Social Networking App Development: Features and Technology Stack for a New-age App!

Do you know?

“The number of social media users is projected to cross 3.43 billion in 2023, which will be nearly half of the total population of the world then.“

These numbers provided by Statista, a reputed online statistics portal, are astonishing! They showcase that this industry is growing by leaps and bound. Not only individuals but even professionals and business enterprises use these platforms for their growth. As a result, a plethora of social networking app development services has emerged across the globe. These apps have evolved over time with innumerable trendy features and tools. So one needs to keep abreast with the latest trends for each platform to build a top-of-the-line social media app.

This blog instills a detailed overview, features, and technology stack for architecting social media or social network apps. Let us delve into them.

Major Types of Social Media Apps

●       Photo/media-sharing platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, etc.

●       Social network apps like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

●       Chatting apps like WhatsApp.

●       Blogging and publishing sites like Medium

●       Internet discussion forums like Reddit, Quora, etc.

●       Business networking sites like LinkedIn.

●       Consumer review platforms like TripAdvisor.

●       Anonymous social networks like Anonyfish, Minds.com, etc

These apps have a general set of features embedded in them which are a must-have for any social media app. Let us have a glance at them:

Fundamental Features of Social Media Apps

Captivating user interface: The UI should form a great impression on users enabling easy navigation through the app. It should have a powerful and interactive visual design.

Easy registration and login: Considering the short attention span of today’s users, the registration and login processes must be as easy as possible.

Easier search functionality: Users should easily be able to search for anything by user names, tags, location, etc. As they start searching, the results should be filtered out and shown in a drop-down style at the earliest.

Private chatting and calling functionalities: A convenient chat feature for sending messages, photos, or other media and a calling feature to connect seamlessly are vital for these apps.

Message status: The users should be able to know if their message was read by the other users; they should also be able to hide their status if needed.

Ease of connectivity and expand user following: These apps must allow the users to easily access millions of people with ease and thus, build a following at a fast rate.

Creating and editing user profile: A thoughtful user profile that helps users to attract their target audience is essential for a social app. Users must be able to edit or customize it as well.

Push notifications: For keeping the users notified of recent activities and also about promotional activities, this feature is a must-have in the apps. 

Appealing and real-time news feed: Relevant, real-time, and engaging news feed helps the users to stay tuned with information from friends and other communities. This potential feature compels the users to keep scrolling continuously.

Commenting, liking, and sharing: These features also ensure more engagement of the users.

Ability to add posts: Users should be able to express their thoughts on the platform. They should be able to share or upload files in the form of text, image, audio, video, etc. formats.

Group or community creating feature: Users, whether individuals or business entities, having common goals, interests, and values should be able to form groups or communities. 

Add or remove friends/connections feature: Users must have the freedom to add, remove, or block their connections and also report if needed. This feature is extremely important in a world where unknown people connect so fast.

Emojis, GIFs, and stickers: These functionalities are necessary for ensuring that the apps give a more interactive and intuitive feel to the users.

Ability to integrate with other social media platforms: This feature helps the app owners to increase their user-base and drive adoption, thereby increasing its popularity.

Top-level security and privacy of information: Higher security and privacy features must be employed in the social apps to ensure secure interactions, prevent sensitive information of users, gain their confidence and thus, maintain the good reputation of the social network app.

A few more Advanced Features

●       Go live or broadcast feature

●       Hosting Watch Parties

●       Ability to highlight best stories

●       Ability to edit, crop or rotate images

●       Collaborative stories i.e. short-lived stories for one-day or limited time-span

●       Person-to-person (P-2-P) payment

Now as we are done with the features part, let us move to the technology stack requirements of these apps. There are two major parts- frontend and backend. Apart from this, we will also discuss the admin panel and database.

Social networking app development: Aspects to look for in Technology Stack

Frontend

Frontend development depends on several factors like frontend features to be inculcated, the framework to be chosen for faster development, best performance, and the flexibility of the app.

For developing a web frontend, AngularJs and Bootstrap are considered reliable. Some can also use ReactJs. After deciding these platforms, one can combine them with HTML and CSS for styling capabilities and develop outstanding social apps.

For developing native apps, native languages like the below can be preferred:

●       Android- Java or Kotlin

●       iOS- Objective C or Swift

For developing hybrid apps, one can use frameworks like Ionic, React Native, Flutter, Cordova/PhoneGap, etc.

