The Ruby on Rails community has always turned heads with it’s lean mean web development framework and ultra cool websites powered by it. Lovd by Less is the latest and most exciting offering from the ROR community and should be of interest to anyone looking for slick open source social networking functionality. Last week we bumped into Rhea Drysdale, the online marketing director of Less Everything and asked her and the founders a few questions.

In one sentence, what is Lovd by Less?

Lovd by Less is a free open source social network platform built with Ruby on Rails — create your own social network.

Why should we use it?

The world doesn’t need another MySpace or Facebook, but social interactions in niche communities often improve the user experience and strengthen brand reputations. Lovd by Less provides a basic framework to help developers or technically proficient marketers add that social aspect to their site at a cost and time savings.

In your opinion, what makes a good community?

Good communities are networks of individuals with a common interest that sustains their involvement over time. Any community should be self-supporting and capable of surviving regardless of the platform. Before social networks we had message boards, IRC, and geocities guest books. Social networking is the evolution of a fundamental human need - to connect with others, and regardless of the medium that will live on forever if the topic is loved by even a handful of individuals.

What do you think is next for social networking?

Increased niche targeting and cross channel networking through sites like FriendFeed.

What advice would you give to anybody who wants to build a social networking community?

Go for it! Regardless of the platform (though we’d love it if they chose LovdbyLess), it’s a step in the right direction for many special interest groups and businesses. Before you begin, make sure the demand is there. Empower your users by giving them the tools they need, Lovd is open source, so your creativity is the only limitation. Also, make it easy. The easier a network is to use the more success you will have.

What one web app could you not live without?

It’s a toss up between Google’s suite of products (Gmail, Google Docs, etc.) and Less Accounting. The latter was developed by Less Everything purely for internal small business accounting solutions. We’d used several accounting apps, but kept facing simple functionality issues. After slowly building a solution specific to our needs over time we realized others might benefit from it as well and it’s now available to the masses. A redesign is currently underway and will be launched soon.

What’s your favourite website?

Steve Bristol - xkcd.com
Allan Branch - Flickr
Rhea Drysdale - StumbleUpon

If you had one programming wish for Lovd by Less, what would it be?

A simpler installation process. A lot of prospective users aren’t familiar with Ruby on Rails and get easily intimidated by the learning curve. It isn’t difficult to grasp after a little play time, but from download to implementation we might lose some users. Lovd was built purely to fill the demands of our clients, so considering a larger audience has been the number one post-launch concern after such amazing exposure.

A little off topic… but, between you three… what’s the best joke you’ve got?

Oh man, we’re terrible at this. That just killed ten minutes of our life debating which lame joke would make the cut. Here’s the best after we censored so as not to offend babies, woman, men, all races, religions, bears, rabbits, chickens and elephants….

“Waiter! This coffee tastes like mud.” “Yes sir,” came the reply, “it’s fresh ground.”

Many thanks to the Less Everything team for answering our questions - we wish you all the best with your projects. If you are thinking of adding social networking functionality to your website or business, then give Lovd by Less a serious consideration.