Xpertyst / Jan 13, 2021

A COMPLETE GUIDE ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING APP

The world has become quite fast-paced and everything being available online and on apps, the mobile phone users are changing preferences and inclining towards the easier models. Apps have become the modern day solutions to all problems and users are quite actively installing these apps on their phones. This does not only help them stay updated with the world outside but makes them feel their presence on social media apps.

With a boon in the mobile phone industry, the app industry has also witnessed significant growth. This had led to the development of many new apps, which are now a part of the app stores on both Android and iOS.

Introduction

Social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. helps one make their presence felt among the groups they want to be in touch with. Along with this, these apps also help them stay updated with world news and their surroundings.

Social media app is one of the best apps to invest money in, from the business point of view. Although there are many players in the market already, new apps might also hit the right chord and flourish among the competitors.

History

Ever wondered when did the concept of social media come into being? Well, it dates back to the 1970s, when the University of Illinois introduced the PLATO system, which included a number of features such as instant messaging, online forums, and bulletin boards. Later the first online chat room name Talkomatic also came into being. This was followed by bulletin board systems and Internet relay chats. Then came the era of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace from the 1990s to the 2000s, and now the app industry is flooded with apps such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and more.

Given below are the statistics of leading apps in various countries. The report is based on the App Annie Report Social Media Network 2019 Statistics.

Social media app development cost

A social media app should have a certain number of features added to it. However, a social media company can keep adding the features moving further, as and when they start making money. The cost also depends on the platform a company wants to launch its app on. They can either choose it to be compatible with Android or iOS or both. Take a look at the segregation of the cost of a social media app:

1- A social media app can be developed with the basic set having a limited and set number of features. This will not have many features, but only the ones that are essential for its smooth functioning.

2- The second one is based on the special inclusions, apart from the basic features which are already present in the app.

3- One might look for something better and bigger at the first go itself. Therefore, the third one is more expensive considering the complexities of the app and the more feature inclusions.

Take a look at the approximate cost of social media apps:

These cost calculations are not accurate and might vary from developer to developer and according to the features included in the app. If you are planning to develop a social media app, you will have to consult an app development company and ask them to give you the idea of an app you are looking to develop.

Regular features of social media apps

1- Signup and log in: One should make it a point to offer the most efficient and easy registration process. It should not be time-consuming and a number of options should be available to the users like signing up with their email address and password, or their phone numbers and passwords. An option of forgot a password should also be given to the user, in case they don’t remember it. Another important aspect of signing up is to reduce the amount of time spent on it. Therefore, the sign up should be linked with any other social media accounts like Gmail or Facebook to enable the app to get the information of the user which is already stored on any one of these apps.

2- Profile of the user: A page layout design should be opted, considering the kind of profiles you want your users to make. It is an important feature that attracts the users as they can make up to any number of profiles and represent themselves online through their social media profiles. Their profile should also be allowed to view the feeds of their friends and contacts on the app and manage their profile according to their preferences.

3- Search: A integrated search bar allowing the users to look up famous personalities or their friends is an important feature to be on the app. Most of the apps use elastic search for this purpose.

4- Newsfeed: A daily dose of news on the social media app, will help the users to stay updated on what’s happening around the world. Like Instagram, other social media apps also integrate the news feed page as the home page. People are also likely to know about things going around them.

5- Chat: Who would want to be a part of a social media app, that does not allow you to chat with your contacts or make a video call? The answer is highly likely to be nobody. The users should be allowed to share pictures, videos, and files through the apps. It will add a feather to the hat of the developers if they allow group video calls, allowing more than two people to join the call.

6- Add a post to your page: A post is an image accompanied by some text or emoticons. Like social media apps like Facebook and Instagram, these apps should allow the users to make attractive posts on their pages comprising text, emoticons, videos, and graphics.

7- Push notifications: Users can opt to get notifications about the posts made by their friends and contacts or any community updates which are of their interest. Users should also be able to manage these notifications as per their likes and preferences.

Advanced features of social media apps

Until now we have thrown light on the regular features which all social media apps contain to a great extent. However, going further we will discuss some advanced features to make these apps easier and faster to use.

1- Editing: It is an additional feature to offer a feature like this to the users. With online editing tools such as FFmpeg, people can edit their images according to their choice. From a wide range of tools available, they can easily make changes to their image without being dependent on any other additional picture editing software. These editing features can include cropping the image, rotating it, setting the tone of the background, removing objects that are no necessary, and creating a collage.

