General Information
338 Survey Participants from 52 Countries
- Algeria
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Guyana
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Norway
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Singapore
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Vietnam
Gender
- █ Male: 89%
- █ Female: 11%
Top Countries
- United States: 35%
- United Kingdom: 9%
- Germany: 7%
- France & India: 4%
- Netherlands, Spain, & Canada: 3%
- Italy & Australia: 2%
Top U.S. States
- California: 20%
- New York: 8%
- New Jersey: 6%
- Texas, Virginia, Washington, & Maryland: 4%
- Massachusetts, Illinois, Georgia, Colorado, & Florida: 3%
Your BuddyPress Sites
BP Versions Used
- BuddyPress 1.9+
- BuddyPress 1.8+
- BuddyPress 1.6+
- BuddyPress 1.7+
- Other Option
WP Versions Used
- WordPress 3.8+
- WordPress 3.7+
- WordPress 3.5+
- WordPress 3.6+
- Other Option
BP Sites Built
- 2 to 5 sites
- 1 site
- 16 sites or more
- 6 to 10 sites
- 11 to 15 sites
BP Sites Hosted
- Shared Hosting
- Virtual Private Server
- Dedicated Server
- Other (Managed Hosting: 4.66%)
- Not sure
Estimated Time to Build BP Site on single WP Install
- Seven days
- Three days
- One month
- Other Option
- Two months
- Six months
Estimated Time to Build BP Site on WP Multisite Install
- Other Option
- One month
- Seven days
- Two months
- Three days
- Six months
BP Users
- I use BuddyPress in my own site.
- I build BuddyPress sites for others.
- I build BuddyPress sites and create BP themes and plugins.
- I am a site admin of a BuddyPress installation.
- I am an advanced BuddyPress Developer - I can do anything BP.
- I create BuddyPress Themes.
- I create BuddyPress Plugins.
- I am a member of a BuddyPress powered community.
IE Versions
- IE 8
- IE 9
- IE 10
- Other option*
- IE 7
*Other option responses range from "Site is not up yet" to "What is Internet Explorer?" to "I don't let members to use IE.", among others in the same vein.
Themes and Plugins
Themes Used for BP Sites
- Free WP theme
- Commercial WP theme
- Commercial WP theme with BP support
- I create my own custom BP themes using BP theme compat
- I fork an existing theme (free or commercial)
- I create my own custom BP themes using BP theme compat overloading templates in main theme, BP theme compat disabled.
- Free WP theme with BP support
- Child theme of the BP Default theme
- BP Default theme
Preferred BP Theme Features
- Compatible with the latest BP version
- Responsive
- Light and Fresh Design
- Responsive, mobile-first
- Translation-ready
- Mobile App
- RTL support
- Other Option (bbPress support, many options, secure, well-maintained, accessible, boilerplate theme, perfect integration, great typography)
- Dark and Edgy Design
Number of Activated Plugins
- 6 to 10 plugins
- More than 20 plugins
- 11 to 15 plugins
- 1 to 5 plugins
- 16 to 20 plugins
Devices Used to Navigate Site
- Desktop
- Laptop
- Smartphone
- Tablet
- Other Option
BP Plugins Activated
Top BP-Specific Plugins Used
- BuddyPress Activity Plus
- BuddyPress Group Email Subscription
- Invite Anyone
- Buddypress Docs
- BuddyPress Activity Privacy
- Buddypress Xprofile Custom Fields Type
- BP Labs
- BuddyPress Custom Profile Menu
- BuddyPress Pending Activations
- BP Profile Search
- BuddyDrive
- Buddypress Group Calendar
- CubePoints Buddypress Integration
- Welcome Pack
- BuddyMenu BuddyLinks
- BuddyPress Activity Comment Notifier
- BuddyPress Follow
- BuddyPress Username Changer
- Private BuddyPress
- RS Buddypress Activity Refresh
Top WP Plugins with BP Support Used
- bbPress
- rtMedia
- s2member
- Gravity Forms
- Achievements
- Events Manager
- User Switching
- W3 Total Cache
- WangGuard
- SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam
- Bebop
- Recently Registered
Forums Added
- █ Yes: 58%
- █ Sometimes: 23%
- █ No: 19%
Forums Set Up
- █ Sitewide and Group forums: 48%
- █ Sitewide forums only: 29%
- █ Group forums only: 23%
Forum Software Used
