Connecting CiviCRM to a private social network such as an Alumni Community

[njplatt]

I would like to manage an Alumni Association CRM, and provide a social network for alumni to communicate with their classmates and other members of the Alumni Community. Is their a suggested or proven case study for this type of application. I've implemented a test site of Acquia Drupal Commons and Civicrm, however, the Drupal Commons  social networking applications are not that mature yet without some serious programming. Perhaps someone has suggestions. Thanks

[petednz]

If you are wanting people to communicate between themselves then i reckon that is better done on the drupal side. Agree re Commons - which we are just deploying at clients persistence - would feel much happier just working directly with OG and relating modules like OG MailingList etc.

Of course it all depends how you define 'social network'. The more you can define it the easier for others to say 'try this'

[Hershel]

As Pete said, it depends on precisely what you want. Drupal's OG suite does provide a full set of communications tools, but there are other approaches also.