New Social Networking site?

Ok.... so i outsourced the development of a social networking music with music etc... and my inclination was to just have someone to use PHP...

but I read up on Ruby Rails and other frameworks...

What are the benefits if i had picked an existing framework?
How is development faster?
Do the big boys use these frameworks?

Have to admit I’m not exactly sure about the best way to develop a new social networking medium.
I do believe most larger social networking sites use Community Server for this.

Just curious if you've considered of using any out of the box software for development? There are several scripts out there that have come a long way over the past year.

Do not go with an out of the box solution. It means you don't make any legitimate choices and therefore have no real way to differentiate yourself from the other hundred million social networking sites.

If you're interested in reading about building a social network with ruby on rails then I highly suggest looking into a book by the name of "Railspace".

There is an open-source Ruby on Rails social network made by the guy who wrote "Railspace". I haven't tried it yet, but It looks good. http://portal.insoshi.com/

With PHP thee is software called Elgg which is very customizable with lots of features and a great community.

http://elgg.org/

i have been using elgg for a short while. its doesnt have the best front end and is very cumbersome....