About UNA CMS
We are passionate about independent social media software. Since the year 2000, we have been building tools that unite people, helping hundreds of thousands of aspiring webmasters. And yet, we saw that starting a social networking website can be needlessly complicated or overly limiting — most solutions require vast technical skills or won't let you customise the site.
We built UNA to make this easy: a tool to handle everything involved in establishing an online community with unlimited customisation potential — a system for idea-people.
UNA effortlessly scales from a small group site to a multi-million social network. Every UNA component is an "app", which can be installed, uninstalled, activated and paused. UNA apps update automatically, and we release new features regularly.
Most importantly, we license the UNA platform under a highly permissive MIT license — no strings attached. You control the site, data and the software.
Problem 1 - building your community via mainstream social networks is both risky and limiting. They dictate what your members can do, how features work, they own the data, and they can kick you out any moment.
Problem 2 - creating a unique independent social network can be incredibly complex - dealing with software development, hosting infrastructure, integrations of multiple tools - no wonder only the multi-billion-dollar corporations ever manage to pull it off.
Problem 3 - off-the-shelf social networking software systems or CMSs typically produce cookie-cutter websites that can handle small-scale communities with generic functionality.
The solution - UNA is the world's only scalable framework designed for building custom social media networks, online communities, collaboration hubs and educational portals. The keyword is the "framework" - meaning that you can create truly unique experiences, implement ideas that nobody ever brought to life without developing from scratch. You can experiment and iterate quickly, mix and match new modules and re-configure site structure on-the-fly.
UNA Team
We choose to stay lean and efficient. UNA team is a tight 10-people-strong group of geeks, focusing on UNA platform full-time, working remotely and practising DevOps - combining software development and IT operations. You'd find us in Australia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and sometimes other random countries since remote work allows for digital nomads' lifestyle.
Our mission is UNITY
We enable cooperation, connectedness, communication and harmony.
T.H.I.N.K values
True
Our products are authentic, words are sincere, and intentions are genuine. We are open, candid and brave.
Helpful
Our actions are helpful, practical and supportive. Our products solve real problems and remove obstacles.
Inspiring
We promote ambition, passion and commitment. We direct people towards success and inspire constant progress.
Necessary
We cultivate pure, simple solutions, focusing on what is essential in every decision, word and product.
Kind
We are considerate, generous, friendly and caring. We support goodwill and compassion.
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What it means and how it works
Our mission and values form guiding principles for everything we do. When we face a decision or receive a question, we always mentally connect with this manifesto and apply it. For example...
- When we change the platform, we do it only if it contributes to the mission, is necessary, and helps our customers and end-users. Superficial features and modifications motivated solely by profit maximisation are needless and immoral.
- We may be charging a monthly support fee, but our goal is to bring every project to production as quickly as possible and minimise the need for support.
- If we announce something, we inform and educate about it. Lengthy marketing pitches and false promises are neither proper nor necessary.
- We reflect on our failures openly and ask for help when we need it. We are not perfect, and we do make mistakes. As long as we keep admitting and addressing issues, we shall progress.
- Some features are nice to have, but they make little real difference. They also slow things down and bloat the UI. We only implement what is crucial for the use-case and leave the rest for custom builds and 3rd-party apps.
- We create long-term relationships with all customers and community members. Some may be harsh; others may be incredibly supportive. We must learn from critique and acknowledge contributions.
- If a customer project is not progressing, we don't just sit and wait. We encourage advancement and improvement.
- Projects that are evil and unkind belong elsewhere, no matter what's the budget.
- We eat what we cook. Our UNA platform powers our site, and we use UNA apps whenever possible.
