My friend and I want to start a social-network site like friendster for friends and family living abroad. I was just wondering if there are any ready made templates out there like HI-5 and friendster like site. we dont mind spending a few bucks and can have family members contribute too later

Also what about instant messaging between people who are online at the same time. are there any open source clients out there that can be intgrated into the website - so that people who are online at the same time can IM each other without having to worry about downladign anything on their computer. Dont mind paying for this service too. Any open source clients?
I was going to ask about the message board engine ... but it;s been posted on another message

Well hope to ahve replies in soon and get my site moving forward.