Developing and launching your own social network - is it real?

Most people use well-known social networks on a daily basis in their lives. You use them every day and, of course, understand that before becoming famous, these projects have come a long way - from the idea of a startup to a dream come true, becoming a unicorn. Don't forget that Facebook was once created by enthusiasts in the student dorm. Investors didn't trust the startup, because MySpace and LiveJournal already existed. Google also entered the market despite Yahoo dominance, but that fact did not prevent Google to become one of the leaders in the industry, and leave the rest companies far behind.

What does all this mean? The window of opportunity will never close. Always, no matter the market may seemcrowded, you can compete with any IT giant. And, if you go in for brilliant idea, if you believe and go towards your goal, step by step, making your dream come true, you will certainly succeed! Just move towards your goal and don't stop!

As you know, experience is the result of a long way that includes series of successful actions, as well mistakes. And to reduce the number of these mistakes, you must take into account and use the experience and­­­­ the competence of industry professionals.

Frequent mistakes

Let's consider the most common mistakes that you will inevitably face in the process of creating, for example, a social network.

Mistake # 1. Finding free solutions.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. You have to pay for everything. Free engines, scripts and other solutions will take your time and will not give the desired result. And as you know, time is money. An online subscription based social media platform is also a waste of time. The first thing you should remember and understand is that a social network is not an ordinary site. A social network is a high load platform that uses a number of solutions (not only visible, but also hidden) that make such a project safe, reliable and resistant to high traffic and high loads. If you try to create a social network using any free solutions or tools, or platforms that offer social networking "by subscription", you will waste time. And, therefore, you will lose money. Forget the word "free". Investment is inevitable. If you do not make this and other mistakes that we write about, you will be able to create a real social network, spending no more than 100-200 thousand dollars on it. Someone may exclaim: "It's too expensive!" Nope... Social networks are a highgross margin business, it is unreal to get into it without investments. And such investment is a mere trifle compared to revenue a social network can generate and its future huge market value. Below we will tell you how to properly manage your budget and create a real social network.

Mistake # 2. Order a social network in a web studio or hire a programmer?

We wondered how many companies offer social media development and creation services? The omniscient Google returned a result containing tens and hundreds of proposals from web studios and developers. We began to understand and study in detail all the proposals. Okay, so:

About 80% offers contain services for creating social networks based on common web engines (for example, WordPress, InstantCMS and others).

All these solutions are not scalable, do not use load balancing solutions, and designed using conventional website technologies. But we said above that social networks are complex, high load web projects, and not ordinary sites. Hence it is necessary to use the appropriate technology stack. Public and popular web engines don’t cope with solving such tasks. They could help you to create a project that looks in a manner of social network. But internally it will be an unviable product that is not able to withstand high loads and not intended to scale and grow.

About 15% proposals are services for creating social networks "by subscription".

Well listen. This is not serious. First, each social network must be a unique product containing its own value propositions and advantages, characteristics and features. Secondly, you as an investor must totally rule the project, collect feedback from users, adjust the policy and moderation algorithms, and make changes to the project in line with trends and user preferences. No subscription platform will offer you such solutions, or those solutions will completely depend on the owners of that platform, not you.

About 5% proposals to create social networks through conventional programming.

Usually these are web studios that are ready to take on any job, just to get paid. Hardly never these studios have a positive experience in creating social networks. Perhaps they sincerely believe they handle this task, but believe me, a social network is not only a web solution. This is not only a backend and a frontend in the usual sense of web studios and programmers. A social network is a whole complex of different solutions. It's not just the web part, but artificial intelligence, and load balancing, and storage systems, and other software solutions.

And only 0.1% proposals are worth to draw attention to. These are offers from large IT companies that specialize in the creation of social networks and create software products to solve this particular problem. X Networks is one of them.

Mistake # 3. I am a good programmer. I can create a social network by myself.

On the one hand, self-confidence and ambition are good. But only if you add to these qualities the experience of creating high load projects, the understanding that many years of trial and error lie ahead, as well as a lot of money, because your work is not for free. Without experience in creating such projects, you will make the same mistakes over and over, go back, redo, correct mistakes and try again and again. Isn't it better to entrust the competencies to professionals who have been doing this for many years? Isn't it better to learn from them?

Mistake # 4. I want to make a social network like Facebook.

The bad news is Facebook is already there. Your project should have unique features. It must carry new ideas, a new paradigm. Of course, when we talk about Facebook as a global international social network, then of course you can create another global social network and even take a part of Facebook users. But do not forget your project must be unique and different from the competitor! Of course, you may take the best of Facebook, but don't forget to add something else to the project. Breathe your soul into it. Facebook isn't perfect. Nothing is perfect!

Mistake # 5. Writing a technical assignment.

Are you seriously? Do you really think you are capable of writing the terms of reference for such a large-scale project? In order to write a technical assignment, you need to understand what is "under the hood" of high load projects. If you were able to write a technical assignment, you would be able to create a social network by yourself. Forget this term. You do need a description of the concept of your project , not a technical assignment. Or description of the project paradigm. Or description of its goals and objectives. And it is precisely a detailed description of the concept of a social network that is the first step to its successful start. But we'll talk about this a bit later.

