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Create Your NetBeans Network on my.netbeans, FaceBook & MySpace!

What if the ability to stay current about NetBeans and to keep in contact with other members of the NetBeans community was possible through a single application?

At my.netbeans.org, our new community networking site, NetBeans users can find such an application—the NetBeans social widget!

my.netbeans.org is one of the ways that members of the NetBeans community around the world can stay connected with each other; collaborate on projects; exchange training ideas; follow the latest news and releases about NetBeans; and give feedback to the NetBeans team.

my.netbeans.org Social Widget

Developers and users can create personal profiles, browse the global NetBeans community, forge relationships with existing members of my.netbeans and build valuable networks. my.netbeans also includes a customizable widget that can be embedded in websites and blogs. Placed on a web page, the social widget is a great—not to mention cool-looking—tool that keeps members in sync with the NetBeans community.

The widget displays basic profile information from a member's my.netbeans account. Mousing over the application reveals a drop-down menu of options: viewing a member's network of fellow NetBeans users and developers; downloading the latest release of the NetBeans IDE; getting snippets of news and developments related to NetBeans, and previews of screencasts from NetBeans.tv. The widget even offers the uninitiated a chance to make their own my.netbeans widget and join the community!

But connecting with other members of the NetBeans ecosystem isn't restricted to my.netbeans.org alone. NetBeans fans can also be found on popular social networking sites Facebook and MySpace.

NetBeans Community Docs manager James Branam recently created a network on Facebook specifically for community docs contributors, and a second on MySpace. A general NetBeans group, started by NetBeans Director of Engineering Jan Chalupa, exists on Facebook as well.

For Branam, starting the NetBeans community docs groups on the external sites was a spontaneous move.

“Although NetBeans has my.netbeans, many people already use Facebook and MySpace, so why not start networks there and also encourage members to consider my.netbeans as well?”

According to Branam, an exciting project has already come out of the Facebook group—a member interested in creating a widget for the Community Docs program built with the NetBeans IDE.

my.netbeans.org and other established social networking sites translate into more ways for NetBeans community members to communicate with each other, start exciting projects, be in the know about NetBeans, and help to keep the NetBeans community strong and active.

Get connected today!

(March 2008)