Social networking is as popular as ever, so how can you go about capitalizing on this interest for your business, your brand, or your online presence in general. Sure, you could try investing in some freelance web coders to create a social network for you, but it’s a lot easier to use a free plug-in instead.

WordPress may largely be known as a blogging platform, but it can also serve as a social networking platform thanks to the BuddyPress plug-in. In effect, this serves as a social network “in a box.” It includes all sorts of features you’d normally find in a standalone network.

For instance, you can get users to register on your website. From there, they can set up their profiles, post messages, make friends (connections), create groups, and so on. This social network can be good for businesses, to be sure, but it can also prove useful for schools, communities, clubs, and other similar organizations.

Check out the live demo and find more information about BuddyPress in the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Hi everyone!

We just wanted to take the time to fill you in on what we have been working on over the past few months.

Server Migration
We have completed the migration of all clients to brand new state-of-the-art servers! These new servers are 2.26GHz+HT Quad Core Intel Xeon Nehalem with 12 GB RAM, RAID 10, and offsite backups. The new servers are far more reliable than the previous servers.

New Billing System
Our new billing system is in place and working wonderfully! The entire billing process was one of the biggest complaints we heard about from customers after we took over BlueFur, and we’ve heard them loud and clear! With our new billing system, you’re able to view pending and previous invoices, update your credit card information, upgrade your hosting plan, register or renew domain names — all in REAL TIME. The billing system is available at:

https://blueadmin.bluefur.com

Reseller Hosting Launched!
We launched Reseller Hosting in April! The new Reseller plans offer generous disk space and bandwidth allotments with unlimited resold accounts and all the features you could ask for using the industry-standard cPanel and WHM control panels. Our amazing 24/7 technical support and 45 day money back guarantee are both naturally included!

Phone Support and Live Online Chat
When we took over BlueFur, we had to temporarily stop offering telephone support. That was resolved and we’re again able to offer telephone sales and technical support assitance to all customers and potential customers! We’re available Monday through Friday from 10am to 6pm Eastern Time, and our phone number is +1.866.606.3734.

Additionally, we launched Live Online Chat at the end of May. If you have a sales or technical support issue, you can visit our webpage and click on the “CHAT LIVE NOW!” image located at the top of the page to be instantly connected to one of our live representatives.

In the coming months, we will be releasing our VPS hosting product! It’s currently under development and will be based on Xen. Plan specs and pricing will be coming at a later date.

If you have any questions, comments, feature requests, or anything, feel free to post a comment here!

Thanks,
Tom S.
Chief Operating Officer

Just because you want to go green with your transportation choice does not mean that you need to sacrifice anything in terms of performance. In fact, you don’t even need to go “half way” by buying a hybrid vehicle; you can get plenty of speed and style with a car like this.

The new Tesla Roadster 2.5 was officially unveiled by Tesla Motors last week and it represents an update and an upgrade to the existing Tesla Roadster line of sports cars. A full electric vehicle that can be recharged by plugging into almost any wall outlet, the Tesla Roadster is no slouch when it comes to performance.

In fact, it’s AC induction motor and single-speed transmission provide up to 288 horsepower and 295 lbs-ft of torque. The torque kicks in right at 0rpm too, so you can enjoy an instant jump off the line, accelerating from 0 to 60mph in just 3.7 seconds.

While you will certainly save at the pump, the Tesla Roadster 2.5 isn’t exactly for those on a budget. You are still on the hook for the electricity bill (if you plug it into your own home), not to mention the $101,500 starting price point for this sporty little number. On the plus side, you can enjoy up to 245 miles per charge, albeit not with the pedal to the metal the entire time.

A new smartphone or digital camera may be a fun gadget, but a speedy sports car is so much cooler. Don’t you think so?

Are you looking for a great summer home? Maybe you’re looking for a fantastic first home in a more idyllic setting? If that’s the case, then you may want to connect with Cary Graham. She’s the BlueFur customer of the week.

Specializing in residential real estate in Gibsons and the BC Sunshine Coast, Graham takes “great personal satisfaction from helping my clients achieve their goals” and she handles “each transaction with genuine concern.” After all, buying or selling a home can be one of the biggest decisions of your life!

Through her website, which is of course hosted on BlueFur’s reliable and affordable servers, you can find more information for buyers and for sellers. You can also search through the available listings too. She’s there to help!

Do you use BlueFur as your preferred web host? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

Whether you want a WordPress theme that is relatively simple in nature or one that is robust with all sorts of cool features, it seems that Minimal Xpert could be a good fit for your needs.

This free theme comes with a clean look, featuring easy-to-understand navigation near the top of the page, a right-aligned sidebar with space for many of your favorite elements, and a color scheme that is easy on the eyes. The kicker is that it also comes with a number of other features, most of which are optional.

You don’t have to go through every option if you don’t want to, but they are there at your disposal. For instance, you can easily set your own custom favicon, which is great for the overall user experience. Other highlights include the ability to include (or disable) thumbnail images for individual posts, to include (or disable) a home page slider, and to include (or remove) the “related posts” section from each blog post. The sidebar ad block comes in quite handy too.

AJ Clarke is the theme’s designer and developer. You can find more about Minimal Xpert through AJ Clarke’s site at WPExplorer.com. The feature list, preview link, and free download link are also located on that page.

Another week has come and gone, so it’s time to go for another tour of the blogosphere. Let’s see what the bloggers have to say.

Gus Fosarolli has decided to abandon his old moniker and domain of Gus Digital to capture his real name instead. He was initially concerned that people wouldn’t know how to spell his last name, but the move to the new domain could actually aid in that effort and aid in his own self-branding too!

Diary of a Smart Chick poses an interesting conundrum for us to consider. Should we be paying patients to take their medications? Non-compliance can be quite a big issue with many patients, including those in hospitals and nursing homes, so is a monetary reward really the way to go? Does this cross certain ethical standards?

Ben Spark lets us know about some networking tips for conferences. Whether you’re going to a major trade show or a smaller unconference, you’ll want to pay attention to these tips so that you can maximize your attendance. Don’t hide in the corner; get out there, interact, and exchange business cards.

Kathryn Vercillo is a work-at-home professional. In one of her more recent blog posts, she compares and contrasts laptops and desktops when it comes to computer choice. Laptops afford greater portability, but desktops typically offer better posture and performance. Which do you prefer?

Thursday Bram gets a good deal of “free stuff” for the purposes of writing reviews. However, hanging onto these items could present an issue when it comes to income tax season. As such, she describes some strategies for handling review copies once you’re done with them.