On Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Alec Taylor <alec.taylor6@gmail.com> wrote:

Good Morning,

I'd like to utilise a social-network site for student-groups using
only Free and Open-Source tools.

Mockup of the student-group homepage (dashboard):
http://i.stack.imgur.com/ggEDC.png

I am looking at various solutions both Drupal based (Drupal Commons,
OpenAtrium &etc) and not (Diaspora, Insoshi, Yogurt Social Network,
BuddyPress, Elgg, Mahara, CommunityEngine, Lovd by Less &etc).

Is Drupal the best platform for this site, or should I use something
else? — If Drupal, please tell me which modules (or distribution of
modules, or project) to use.

Thanks for all suggestions & information,

Hi Alec,

We're using Drupal Commons for something similar to this. You might also want to consider buddypress, depending on your needs. It's the engine behind the CUNY academic commons:
http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/

finally, you could think about just using google plus or some other existing semi-standards-compliant social network.

Best wof luck,
Matt