All about Elgg, the new social media platform

You may have heard of the social media platform called Elgg. It is growing in popularity and everyone is baffled by how practical it is and how smart it works. Now, if you do not want to be left behind and want to know more about it, read on and discover for yourself if it deserves such attention.

What is Elgg?

Elgg is actually an open source social media platform that you can get for FREE. It was created by Dave Tosh and Ben Werdmuller and was first released in 2004. Last year, the entire code was rewritten and it is now available in version 1.6.2.

The Elgg social media platform is actually more than just a social network. It supports a wide range of other social networking tools such as blogs, micro blogs, RSS feeds, wikis, bookmarks and more on one platform. For these reasons, it is definitely not difficult to understand why it is growing in popularity. It just has everything that everyone needs. Surely you wouldn’t want to settle for less, would you?

Elgg for collaborative work and social learning: Elgg highlights collaborative work and social learning. In fact, the founders call the platform a “learning landscape.” It is created specifically for education.

How is Elgg different from Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)?: VLE focuses primarily on the course and its content delivery, while Elgg focuses on the person (learner) and their interactions. Elgg is more like an informal space that allows students to exercise their thoughts and let them flow freely. It’s about allowing you to reflect and make your own connections without the complex approach and structure of VLE. Elgg allows you to discuss and feel real life.

Why choose Elgg?

Currently, there are now different social media tools available to the public. However, not all users can keep up with the daunting task of working with a large number of tools. While some people may find the challenge okay, many just can’t get things to work and feel overwhelmed by the tools. That is why besides the points already mentioned, here are other reasons why the Elgg social media platform is good:

o Allows you to create, manage and organize your own personal contacts and other resources. In addition, it also allows you to work with other users so you can basically co-create and share diverse content and resources in groups.

o With Elgg being used within an organization, you won’t have to work on compiling a range of separate social networking tools. Imagine how much time, effort and emotions you would have to expend if it wasn’t. Elgg saves you a lot of energy and makes everything you need just a click away.

o It also allows you to get rid of worries about security and privacy issues. Everything in the organization is secure because you can choose your own privacy settings.

o It allows you to enjoy a perfect environment where you can use a wide range of social networking tools that you can freely share with your friends whenever you want.

o It is not a centralized service unlike commercial networks that are a brand space. It allows you to customize your system to your specific needs and requirements, while maintaining site-to-site connectivity.

How to access Elgg?

Since Elgg is open source, it is free for anyone who wants to install it on their server. However, you must have basic technical knowledge on how to maintain your own web server. If you’re looking for a personal space, simply log in to Elgg.net. It’s a good place to start to learn more about what the Elgg social media platform can do and how it can help you.