Free/inexpensive social-networking platforms?

Http://www.elgg.org

Facebook , or is that too obvious an answer?

Aren’t you on one now?

Maybe you guys didn’t understand my question or I don’t know how to word it properly. Elgg as @digitaljesus suggested, is one that works. Basically I am looking for a site that will host me to make my own social networking site.

You should definitely check out ning

@benseven—I already made a site on ning, but it didn’t have the search functionality I was hoping for.

im currently checking out socialgo (www.socialgo.com) after having tried messing around at length with buddypress, an add-on for wordpress. ill keep you posted. any updates in regard to elgg?

@digitaljesus: can you point me to any working sites using elgg or some screenshots? i cant really find anything + would like to be able to see a preview before going thru the hassle of a server install + debug. thx in adv.