Mistake # 6. OK. I found a great team. We will launch a social network in 3-4 months.

Don't be fooled. Such large-scale projects have complex technical solutions. Even if you launch a social network using such a powerful framework and platform as Qwerty Social Network Engine, then at least 10 or even 15 months will pass from the moment of implementation to the readiness of the project for a public announcement. A "raw" product and a product containing flaws and childish mistakes can scare away users who, once faced with a problem, will never return to the project. Moreover, in addition to technical issues, you will have to solve a lot of legal subtleties associated with the use and protection of personal data in different countries.

The right choice of technical solutions for creating a social network.

So... Now you understand social networks are not ordinary projects and building such complex and high load systems require special solutions that ordinary web studios and developers do not have.

How to create your own social network? How to create a viable project without wasting money and time? Right questions. Delegate competencies to professionals experienced in creating social networks. You need to create a project team and form a launch plan for your social network. And the company X Networks, one of the leaders in the market for high load projects and specializes in social networks, will help you to do this. By contacting X Networks, you will receive not only a team for your project, but also co-financing if the idea of a social network is interesting. The construction of complex social networks and high load projects is carried out using a solution such as QSNE (Qwerty Social Network Engine). This is not only a basic framework for creating social networks that withstands colossal loads and ensure the maximum data security, but also a platform. QSNE is a whole set of solutions, including both software modules and server software, that ensure social network scaling.

Stages of creating a social network based on QSNE

In order to be guaranteed to create a viable project, you need a clear and understandable plan. Most likely, X Networks specialists will offer it after taking into account the peculiarities of your social network. Typically, the plan consists of the following stages (for example, if you are creating your social network based on the QSNE platform):

Stage # 1. Discussion of the cooperation form. At this stage, you need to choose, whether you want to be 100% owner of the project and use X Networks as a contractor and IT partner, or to sign a joint investment agreement and X Networks will retains a stake in the project. In this case, we provide the project with a number of bonus preferences (for example, infrastructure and free support during the operation phase).

Stage # 2. Discussion of the concept, the final cost agreement and signing the contract. Of course, you know what project you want to launch, but we help you shape its vision that meets global trends and our capabilities. After the concept is agreed, we sign the main contract, you make the first investment (as a rule, this is about 15% of the project cost). This stage takes 1-2 weeks. Then we can start working.

Stage # 3. Project naming, development and approval of mockups, a project style and user interfaces. Typically, this stage takes 6-10 weeks. Yes, only after that we proceed to the main stage - development and installation of functionality.

Stage # 4. Development and installation of social network functionality. This stage, as a rule, consists of 3-5 substages. During this period, we gradually launch the functional blocks, test them with you, discuss and move on.

Stage # 5. Pre-testing and discussion of additional nuances and blocks. Yes, yes, despite the fact that we have agreed concept, we may want to add something else to the project. After all, the final vision of a holistic project helps to form additional wishes. It may take some time, usually 1-2 months.

Stage # 6. Test launch and billing integration. This is more organizational phase than a technical. We together reconcile the payment systems integration, check the project operability in all aspects and agree on the final date for the public start and announcement of the project. This stage takes 1 month.

Stage # 7. Social network launch. The goal has been achieved. We have launched a new social network. We do not recommend to stop there. We recommend to invest a part of the project profit in its further development.

A source - https://xnetworks.ru/faq/stages_of_creating_a_social_network

You have created your own social network. What's next?

Next, you have a difficult path to recruit a critical mass of users - primary marketing. But don't rush to spend big budgets on all kinds of advertising. Do you remember we wrote above about the unique features, idea and paradigm of your project? Highlight the unique feature of your project and launch viral marketing, involving bloggers, opinion makers and famous personalities. At the first stage you need a small advertising campaign to attract the first users who, after registration, receive special exclusive benefits. For example, a bonus personal account, limited free advertising and much more - you have to give the first users a feeling to be "chosen ones". And the number of such users should be limited, for example, 100,000 people.

The social network is a content-generating project. This means that netizens themselves create internal content. And the more such content, the more interesting your project becomes, not only for new users, but also for search engines. That is why the primary question is forming a users "critical mass", let's call them the soul of the project. And,of course, this require a certain budget, sometimes comparable to the funds that were spent on the development and launch of a social network. But don't be afraid and move forward. After all, the projects such as social networks not only attract the attention of investors, but also bring windfall-profits to their owners.

And one more important point. The most important thing you must understand before taking on projects like social media is that it must continually evolve and improve during the project lifecycle.

In this article we tried to outline the main nuances of creating your own social network. We hope this information will help you avoid most mistakes and trust our team of professionals. Want to be as successful as Zuckerberg? Do you want your project to become a "unicorn" and bring you billions? Don’t put off contacting X Networks! Together we will make this world a better place!

X Networks engineering team.

The direction of the development of social networks