Uploaded on Aug 27, 2020
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How to build your own contemporary Social Network
HOW TO BUILD
YOUR OWN
CONTEMPORARY
SOCIAL NETWORK?
HTTP://WWW.HALKWINDS.COM/
A Basic But Billion $$ Question,
What Is A Social Network?
To put it simply, it means connecting to your friends, family,
colleagues, customers, or clients through internet-based social media
sites. It consists of people that share similar interests like yours.
Building a social network online can also mean gaining an audience for
a social purpose, a business purpose, or both.
The most common networking sites include platforms like Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.
Despite the never-ending competition, Facebook still holds the first
position with over two billion users. It remains the largest and most
popular platform.
HOW TO BUILD A CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL
NETWORKING PLATFORM?
3
Since the creation of Facebook, the social media industry has
been booming. The popular networking platforms provide
users with everything they want, including dating, job
hunting, professional communication, online shopping, and
whatnot.
In today's world when everything is happening digitally,
people definitely need these resources.
But before understanding the complex yet the remunerative
process of developing your own social networking site let's
understand it's types and features.
4
Types of social networking sites
Social Networks
Educational Platforms
Scientific and Academic Communities
Entertaining Websites
Professional Platforms
Corporate Resources
Information Websites
Dating resources
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All of these different networking sites have varied target
audiences and a different purpose.
For example, Entertainment can be found on social
networking sites like Instagram but entertainment media is
solely made to provide you with quality entertainment
content.
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Must-Have Features
A good quality site should consider the following features in order to be user friendly
Easy onboarding
Creation of Profile
Allowing users to easily find people, groups, brands or communities
Allowing the user to add or follow the people they like, to be able to read
the content they are interested in
Chat options, allowing to send or receive a message
Push notifications
File transfer
Analytical tools to keep track of the performance of their business
PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT
8
Ideation
Big projects start from an idea. It must have value and be unique
and must stand out among other similar projects. You should have
unique features, promotion actions, pleasant bonuses, loyalty
programs, and similar specialties to fascinate the visitors and attract
more business.
You should also decide beforehand, a lot of things like the
category/type of social networking site it fits in and how and what
you should name it so that it steals the show and so on.
Research
Google can be your strong starting point to collect and analyze the
demographics and psychographics of a variety of people. Online
research might be time-consuming but it’s reliable and simple.
Another way is to prepare a demo version of your social media that
you can test on real people. This process will involve arranging test
users, preparing various interview questions, and providing testing
equipment. This can be time-consuming and costly.
The Choice Of Networking
Services Technology
You can either choose to build a site from scratch or you can choose
to take the easier road of choosing from the templates.
Facebook is based on React and Twitter rides on Ruby Rails. There
are other javascript frameworks like Angular JS and VueJS, that you
can explore to base your new social network on.
If you aim to achieve maximum results, the road not taken is always
the best. While you choose to make your websites with your unique
ideas, you make a better choice for long-run success.
Social Network Design
How to design a social network that will be user-friendly and
functional?
Design plays a big role. It should not be flashy or dull. We suggest
you keep it minimal and simple. The reason behind this is that the
users want to feel connected and you cannot make them feel so by
making the website all about you.
One thing that most of the popular networking apps have in common
is a user-oriented design and ease of use. In addition, the first page
should have a call-to-action, so you can get more signed up users.
Social Network Web
Development
We've reached a crucial point now, for all of this process was about,
the site development. This step deals with the type of technology to
be used for making the site. They can be divided into two types:
ready to customize and deploy CMS and frameworks.
And again, you may consider the necessity to hire a professional
team with all-round experience for a reliable development, capable
of scaling as users grow.
Testing
After the completion of the development, it is necessary to check the
social network. You have to make sure everything works as it should
and that, there are no bugs in the code, failures when the resource is
running, etc.
We recommend you to hire a professional team if you are not willing
to witness any unpleasant surprises in the future.
