How to Create A Social Media App: Complete Guide 2021

Are you wondering how to make a social networking app for android? Maybe you are enquiring yourself questions like “How do I make a social network app for android?” “How much does it cost to make a social media networking app?”

Can I make an app like a social network for free? And last but not the least, Is it tough social network apps for android?

From a business view, the segment of social media networking app development is one of the most growing markets.

You also agree that top-class players monopolized this segment. The rapid development of modern technology is opening up new doors and a golden opportunity for the understanding of new brilliant ideas.

When the question comes up for Social Media App Development it is essential to grasp that having a mobile application is imperative for a successful business project. If you think about the cost of making a social networking app, keep in mind that most of the time and the cost is associated with the backend. 

We can offer social networking app development from scratch or as another tools association to the existing web version.

This blog post is the best guide you’ll ever need to read. We’re going to explain all of the flaming questions created in your mind and guide you through every step you need to take to make it happen.

Why Create a Social Media App?

The prime purpose of creating social media apps is to allow users to contact their relatives, professionals, and friends. Some people use these platforms to increase their network and to get better job opportunities. Social media helps an individual to get an attachment with like-minded people and share their feelings online. 

From a business point of view, social media is one of the best marketplaces to sell goods online with minimal investment. Therefore, in a nutshell, we can say that because of the rapid development of technology, social media is the best place to get a new opportunity for implementing new strategies and ideas.

How to Create a Social Media App (Step-By-Step)

We’ve talked about your various options and categories. Let’s jump into the essential steps you require knowing how to create a social networking app.

Step 1—Target Audience and Purpose

In the meantime, it must decide what your social network will be about. An idea for a social networking development app does not get started. You must be sure about full technical knowledge of your market and competition that already exists. 

Another important factor is to figure out what essential features your potential users like. This will give you a clear-cut picture of your customer and also try to know what your current competition lacks.

Once getting the obvious idea of what your social media website will be about and the aim Now, this is the best time to make the best social media app putting together your planned idea into final implementation. 

While developing the social app for Android must consider your various options for user retention. You must have a solid idea and concrete strategy to grow and engage your associated users.

The most important thing, you must have a plan to make money the eventual target which every business owner thinks, so have an idea about different monetization choices.

Also Read, The Complete Solution to Build an ERP System From Scratch.

Step 2—Features and Functions

If you are planning how to make a social networking app to earn money, it is easy to get involved in the various features and functions you may implement. But in the initial phase, you must be sure to grasp your limitations, skills, and development cost. Is it necessary in the first phase?

Just think seriously about what your active users need on your social network site.

Some essential ideas to consider:

• Do you want your active user to post updates like images, text, or videos? If you do plan to implement a news feed feature, decide who will share the post.
• Do you want to enable, like, the comments feature for user engagement?
• Will you enable push notifications to your users to keep them engaged with your social networking app?
• What security steps will you take to ensure your app is as secure as possible for all users?
• What type of content will you upload to your app? How will you help users find that content?
• Will your app give people the ability to create their profile, which is a mandatory feature in all social media apps?
• Will you connect your social network app to other social media platforms to increase your reach?

Therefore, while building your social networking apps for android or a website, you must consider the above important features. These features highly effective?

Step 3–Development & Design

You must wonder while planning how to create a social networking app because it is not a matter of a joke to develop and design. Development and design play the most fundamental feature in any kind of social networking site. You have a proper idea to insert all in one if you have decided about the same.

When you have outlined the major features of your social media app, it is the right time to develop and design. Any user first views the interface of the app. If it is easy to navigate, he likes and keeps the site, but if it does not suit his requirements, he goes away to another site.

You‘ll require deciding quickly on what niche you intend to take. You must plan whether you want your application available for a social networking app for android users or apple users or both. Both these companies use unique technologies.

In this segment, most companies use SaaS software, which has an excellent result, and you do not need any stress on your mind regarding their functionality. But if you’re thinking about how to create a social network app from scratch?

Then it is essential to write the development process, which may be expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, you must make sure that your designs and outlines are clear to the app developer.

Another idea for better visualization of your social media network app is starting wireframing. This will help your entire app developer team to view how your app works and what pages link.

Prototyping is the next step that involves building a working model of the social app. It helps to understand the networking app better and will put you in a much stronger position for the final social media network development process.

Step 4–Grow Your Community

Once you have developed your best social media app, now it is time to get your user on that platform and start building community. Here you have to be involved in the marketing of your social networking app to get users. Think and plan your strategy with your team members to engage a huge number of users on your social media application to grow a sizable community.

