Why BuddyPress? “Build passionate users around a specific niche.”
Do you have to become a social network? “No, look at GigaOM Pro,” a recently launched subscription research site based on BuddyPress.
But, yo do get “BYOTOS: bring your own terms of service.” That is, you get to control content and interactions. And your service won’t be subject to the whims of a larger network like FaceBook (or vagaries of their service — think Ma.gnolia)
It’s pretty easy, Andy says, to create a custom BuddyPress component, and there are already a number at the BuddyPressDEV Community.