many of you will have come across. OpenID is obtainable from many big names like Yahoo (and WordPress).

FV Community News

Brand new blogging trend.  It’s up-and-running on a lot of current wordpress blogs. The plugin permits user-submitted news items (with a short description and a link). Again, interaction is great and freshness (is that even a word? ) is right up there.

Social Interaction without plugins

Bloggers are currently increasing social interaction on their weblogs without plugins. How?

Well, we’ve done this before, too. It’s really great to post ’shout-out’ posts which mention top commenters. The possibilities are endless – competitions, prizes, you name it.  This is really one of the great sides of blogging.

We’d love to hear more about your experiences and anything you have to share with ClubBlogger.

All the best, guys.