Step 5–Analysis

The ultimate step to implement for your social media application is a deep analysis. There are various online analytic tools are available that can support you in analyzing the success of your app. 

With the help of these tools, you can easily understand the visiting users on your platform from a distinct part of the country.

You might judge how long the user spends on your android application. Even you can also know how many times per week or month they use it. Keeping these analyses, you can make changes for the prospect.

Essential Features For when you Create a Social Media App

We’ve deliberated the different options for building your social media application like “Facebook” yet now. You may speculate what must-have features you should consider for an interest-based network.

Find some essential key features things to consider in your application:

1. Profile

The first and the most important feature of any social media app is the personal profile of users. In this section, the user includes information about them such as their name, location, and photo, email ID, mobile number.

2. Posts

Posting of video and images is part and parcel of all social apps. The social media app offers users to publish any kind of post. Your users should be able to share interesting posts, news, information, videos, and debate topics with their friends or the wider community.

This is the principal identity of a social media app. You have the option in your app to share comments, private messages, and likes. The ratio of sharing comments and likes is maximum on most social media platforms.

3. Push Notifications 

Push notification is the best way for people to be informed of various updates or things they have been “Tagged in”. This feature provides an option where people can be updated about any new post on their smartphone with no sign-up process to the application.

4. Ease of Use

Most of the features should be easy to use on your social media application for the users. Make everything far easier for them; people won’t use your application.

After all, one of the top reasons for Facebook’s success was the ability to edit the post and publish images in just a few clicks.

5. Customize Profiles

An app can customize profiles and present individuals in the best possible way.

6. Find and Follow your Friends or Add Friends Option 

It can find and follow your friend’s option including “Add friends” choices with the support of using names, keywords, or hashtags.

7. Story Feature

The story feature is one of the best features added to Instagram. In this feature, users add video clips of their content to a story available for 24 hours only. A user can view story content as many times as often as they like for 24 hours. You can view this feature at the top of your followers’ feed as a small circle.

The story features highlights.

• View the image for ten seconds only.
• Up to 15-second video recording.
• Endless story additions.
• You may directly message within stories.
• You may track the number of views from which users have viewed your content.
• Swipe down on the camera screen to unlock photos and videos from your camera roll.

8. Integration with other Social Platforms

Integration with other platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook builds trust in the users. Therefore, your application should contain such options all in one platform.

9. Privacy and Security 

Privacy & security is the most fundamental feature of any social media app. You must have the option on your app to secure the privacy and security of your user’s data. Many companies have faced such issues in their app.

10. Search Bar

A search bar is a must-have feature in any social media application which makes it easier for people to find groups, topics, or people.

11. Chat/Messaging

This is the most private messaging system that offers the user an opportunity to chat in private mode for more secrecy. You may chat outside of a group. You must include the other option like comment and engaging in public posts within groups.

12. File Uploads

Another essential feature in your application should contain the option to upload media such as photos and videos for the users.

13. Resource Library

A resource library is a feature where you may involve as the owner of the platform. It stores relevant content materials like videos and images. This will help users to share anything easily with others.

14. Groups and Subgroup 

People like to create groups and subgroups on their timelines. This is very popular with all kinds of social media apps that prepare like-minded people.

The principal purpose of making a group is to interact with similar categories of people or businesses, or this may be anything.

15. Live Streaming 

Live streaming is the most beautiful feature available on most social media sites, which people like so much to go live on a certain special event. 

It accustomed most people to watching live streams. During your development of a social media app, your app must have this feature to attract your users.

It’s a convenient way to connect with an audience, user, or any group. You may use this live streaming feature to sell or market your products to a wide level.

16. Customization

With the help of the customization option, one can change anything of his social media timeline. This will help the user change his profile picture, cover page, logo, color, font, and much more. This is very essential frequently to customize everything. 

It gives a fresh look to your profile page and people appreciate it.

With the help of this feature, one can change his domain name as well. Therefore, to get popularity, this feature must-have in your social network app.

17. Analytics 

Analytics plays a fundamental role in any social media application to know user behavior. You can observe them by knowing where your users are located, the content or post in which they are engaging, device type, and much more.

These analytics will help you to enhance the engagement of the user on your site. Now you may feel the importance of this feature. May I advise you to add this feature to your application?

18. Admin Access

The feature helps to take the administrative part decision for your user. Besides you and assign responsibility to your team members, to manage the website, block unreliable users, and perform other administrative functions.

19. Monetization

Monetization helps you to increase engagement on your site along with earning money from various sources. You cannot ignore these features because this feature will help you improve revenue for your social media application. This is the most important feature for your social media application. As you know, the travel & tourism sector is a very promising sector to earn huge revenue.