Backend

Backend is a crucial part of development for determining what logic will be used and how. Node.js is being widely used for backend development of dynamic social apps that focus on real-time events that need quick data processing with minimal latency. Apart from Node.js, PHP and Ruby are also being used for backend development.

Admin Panel

The Admin panel can dramatically impact the budgets. Admin panel can be either developed in-house or with the help of other development companies, depending on your requirements and goals. Since it is a time and money intensive process, several companies don’t build their Admin panels from scratch and work with a third-party service. However, with third-party services, there are limitations as customization is not possible.

Database

Social apps need a huge amount of data to be accessed, stored, and processed. There are multiple databases available for the diverse needs of the apps. One can select any database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite or NoSQL database- for instance, MongoDB. However, we recommend using PostgreSQL or MySQL. For cloud services, Amazon Web Services are highly recommended as storage for all the data.

Wrap-up:

The best social network apps on the internet attract millions of users daily. This fact has inspired several business enthusiasts, investors, and entrepreneurs to break into this arena. We hope this blog has guided you in your social app development journey with the features and the technology stack to be used.

Please feel free to comment below to let us know your thoughts on this.

You may drop us a mail at sales.enquiry@biz4solutions.com for any doubts!

Tips and Guidelines to Architect an Exemplary Dating App!

What name comes to your mind when you think of ‘The Best’ dating app in the market? I am sure it’s Tinder- the king of dating apps!

Tinder was launched in 2012, but by then, there were dozens of dating apps in the market viz: Match Mobile, Skout, eHarmony Grindr etc. to name a few. These apps already had millions of downloads. Then how did Tinder manage to top the chart? How it became a multinational favorite from being a local app in Los Angeles?

Well, this article will explain all about how to build an amazing ‘online dating’ app similar to Tinder. This market is loaded with opportunities and growing at a fast pace. Entrepreneurs and investors from all around the world are taking a keen interest in this sector. Even a reputed social networking app like Facebook has dived into the world of dating now.

So, without further ado, let’sgetsome insights on how to develop an exemplary dating app.

Key Considerations for Creating the Dating app of Your Dreams!

Choosing your Niche- Your Target Audience Group(s)

This is the most crucial data that acts as a powerful weapon in your dating app development journey. For deciding your target audience, there are two major categories: demographics and psychometrics.

In the demographic category, the target audience can be decided based on facts and figures. For instance the age of the target groups, their gender, location, occupation, income level, ethnic background, education, behavior, etc.

The psychometrics group includes a detailed portrait of the target audience. This profile defines the audience by taking into consideration their core values, hobbies, interests, personality traits, views on online dating, attitudes, lifestyles, issues they encounter while dating people from various communities. This analysis will help you determine your target audience and hence the project scope and promotion strategy.

Detailed Study of Competitors

We know how flooded this market already is with all kinds of dating apps. Analysis of competitors- both low-quality and top-trending dating apps, will enrich you with vital tips to grow fast and wisely. You need to study the below factors.

• Unique Selling Points (USPs) of the top-trending apps. For instance, the swipe feature of Tinder.
• Reasons for failure and drawbacks of low-rated dating apps.
• Reviews and feedback of end-users- both positive and negative to understand which features of the competitor app has issues or are missing.
• Features of both- local and global apps

 Intelligent Match-making Algorithm

According to a study, common interests and attractive looks are the major criteria that users are looking for when they search for their match. So, for developing a unique match-making algorithm, you can first create an insightful questionnaire to gather the necessary information from the users and then apply necessary algorithms to extract the best match

Security of the Dating Platform

While dating online, most users want to make sure their personal information is safe and they don’t meet fake people. They are looking for a trustworthy platform where they establish a genuine relationship. Hence, security should be the top-most priority in your dating app development process.

Here are a few security measures that can be introduced to avoid frauds and scams:

• Encrypted code: To protect the source code by using modern algorithms and API encryption.
• Testing code security: Scanning the source code and running vulnerability tests from time-to-time.
• Protection of network connections: By conducting network penetration testing and storing the data in encrypted containers.
• ‘Profile Verification: Photo and video verification or verification through phone numbers, social media accounts, etc. for avoiding catfishing and fake profiles.
• Sieving messages: To ensure that users don’t spread hate speech or threaten anyone.
• Blacklisting users: For users to get rid of unwanted profiles.
• Forbidding users: For users to raise voice and complain in case of offensive or indecent behavior.
• Risk Score option: So that users can rate the profiles of other users which seem fake or risky

 Monetizing the App

There are several ways in which businesses can get help in monetizing the app like in-app purchases, in-app ads, premium access, etc. Never make a free version of your app releasing all the features at once.