- bbPress plugin (2.x)
- Other Option
- bbPress legacy (1.x)
- SimplePress plugin
- Mingle forums plugin
- Vanilla forums
- vBulletin
- phpBB
Components and Participation
Components Always/Almost Always Activated
- Extended Profiles
- Activity Streams
- Member Account Settings
- User Groups
- Notifications
- Internal Messaging
- Friend Connections
- Site Tracking
Components Never/Almost Never Activated
- Site Tracking
- User Groups
- Friend Connections
- Internal Messaging
- Activity Streams
- Notifications
- Extended Profiles
- Member Settings
BP Components Rated
| Components | Very Satisfied | Satisfied | Neutral | Dissatisfied | Very Dissatisfied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extended Profiles | 16.02% | 43.55% | 29.61% | 8.36% | 2.43% |
| Activity Streams | 12.80% | 41.86% | 30.10% | 11.70% | 3.46% |
| Member Settings | 14.33% | 42.65% | 32.16% | 8.74% | 2.09% |
| Friend Connections | 17.77% | 39.72% | 34.84% | 5.92% | 1.74% |
| Internal Messaging | 18.40% | 36.11% | 31.59% | 9.37% | 4.51% |
| User Groups | 14.64% | 39.02% | 33.44% | 10.10% | 2.78% |
| Notifications | 12.93% | 38.46% | 34.61% | 8.39% | 5.59% |
| Site Tracking | 8.99% | 21.94% | 57.91% | 7.91% | 3.23% |
Contributed to BP Development
- No
- Yes
Ways Contributed to BP Development
- Helped out in BP forums
- BP Trac: Reported Bugs
- BP Trac: Submitted patches
- Submitted a BP plugin to the WP plugin repo
- BP Trac: Tested patches
- Joined in BP IRC dev chat
- Submitted BP translation/s
- Wrote article/s in BP Codex
- Submitted a BP-compatible theme in the WP theme repository
Signed Up to Learn How to Contribute to BP Development
65 respondents from 31 countries signed up to learn how they can contribute to the development of BuddyPress. We will be contacting you soon.
Thank you!
- United States (25)
- India (4)
- United Kingdom (4)
- France (3)
- Netherlands (3)
- Spain (3)
- Brazil (2)
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Botswana
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Germany
- Guyana
- Hungary
- Iran
- Italy
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Peru
- Philippines
- Romania
- Russia
- Singapore
- Switzerland
- Turkey
Opinions and Requests
Evaluated other Social Networking Software
- █ Yes: 67%
- █ No: 33%
Other Social Networking Software Evaluated
BP Strengths/Opportunities
- Free and open-sourced
- BP is an official WordPress plugin.
- BP is extensible
- BP has community support
- Compatible with other WP plugins
- BP lets you own your own data
- BP is easy to set up
- BP Components included in the plugin
- BP Theme compatibility
- Positive feedback from your community.
- Documentation has improved
- Translation in your language
- BP has Groups and Forums
BP Weaknesses/Threats
- Need more features added to BuddyPress
- Performance
- Documentation is not complete
- Not sure about the future of the plugin
- Spam
- Confusing for users to navigate
- BP is not compatible with some WP plugins
- BP is not compatible with some themes
- Need phpdocs for developers
- It is free, development may not be market-driven
- Confusing to set up
- Translation in your language is not available
- Not what I expected
Requested Improvements & New Features
209 respondents posted 509 requests which were categorized as follows:
- Core-General: 16.92%*
- Groups: 7.28%
- Core - Media: 7.28%
- Activity: 6.88%
- BP Theme: 5.70%
- Members: 5.51%
- xProfiles: 5.31%
- Documentation: 5.11%
- Item Navigations: 4.33%
- Core - Performance: 4.13%
- Core - Privacy: 3.54%
- Spam Prevention: 3.34%
- Core - Chat: 2.95%
- Integration with other Plugins: 2.75%
- Notifications: 2.75%
- Registration: 2.55%
- Theme Compatibility: 2.55%
- Core - Ajax all: 2.36%
- Forums: 1.96%
- Messaging: 1.57%
- Core - Events: 1.37%
- Core - UI/UX: 1.37%
- a la Facebook: 1.18%
- Core - Search: 1.18%
*Core-General category includes some requests which are already being addressed in BP Trac as well as others with less than 1%.
