(We're getting more and more heavily into JomSocial . . . so this blog post has been edited . . . and a link to more related content is provided at the end.

Azrul is the developer of such products as MyBlog (which this blog is written on). I've found extremely strong interest in MyBlog among the Web 2.0 community, with a strong stream of visitors to the review of MyBlog I wrote on the Joomla Chicago site.

Second, there appears to be a strongly felt need for a social networking extension for Joomla, beyond the currently available Community Builder. We currently use Community Builder on the Joomla Chicago site . . . and, as you will see, that experience informs some of my comments below.

Now, what are the highlights of JomSocial?

First, when I joined the community at the JomSocial dev site, I discovered that any Facebook user will be very comfortable using JomSocial and will get a lot done very quickly. I quickly set up my profile, loaded in a head shot, found a bunch of friends already in the community, sent out a bunch more invitations to additional people I've encouraged to join, set up a group so that I can work closely with other people evaluating JomSocial who I will be able to connect with at the CMS EXPO in Denver in December, and joined several other existing groups.

Second, the ingredients seem to succeed in stimulating group participation. For instance, in the JomSocial dev community, a group has formed with over 100 people in it under the name "Release JomSocial Now!" As anyone who has managed interest groups will tell you, that's pretty phenomenal. Is it because JomSocial is really ready for prime time? or that it is playing in a massive and growing global Joomla community? or that the state of mind of Joomla developers is that, as one member wrote, "I need the beta so baaaad right now! Pleeeeeease . . . "

Now . . . how could or should JomSocial communities integrate with other networks -- both "parallel" networks set up using JomSocial, as well as the "Big Guys" -- such as LinkedIn or Facebook or others. I just can't get away from a nagging concern that, as the "major" networks grow more and more robust, the "tributary" (?) networks will only be effective if they can leverage some kind of connection to the majors, rather than beggaring people with yet another profile to set up and yet another set of contacts to select, etc. etc. etc.

In the weeks and months ahead, we at Arc expect to be actively engaged in helping our clients put JomSocial to work for them! (Do you want to be one of them?)

For more on JomSocial, see the main JomSocial page on this site.