Want to start a community site for your local football club or for your website online? Below are five web services that allow you to run a social community group web site free of cost:

Grou.ps

Grou.ps GROU.ps is a platform for social groups to get together. Use it for any purpose. Choose your template and pick all the modules that you want (wiki, blogs, photos, links etc). And get your group web site without waiting. No branding, it’s free! Plus it’s integrated with 3rd party services such as Flickr and YouTube. Your friends will love you…

Grou.ps

Grou.ps even lets you place your own Google adsense ads. Check out the below video for a visual introduction to Grou.ps:

 

 

Ning

Ning Ning has more users than any similar service. ‘Create your own social network for anything.’ is its catch-line. The service does place ads in your community site though. Below are some of the features offered by Ning:

1. Custom Brand

Use your logo — or any other image — at the top of your network. Fully customize the look of your network by choosing a theme or creating your own design with CSS.

Custom widget

2. Add Text & Widgets

Insert widgets from other websites or create an area for your weekly column, special promotions or community announcements.

Members

3. Member Profiles

Each member of your network has a fully customizable profile with their photo, basic information and everything they’ve contributed to the network.

Event listings

4. Event Listings

Schedule events, invite network members, and keep track of who’s attending.

Interest groups

5. Interest Groups

Create groups inside your social network around hobbies, interests, affinities, geographical locations and more.

Activity stream

6. Real-time Activity Stream

Keep up with the members of your social network. Find out what your members are saying, how they’re interacting and what they’re sharing.

Discussion forum

7. Discussion Forum

Get people talking. Start a discussion on any topic and watch your members respond with posts, photos and attachments.

Video players

8. Custom Video Players

Upload original footage or share videos from popular video services like YouTube, Google Video and Vimeo.

Photos and slideshows

9. Photos & Slideshows

Post photos and organize them into albums. You and your members can show off your photos in galleries or slideshows.

Viral widgets

10. Viral Widgets

Create a network badge that your members can display with pride on their MySpace profile, blog or website.

Facebook integration

11. Facebook Integration

Members can share photos, videos and music from your social network on their Facebook profiles.

Groupsites

Groupsites Groupsites make it easy for groups to share, communicate and network. They combine the best features of:

- Discussion forums
- Email lists
- Calendars
- Social networks

Groupsites are powered by CollectiveX; are FREE to setup; and can be public, semi-public or private. Below is a 4 minute quick tour of feature highlights.

 

Nexo

Nexo Nexo enables you to:

  • Create Web sites and email lists
  • Share pictures, videos, files and Web favorites
  • Have discussions
  • Create shared calendars and vote on activities

Below are some features offered by Nexo:

  • Select a group name and personalized Web address
  • Choose from a variety of designs and layouts
  • Showcase pictures, video and more
  • Add forums and message boards
  • Get group updates and participate by email
  • Include interactive calendars, polls and to-do lists
  • Secure permissions and privacy settings

 

Yahoo Groups

Yahoo! Groups Yahoo! Groups is the oldest of them all. It’s more like a mailing list than a group web site.

A Yahoo! Group is any group — your family, friends you see every summer, business associates, your book group, etc. — that uses Yahoo! Groups to privately share info, images, ideas and more — on the web.

It’s free, secure and spam-protected.