We have recently developed a tourism app “Tipster“—A travel, social networking app for their clients. 

This traveling platform is for those who love to explore a new destination. The interface of this app is smooth and responsive, well-structured friend list including info-rich trip cards ready for all user images and much more.

Here you Can Find More About “Tripster-A Travel Social Networking App.“

20. Advanced Features 

As reviewed earlier when we talked about the option of how to create a social media app from scratch? Find some advanced and unique features you may consider for a social media networking app.

21. Augmented Reality and Face Filters:

Snapchat and Instagram are the best sites where app developers used these features named augmented reality and face filters. Here they are dominating the social media app market. People still relish the funny face filters for an added effect.

22. Artificial Intelligence Chatbots 

They automate these features of chatbots that forecast and respond to user questions and other queries.

23. Ephemeral Content

This is the type of post that does not work after a certain time interval. Messages or stories come under these features. Snapchat and Instagram are the leaders in this segment.

Also Read, What is Agile Software Development? How Does it work?

Types of Social Media App

As per our survey, everyone has a social media account that helps them engage with their friends and family worldwide. Also, you require robust internet connectivity and a good android smartphone.

Various types of social media are available today. For example, social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter), social review sites (Yelp. Trip Advisor, image sharing sites like Instagram and Snapchat.

For video lovers, video sharing sites are also available, like YouTube, which is the best source of entertainment. 

If you want to develop your blog, blogging sites are also general, like Blogger and Tumblr. Last but not least, image bookmarking sites are also popular, like Pinterest.

Synergy with other Services

Offering a better user experience to the customer associating with the platform, create a unique system for integrating existing services into your social media website. 

Find some third-party services sites for your consideration:

Discussion Forum

While developing a social app for android, they must incorporate a few essential things like communities, Question & answer services, and forums. In these categories, Reddit, Digg, and Quora are very popular. 

Social Publishing Platforms

During the development of social network apps for android social publishing, platforms play a good role. Twitter, Medium, and Tumblr, which act as blogging and “microblogging” are popular sites in these categories. 

Interest-Based Networks

Another key feature that provides social media websites is to find like-minded individuals with similar interests. For music lover Last.FM is the best site and for those who love literature “Good read” is best for them. 

Bookmarking Sites

Bookmarking sites like “Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Flipboard” are renowned and these social media networking sites offer relevant content to users.

Online Reviews

In this digital transforming world, the online review helps in online purchasing and finding other services. Urban spoon is a popular site based on “Geolocation” having the capacity to post comments and reviews on local businesses.

Media sharing Sites

Media sharing sites include Instagram, YouTube, and Vimeo. These types of social network sites enable users to share any kind of media with their followers.

Blogging Apps and Platforms

The blogging app is also popular today, which attracts people to gather informative content on certain topics. 

Private Communication

It does not matter how exciting the experience of public user intercommunication is. There are always some private messages to be discussed in a private circle. Therefore, all social media apps should accommodate built-in services for protected private communication.

Arranging such integration into your social application, your users will not move to another platform. This confidence gives them confidence and will concentrate more time on your social network application. You must secure users’ data and design your app accordingly.

So you have an app idea, you understand the importance of the social media app. What’s next? How to make a social media app? We proceed to the direct building of how to make a social networking app for android.

Also Read, What Is Progressive Web App? How Does PWA Work?

The Cost of Features

The exact cost of developing a basic social media application depends on its features. The following are the vital social media app features you should be mindful of.

Account Authorization, Profile Creation, Photo and Video Upload, Messaging, Search Feature, Other Settings, Basic UI/UX, and Tagging (Location, Friends).

Below are estimates for the development time and cost of

• Social sign in 30-35 hours, $1000+
• Push Notifications: 80-90 hours, $2600+
• Geolocation: 70-80 hours, $2700+
• Uploading pictures and videos: 80-160 hours, $2800+
• Reviews and Rating: 80-140 hours, $2500+
• Filter Integration: 250+ hours, $13,000+
• Reservation: 200-250, $6500+
• User profile: 300 –320 hours, $10,200+

The Exact Cost to Create a Social Media App

You must think and wonder regarding social media app development costs.

The cost of building the best social media app differs depending on which medium you decide to go down for creating it. Planning for SaaS or CMS software to make your social media app, then the cost will be less. If you are using an open-source solution, it is far better and involves the cost of software, app developer cost, and hosting charges.

Create a social media application from scratch, you require accounting for the cost of back-end development cost. But it often takes lots of involvement in terms of time.

Now we come to the android development cost for iOS, these costs range from $90K for one platform and $1.50k for two platforms.

