Social media! Today almost everyone is using social media, everyone is talking about social media and talking on social media via a social media app. From common people to celebrities everyone is active on different social media platforms through different applications.
The social media application brings different ways for people to interact. The more you use the applications the more you get anxious with the thoughts such as how to create a social media application? What makes a social media app successful? What is the cost of making a social media application?
So, here we will guide you to understand the different parameters involved and how you can include various trends in your application.
Before getting into the specifics of creating a social media app let’s analyze how much time does an individual spends on social media.
You may be wondering why we showed you this image? Often people make the mistake of avoiding this analysis before making their application. As a result, they don’t get their desired recognition.
This happens because you don’t know what type of social media application attracts the user. This graphic shows you how the time is spent across different applications and what can you do to enhance the application.
Current social media trends
The current trend can be recognized based on various social media applications like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
You can see different filters such as slow-motion reels, hand gesture-based short videos on different applications such as Instagram, TikTok, etc.
According to Statista, the most recent forecast suggests that Instagram will have over 1.2 billion active by 2023. TikTok currently has over 1 billion users and on average, they spend one hour daily watching short videos on TikTok. People are making millions of dollars by making videos on social media platforms.
The scope of social media is massive. So, if you are able to come up with a nice idea channel it properly through mapping out concepts and begin your journey of creating a social media application.
Types of social media application
It is important to realize that all the applications are of different types and serve different purposes. While applications such as Snapchat are only for sharing photos, apps like Quora provide a platform for discussion.
So, let’s get into the specifics of these types:
Photo-sharing Applications
Visual memory and perception help an individual capture a better understanding of information. This is the reason why photo-sharing apps are successful. As photos convey maximum information without any paragraph or text it helps users get details based on their respective perceptions.
The photo-sharing applications seem to be ruling the market over the past few years. So, all you got to do is dwell in and build a photo-sharing social media application to be a part of this lucrative market.
Also Read, Mobile App Development Process in 2022
Networking Applications
From time to time people have the realization of how important it is to stay in touch with people. So, millions of people connect with each other through various applications like Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other relevant application. But, the choice of an application is made on the basis of relevance: professional, social, chatting, etc.
Video-sharing Applications
People are not only crazy about sharing videos but also making them with the idea that it might get some popularity. The competition amongst video-sharing applications is inevitable.
You better grab this opportunity to create an epic video-sharing application with some unique features.
Blogging and Publishing Applications
Blogging and publishing applications help writers across the globe to establish a connection with readers. These applications have less competition compared to other types of applications. Hence, get an idea monetize it invest the money, and boom! You have your blogging or publishing application.
Micro-blogging Application
Twitter is the most appropriate example of a Micro-blogging application. These types of applications allow the user to exchange information on a small scale. The posts on micro-blogging platforms are known as micro-post. Since the purpose is to keep things short ( micro ) Twitter has a word count limit for a user while posting a tweet.
Interest-based Applications
These types of social media applications are built for the purpose of bringing people together on the basis of their interests. The range of this type of application covers is huge:
- Writing
- Reading
- Food
- Traveling
- Fashion
- Animals & many more…
Discussion Applications
Everyone knows about Quora and why not, it’s a popular platform where people share their opinions as a response to a variety of questions. Quora is a perfect example of a discussion application. The transition of various platforms like Quora, Reddit into applications is a signal that you have to be on the application domain with a different pattern for users to discuss and mention their thoughts rather than a website forum.
There are other types that provide different features such as anonymity, collaboration, reviews, etc. You can choose any suitable application.
Let’s move on to the technical part of the article.
How to create a social media app? –Stepwise guide
You have the idea excellent! But the question remains – is it as simple as it looks? The answer is no.
The development of a social media app takes time. So we have classified 5 different steps for the development process:
Step 1- Purpose & Target Audience
The ultimate focus in this step is to understand the market trend through requirement analysis of the target audience. Here, you need to make sure that you have a complete understanding of the market and also your competitor’s situation in it.
Once you have a clear idea of what your application will be along with its potential purpose, it’s time for putting those ideas together and see how things work out.
However, if you miss out on this step don’t panic we are an application development company and will guide you personally through your queries and concerns.
In conclusion – This step helps you create blueprints for you to execute the next steps efficiently
Step 2- Design
Now that you have a clear vision you can surely navigate this step without any issues. The second step is all about design. Wireframes, style guides, and mockups help you get a fair idea about the layout of your application.
In conclusion – This step provides you with an assessment of how your user interface and user experience (UI/UX) may appear.
Step 3- Development
You have the tentative visual of your application now it’s showtime! Here your application will get functions and features. The development team uses different technology stacks and APIs to achieve proper features and functionalities.