Commissioning
We’re not done yet. If testing says that design and code are ready to
deploy then we bring the database and APIs to life.
There are a number of hosting platforms to choose from according
to the specifics of your project. This step is related to future scaling
options of your social network.
After your project has been launched, it's time to load and
configure it before it goes out.
Run your analytic tool configuration, and you are ready for one last
final testing!
Monetization
If you’re considering options to develop a social network website,
you’re definitely planning to make money on your platform. It's time to
combine your passion with earning money.
The most common way to monetize is to advertise on your platform.
It can be either context advertisements or banners
Affiliate marketing consists of collaboration with companies and
influencers via affiliate programs
Selling products - physical or digital
Providing freelance services
Event organization with fees
Marketing
Aggressive marketing is essential while breaking into a saturated
and established market. Announce your platform and gradually
increase the number of visitors as it is very important to conduct
active advertising campaigns.
In order to expand your target audience, your social media
marketing strategy should be original and well-thought-out.
NOW THAT YOU HAVE A PLATFORM HOW DO
YOU BUILD A COMMUNITY
18
Have you ever thought of building your own social network? If
the answer is yes, then you’re in the right place.
Earlier networking looked like - attending functions, shaking
hands, talking about your interests and swapping business
cards. Today, we do much more of our networking online, and
not everyone really knows how to go about this. So, in the
spirit of breaking through, here are few secrets everyone
should know about building a social network.
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Be A Pro-Active Part Of A
Community
Enter the virtual world by getting yourself established on popular
sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest,
Tumblr, Reddit, YouTube, and Flickr etc. There are many such online
communities that you can actively be involved in. For a head start,
ask your pals or colleagues what social media they use.
Do Your Homework
By homework, we mean Research. The Internet is a blessing when it
comes to information. There are a lot of available resources out there
where you can gather and analyze psychographics, demographics,
and behavioral habits of large masses of people. This research will
help you find your target audience that has interests similar to yours.
Find message boards or online communities that focus on one of
your interests and add them freely.
Be Vocal
Once you find a network that suits you and your target audience,
take time to comment, discuss or give polite opinions on the posts,
blogs or articles they share.
Start posting and sharing your views and knowledge that you have.
This will get your audience's attention that you exist and also they
will get to know who you are and what your interests and opinions
are by your active participation.
You can also read comments or posts of people having similar
interests and can get to know them by sending an e-mail or a
message or build a relationship by endorsing their business.
Present Yourself Smartly
Be active on the sites you choose! Actively stay connected through
comments, e-mails, or by sharing a comment, photo, or article that
interests you and that you think may interest others. Suggest ways
that you can work together that will be of benefit to both of you and
don't make yourself look like you're trying to sell them something.
Invite People To Connect Online,
In An Offline Way
Throw parties, attend weddings, funerals and parties that you are
invited to.
Attend summits, festivals, conferences, expositions, and fairs and
actively participate by things like introducing yourself and asking
questions at the panels.
Work Your Network
Once you have successfully built your online community, try to stay
as connected as possible by helping people if they need help and
similarly you can also openly ask for help. For instance, if you are
looking for a job, post about it freely, forward your resume and talk
to people about their networks.
Social networks are the most promising direction among
startups. Developing one of your own is a process that yields
long-term and sustaining profits.
The number of active users on Facebook is decreasing. People
are constantly looking for alternative solutions and are ready
to try new platforms.
We are one of the finest in the industry when it comes to
delivering very intricate and featured packed solutions for our
clients. Our recent success was a social network targeted and
tailored for European and North American audiences.
Get in touch with us if you’re looking to build the next
Facebook. ;)
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TL;DR
Research and ideate
Identify a disruptive element to stand out
Find development partners who can help you build a social media app
Define scope and allocate resources
Zero in of tech stack
Get the development going
As you’re ready to launch deploy marketing in full force
Get the word out
Build a community, start with your own people
See it grow
THANK
YOU
[email protected]
HTTP://WWW.HALKWINDS.COM/
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