Best Social Media App

Among the best social media apps Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat have great craze among the users and have created a milestone. They are dominating the social media platform through smartphone devices.

However, if we look at another brand like Facebook messenger, what’s app has also gained immense popularity and people are a fan of these applications. The main amazing thing is that these two social media apps are owned by Facebook.

These social media brands are increasingly becoming part of the social media trend and helping to transform the global economies.

What’s app

This application is part and parcel of our life and surpassed a lot of social media and messaging platforms. This application is available in over 170 countries and people are a fan of this amazing app.

We use it as the first choice to share video and text messages. People are also using this free social media networking application for communicating in businesses as well. They offer various kinds of features to engage users.

This app is a social networking app to link model and hiring agencies, which is a unique concept that helps to create a direct connection between them. Apart from the basic requirement, other features keep the application in a unique position. They have made this app for their UK-based international clients.

Telegram

Telegram is one of the best social media apps for texting. They have expanded their user base and their credit goes to its enormous user base. Their privacy-driven policy is excellent and their security is outstanding, which makes this app stand out among its competitors.

Telegram app is good in terms of business perspective; the brand can connect with their users quickly because no formalities are there. 

If you are a business owner, you can create chatbots on this platform for chatting with your friends and family or for your business. They broadcast messages to several subscribers at once.

Instagram

Instagram is another sensational best social media app. It has billions of users worldwide which are gaining momentum day by day. Instagram always introduces an extra feature for engaging its users more. It shares users with a wide range of content like videos, live videos, photos, and stories.

Recently launched IGTV is a great sensation among users to support long-form videos. If you are a start-up, promote your brand on this platform. You may create a business profile on this social media app, which provides you with rich analytics of your posts, views, likes, and profile.

Reddit

Reddit is the second-best social media app and a global discussion forum. The design is the amazing and best place for mobile social media app users. It holds a significant community of qualified people who discuss, chat, share pictures, and viral videos. You can upvote, comment and downvote the post.

They have dedicated forums, we call them ‘Sub-Reddits’. However, sub-Reddits have different engagement levels, so we recommend it to research and find out the relevant Subordinates for your social app promotion.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is another best social media application for professionals around the world. You can connect with like-minded people on this social media app. Users can enhance their connection while connecting with other people. Using this social media app for marketing may be a splendid opportunity for you.

The Most Used Technology to Make a Social Media App

All top social media apps use the following tech stacks to create frontend in their mobile application to attract users.

The frontend JavaScript framework uses Angular, ASP.net, Ruby on Rails, Express.JS, and Ionic. These frameworks suit the need for social media.

They also use backend frameworks, which is a critical component of social networking app technology. Have a look at the top backend frameworks popular among developers: Laravel, Django, Phalcon, CakePHP, and Codeigniter.

The most popular programming languages are Java & Kotlin for Android, Javascript & HTML5 for Cross-platform, and Obj C & Swift for iOS.

For database development, one can choose MySQL, SQLite, and PostgreSQL.

How to Generate Revenue from your Social Media App?

You may generate revenue from social media applications in the following ways;

Through a Paid Membership

You may sell your content by charging a minimum amount.

Promote a Reputed Brand with an Affiliate Program

Several companies are advertising for their affiliate program, like Amazon, Flipkart. They offer a decent amount after their product sale.

An Influencer Marketing Program

Most startups and other reputed companies offer influencer programs to promote their products. They offer money and their promotional products.

Sell your Educational Products or Services

You can generate revenue by selling your educational products or services. Sell your musical knowledge, dance classes, guitar classes, singing tips, and many more will generate Revenue for you.

Final Thoughts

We offered you every little thing you need to know on how to make a social networking app for android with all the details. You are aware of all the recent development happening in the market and know which features are essential to create a successful social media app.

Don’t hope much that creating a social networking application similar to a popular app like Facebook is a simple process. It is Better to hire Saas Developer from HackerKernel” expert app developer to make sure your product will function properly and find its target users.

FAQ

What is a social media app?

A social media app is an application that allows an individual to create social networks with their family, relatives, or colleagues.

What about the cost to create a social media app?

You can create a free social media app using a readymade social media app builder. However, if you desire to publish your app to Google play, you require paying a subscription fee to social media app builders.

What is the most popular app?

Facebook, Twitter, What’s App, Telegram are the most popular social media applications.

How do you make a social network from scratch?

Using the right technology and the best programming languages is beneficial to create a social networking app from scratch.

Is creating social media hard?

It is not too hard, but necessary guidelines from developers make the work easy. Please also note that programming knowledge, sufficient money, time, and focus on the job are also essential.