This step is crucial for application development so two developing teams are working on different aspects for better productivity.
Front-end Team
Often when you open any application you see features that provide clicks or movements. This is the work that a Front-end developer does. The one common thing the Front-end team needs to be sure of is the interaction of users with the application remains easy.
Back-end Team
The Back-end team is responsible for responses to the interactive features i.e. the clicks or movements. A simple example will be the download button. So, here when you click on the download button it responds according to your specific action. This happens with the help of the server.
In conclusion- This step transforms your idea into reality!
Step 4- Testing
Testing decides whether your application is ready for deployment, meaning if your application is bug-free or not. Further, testing your application makes sure that your users will have smooth functioning of features without any glitch.
However, if there are any bugs or errors in the application, it is sent for fixation to developers. So, the developer studies those reported errors and rectifies them.
In conclusion- This step makes sure your application has no fatal errors or glitches.
Step 5- Deployment
After all the hard work in previous steps, your application needs a proper launch. You have to launch your application on Android and iOS platforms. Here it is important to realize that a constant communication channel with developers is necessary because once you deploy your social media app it further involves two processes: maintenance and update.
In conclusion – The process which helps your application go live.
Features of Social Media Application
Every social media app has certain features which are common. You think your idea is 100% unique but that’s not the case, there is always a possibility that your application idea will match some existing features and if not most certainly require some existing features.
Basic features of a Social Media App
Here are some basic features you keep in mind so that your application must have.
✤ Search Functionality
This feature provides users the freedom to search the content of their choice. The user should also be given suggestions so that it becomes easy for him/her to get precise information.
The search functionality must also help users to navigate through application features.
✤ Messaging
Some social media apps do well without this feature, for instance, YourQuote doesn’t have this feature because of the ultimate purpose of the application i.e. write “quotes’’. So that doesn’t mean you can neglect this feature. A user gets a sense of privacy when he/she can communicate amongst themselves while using your application. And include features depending on the purpose of your application.
✤ Push notification
This is a simple tactic to connect with your user. Here you provide your users regular notifications while they use the application. This notification can vary from personal to promotional. For instance, in the personal notification, you get notifications like: your friend tagged you in his post. Promotional notification may go like this: Install the latest 5.0 version
✤ File Uploading ( photos, videos, and Docx)
Upload is obviously one of the common features to feature in any social media app. The reason is simple you need to share files for different tasks. Ex: Google drive
✤ Profile
A profile makes a good impression on different users. So, a personal profile feature must be available for users in order to include basic information describing themselves such as name, photo, and location.
✤ Account authorization
This security aspect is a no-brainer. User authorization through mail or mobile number helps maintain integrity.
✤ Social Networking
Just sharing through texts and images is not enough these days. The application must have both video and audio call facilities. Nowadays, Live streaming is the trend when people want to share their experiences instead of recorded videos.
✤ Linking with other social media handles
Users use multiple applications and wish to have the facility to share the information across other platforms. For instance, share the WhatsApp image on Facebook or share the Instagram story on Facebook.
Hence, these are the basic features you will find in almost any social media app.
So, you may be wondering about unique features that stand out in the market. We got that covered too.
Unique and advanced features of a Social Media App
- Multi-language support
- Augmented reality filters
- Chatbots
- 360-degree panorama
- Automatic collage creation
Cost to develop your Social Media Application
While you think about the cost let us mention one thing – No company can precisely tell you the cost of developing your application. However, Webbybutter can give you an estimated cost for your next application. Usually, the cost varies from 12000$ to 90,000$, and based on the complexities it may just keep climbing.
One concern that majorly affects the decision-making of taking the huge step is – what if the application fails? There is no guarantee of your application succeeding but we can definitely show you some reasons why they fail.
Also, Get Our Demanding Services, Are you looking for on demand service app development right now? If you want you can hire our service or our dedicated developers.
Why do social media applications fail? – Reasons
✤ No uniqueness
The majority of ideas fail because the ideas are not unique and are just a copy of a similar application that is performing well in the market.
However, you can avoid this conflict by doing thorough research of that application and also finding out its potential strengths & weaknesses.
✤ UI – User Interface
Bad UI creates a weak impression of your application. So make sure that your application has a simple design and also good performance.
✤ UX – User Experience
User experience plays an important part in deciding the future of your application.
✤ Response time
While your application is loading it should not take more than 3-5 seconds to completely load your landing page.
Conclusion – Make your next social media application with Webbybutter
Developing a social media application demands lots of creativity, focus, and dedication.
We are not denying your creativity or for that matter neither your focus nor dedication. We admire that and that’s why we want to help you because we have a perfect team that can mold your next application idea and transforms it into a reality.