2- AR filters: What is it that has made social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram so likable? The AR filters allowing them to editing images with additional accessories and various screen appearances have been liked by most users. These filters are exciting to use and help these apps attract plenty of users. It also helps in spreading the good word of mouth. ML Kit and ARCore can be used to create such filters.

3- Location-based content: The apps can get access to the geographical location of the users, only after their consent. This enables the app to push only that content to the users which are of interest to them. The users can also get in touch with people from the same location and follow public communities of their preference. It also allows them to access the location of their friends who are on the same social media platform.

Tech Stack of a social media app

There goes a lot behind creating a social media app. Apart from the initial time and effort of an experienced team that develops the app, the team also does a run-through or testing on the end product, and only after successful testing does they deliver the app to the social media company. Specialists are required to build such apps, who also take care of the future updates and changes that have to be made to the app.

Now, let’s take a look at the team that contributes to the development of a social media app:

- Back end developer

- Project manager

- UI/UX developer

- Few iOS developers depending on the need

- Few Android developers depending on the need

- Engineer for analyzing the quality of the app

The revenue model of social media apps

Now, how these social media apps earn money and sustain themselves in the market? One of the biggest questions that come to anyone’s mind before getting an app developed. There are majorly three ways of earning money from a social media app. Let’s look at them in detail below:

1- Advertisements: This is of the most common and the biggest source of generating revenue from a social media app. Once the app gains popularity, third parties start approaching them to buy space and time on their app. These advertisements contain the link back to the website or app of the advertisers, helping the users navigate to their page seamlessly. Most social media sites allow users to post without charging them anything, like in the case of Instagram where users can promote their product and content without having to pay anything. However, in the case of YouTube, the advertisers have to pay a certain amount for their ad to be played before any video.

2- Venture capital: Capitalizing success is one of the major sources of revenue for these social media apps. Through this, they can raise funds from third parties and utilize them in making the app. Facebook and Twitter are two big examples of this. This helps the developers in monetizing the app and selling it to bigger companies after its success.

3- Premium features and benefits: Social media apps like LinkedIn and YouTube provide special features and packages to users. In the case of LinkedIn, the users can get access to premium offers offered by the app, wherein the users’ profiles will be listed on top and get better access.

Plan to make a social media app

A lot of planning and research goes into making a social media application. There is a high competition that exists in the market already, but one can offer the same or better features to beat the competition. Take a look at the process of developing the app:

- List down details of the features you want to include in the social media app in the future.

- Figure out the real reasons you want to create a social media app.

- Thirdly, you must build an MVP of the social media app you want to develop.

- The industry follows various kinds of trends and you should keep up with them if you want to thrive in the competition.

- Figure out ways to attract users and bring them to your app. There should be a reason for the users to leave other social media applications for yours.

Types of social media apps

One should be well versed with the categorization of social media apps. This helps them in selecting the category they want to launch their app in. Take a look at the different categories:

- Discussing formats

- Consumer review network

- Blogging network

- Media sharing networks

- Social networks

- Content sharing networks

Maintenance of a social media app

An app will always need support and some maintenance to work smoothly in the long run. New users will keep downloading and installing the app, however, the user experience should be taken care of and regular updates should be made to the app. The current version should be intriguing and fully functional, irrespective of the fact that you are going to introduce new features or remodel the app completely.

The support and maintenance are like any other app in the case of a social media app as well. Take a look at the services that need support and maintenance of the app:

- Control over the stability of the app.

- Giving the users an assurance of maintaining the quality of their app.

- Taking up the requests of the users and providing them additional features that they desire to see in the app.

- Control the performance of the server

- Scaling the apps

- Regularly updating the app according to the latest tech advancements.

These additional support features should be a part of the app, and the developers should be regular with these for the positive feedback.

Conclusion

The lifestyle of people has been such that they don’t get the time to catch up with their families and friends. The best way possible for them to get in touch with someone is through their social media accounts. The platform has brought many people in touch with one another over the years. Hence, a large population is on some of the other social media applications. The developers should maintain the quality of the app and offer the best experience to the users to gain their loyalty. The team behind such software has to be on its toes all the time, as a single glitch might affect its image in the market. With a lot of competition among these apps, one has to think of ways to make their app stand out and outshine the others. An experienced team with a good deal of experience can anyway keep a social media app in the good books of its users.

We at Xpertyst deliver the best services at pocket-friendly prices. Our deliverables are always timely and we try to put the best foot forward in creating an application for our clients. Our expertise has always kept up ahead of the competition. Just a call away, you can avail some of our best services of social media app development and other mobile-based applications.

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