Comments about BuddyPress or Survey
Keep improving this product guys!!
Overall though, much easier to use than drupal and great people working on it. P.S. For instance, the fact that you are carrying out a survey shows you care!
Over the last 8 years I have researched the best way to build community sites for various projects, over all others buddy press has stood the test of time and helped me help so many other people. Thank you for continuing to improve bp : ) Aloha!
I think this is awesome! Hell of a job! =)
Thank you for bulding BP. Please make it as stable as possible
We are trying to use BuddyPress as a "CRM" for a college - administration to communicate to students, students to set up ad hoc groups (e.g. study groups, student organizations, etc.). It doesn't quite work as we need, but is the best system we've found so far.
Buddypress is great, and I hope to build more sites based on it.
BP is without a doubt is the best open-source community builder software out there that can only get better if it can be handle WordPress's shortcodes properly.
It's been awhile since I've actively participated in BP -- it's community, development, and plugin dev. I am pleased with how it has evolved and look forward to seeing what is in store for the future.
Thx for all the coding!
I think Buddypress is a great community site and I love that it integrates with WP and other plug-ins. I appreciate all the work that has been put into the development of this product.
I love BuddyPress. It is an amazing tool. Thank you to all the developers who make it possible. I came to it as an open-source, lower cost alternative to Ning. Buddypress is, however, a major LABOR of love for non-technical site admins like myself.
Survey is too long!
BuddyPress is awesome! There are some problems with BuddyPress on MultiSite, but other than that, it was awesome! Thanks for the survey!
I hope this survey helps the future development of buddypress. great idea to involve users! thank you!
After 3 months of developing, the BP part of my website just went live and it's great to see people becoming friends and joining groups immediately. Thanks for making that possible!
Just keep developing it, and I'll keep on using it! :)
It may be bulky, but I like the features it gives my site. I also noticed that the documentation has improved, good job on that!
Happy to have my thoughts considered.
Thank you Automattic, WordPress & BuddyPress devs. Love WordPress. Love BuddyPress and have been using it since the start. There are lots of high school, college and university students who would benefit from the exposure to free, open source, easy-to-use software, thinking and programming opportunities.
I expected my first install would involve complicated steps and configurations ... was I wrong! Woot!
My WP/BuddyPress/bbpress install at times feels like an enormous ball of duct tape. It takes significant amounts of dev time just to keep it running. I'm a Ning refugee and deeply hated their walled garden, but my 2+ years on BuddyPress have NOT been easy.
I admire you guys. BP 1.9.1 is great. Good that you take feedback from the community. I've started developing BP themes from dec'13. Lets see how it goes, so far smooth and theme's almost complete.
I appreciate your efforts on making such a wonderful software.
I think buddy press is a good system for non profits. We are using it in a site of 1K people on a shared solution and people are mostly happy. We have been theme hacking to make it more responsive in our local environment but overall it's been a good fit.
Please improve its performance and features.
BP is an incredible piece of software and you should all be very proud of what you have created. Thank you for all of your hard work and know that we appreciate your efforts and put them to go use to make the world a slightly better place.
keep rocking! free and open source!
I love BuddyPress but it's hella tiring building out all the required theme files. That said, I wouldn't want it any other way. The flexibility is too good to miss.
I use BuddyPress with bbPress to power a large intranet. It has proven quite popular and easy for end users.
Keep up the great work! We love BP and would like to do more to support it's ongoing development. I'm really enjoying the new release schedule. The new theme compatibility is fantastic, and love the direction that this is taking BP. Looking forward to BP 2.0!