Wrap-up:

According to Statista, a leading online portal for statistics and reports, around 80% of the people who used dating apps were satisfied and had a good experience. The reports also show that the market revenue for this domain is consistently increasing with an annual growth rate of 5%. So, things look bright, and entering this market is a brilliant idea.

Hopefully, this article gave you vital insights into dating app development. If you are thinking of developing a dating app and want a reliable tech partner, Biz4Solutions is the one. We have developed several apps in this domain.

Our rich experience in developing new-age mobile dating apps makes us the one-stop-solution for your project. Along with dating app development, we also provide social app development services for global clients.

Contact Biz4Solutionsfor more information on this!

Significant Considerations for Entrepreneurs before Social Media App Development

Today almost everyone uses social apps, in this era of the internet. So, do you know how many social media users exist today? In the U.S. alone, there were about 243.6 million users in the year 2018 and there will be approximately 257.4 million users till the year 2023, as per a report generated by Statista, a well-known online search portal for statistics.

These exponentially growing statistics have provoked entrepreneurs all over the world to invest in social media app development. These apps dominate the app usage because they are a great source of good-quality online content and they harness the desire for social validation of the people. Social apps are being used more than gaming or messaging apps. Due to all such reasons, these apps have become a top target for entrepreneurs.

In this article, we will have a look at what the entrepreneurs need to know before they begin with the app development.

Things entrepreneurs need to know about social media app development

Why to go for social media app development?

Today, social media acts as the major medium of communication and so, a large number of people use it all over the world. One single social media app that is attractive, engaging, custom-built and properly branded can make the entrepreneurs touch the sky in a short time. Many entrepreneurs have entered the list of wealthiest persons by investing in a social app. So, investing in these apps can be a smart decision and can ensure a handsome market share.

How should the social app strategy be planned?

Here are a few tested and proven steps for planning a good strategy for social media app development.

1. Figure out the pain area or the idea behind your social app
2. Define a purpose about how you want to help your audience target that pain area through your app. 
3. Define your audience and identify their preferences, likes, dislikes, etc. 
4. Build the MVP version of the app and release it to the limited users to know its scope.  
5. Collect feedback from users and work to develop the better version of the app step-by-step instead of all in one go.
6. Make your social app much richer in terms of user experience. 

What are the significant elements of a social app?

For developing an outstanding social app, it is necessary to use the following elements or features in the app. These are mentioned below:

• Profile creation/ customization
• Clear icons
• Newsfeed
• Push notifications
• Audio/Visual/Video sharing
• Text Messaging 
• Ease of connectivity with contacts from different regions
• Liking, sharing, commenting features
• High security and privacy of user information
• Exit button

         

Along with these basic features, there are a few other optional elements that will make the app more useful and alluring, as mentioned below:

• E-commerce payments
• Adding links to other websites
• Geo-location integration

Why should there be a social media app for iOS?

There are two major benefits of developing a social app for the iOS platform. 

1. iOS has the second largest number of users after Android. So, there will be a good number of users available if the app is on iOS platform.
2. iOS has a better conversion rate as compared to Android

How to do marketing of the app?

After developing the app, it is of utmost importance to market the app. First and foremost, the app should be meaningful and useful to the users. Then, integrate the QR code to the business website, emails, business cards, etc. Then plan for advertising on social media, go blogging about the app on top blogging sites and mobile advertising. Social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram can also be used for monetization purpose. Finally, analyse the most effective marketing strategy and work on the one through which you can gain the best results. 

Conclusion:

Social apps were introduced as a medium to express us and connect with friends, but today they have evolved to be a huge platform for the individual as well as business growth. Having a social app helps to target and attract the audience, gain a loyal customer base, ensure brand awareness, and much more. As a result, entrepreneurs are attracted to developing these apps. The above mentioned steps will help entrepreneurs to build a top-quality social app.

There are a plethora of social app development services available in the market. Biz4Solutons is a Texas-based software solution provider having rich experience and expertise in developing engaging social apps for diverse industries. If you want to be the best amongst your competitors, develop a social app with us. Biz4Solutons can be your technical partner and guide you right from the first step of analysing the requirement to the last step of the monetization of the app!

Contact us now!