Building a social networking site
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- Gordy22
How would you go about building a social networking site from scratch?
A client has said they're thinking about it but I have no idea where to start - what framework, code, should it be from scratch or are there out of the box solutions etc.
Anyone any experience? Note my background is front end design so a bit clueless as to DBs, etc...
- utopian0
Give Mr. Mark Zuckerberg a call.
- liveforever0
think it kinda starts off being a forum / chatroom - bit like QBN
then gradually adding features and simplifying existing elements to the site
- 23kon0
Just tell your client not to bother and to concentrate their efforts on their Facebook and Twitter marketing.
Surely it's money better spent!?
- vaxorcist0
we looked at this a while ago...
but client had a "change of business direction" and project shelved...
- prophetone0
unless you go for an almost-out-of-the-box solution like buddypress for wordpress, or one that's hosted third-party, you're looking at from-scratch coding or building it up on a framework like codeigniter. also, you need to wear a hoodie and flip flops when you do the coding.
- FLIPLOPS WITH SOCKS!maikel
- exactlyprophetone
- Ninga Toephatwrx
- that's why zuckerberg could never get dates, and why he made this web app facialbook....vaxorcist
- Gordy220
Cheers guys. It actually looks like this may be a go so tho' it should have FB integration I think they want it to be a completely separate entity. I'll have a gander and Codeigniter Prop, thanks.
- A few people that I know
have used this and like it:
www.socialengine.net…utopian
- A few people that I know
- fugged0
I've built one from scratch (with a team, of course), and it was painful and expensive. If they're serious about competing with Facebook (and the likes), and have the capital - then build it from scratch. Otherwise, I'd suggest looking into a 3rd party solution as a start.
- p.s. the social network we built took over a year to build, and was only live for about 3 months. Fucking waste.fugged
- wow bummerprophetone
- scarabin0
maybe ask this guy, i'm beta testing a social network he created
- prophetone0
tunes for coding...
- vaxorcist0
fugged's experience is like one I had a few years ago.... before FB took over the world, lots of brands were trying to create their own social networks and we were re-inventing wheels very slowly and expensively only to see it all shelved after a short while...
an Intra-Net style inside-the-company social network that's a 3rd party hosted app or a framework-generated app seems the logical way to do this if its really necessary....
- think long and hard about WHY somebody would actively USE your new social network....vaxorcist
- UKV0
Start with a user, and build a site around them with something in mind that other social platforms (FB) cant get them. Its damn hard, but I see it happen most when there is a specific niche / vertical involved that aggregates in a way that your normal networks cant do... so if FB is like NBC, become HBO and make content or experiences that NBC couldn't (like the Supranos). Also remember that underpinning every meaningful social experience is a need to connect with your like minded peers, and project about yourself. And be prepared to curate whatever comes your way to keep shit real.
- Gordy220
At the end of the day, I'm paid to do their bidding so if it dies, it dies but I think, without getting into specifics, its got a good chance.
To make something with FBs functionality, what do you think I'd need by way of coding skills, team, cost?
- vaxorcist0
bid about $150-200k, spend a few months with 2 or 3 friends coding all sorts of random shit in codeigniter or Rails or Django, have a million meetings with changing randomness, then finally get ready to go live and find out they're pulling the plug and go on the the next boondoggle..... that's the consulting biz model, it works for some.
- it helps to have at least one powerpoint reality distrotion wizard and one client services blojob expert (part time only)vaxorcist
- vaxorcist0
sorry if I sound cynical, I did a few of these sorts of things and almost burned out, never wanting to see a computer screen again for a while....
- Gordy220
Na, its fine Vax - thanks. Just getting a feel for it.
Scarabin - just joined up to anybeat too to gt an idea. Interesting tho' its pretty much FB with purple.
- vaxorcist0
I highly recommend re-skinning something that already works if you can find something that's pretty close to what you want.... the cost will be 1/10th of building from scratch. Allow a week or so to download and test a bunch of things.
The real skillset here is NOT the purely technical, but the client-expectations-management skill... and making sure the warm-fuzzy feeling continues rather than the terrified throw-in-the-kitchen sink feature set panic that can derail things....
Building from scratch will result in lots of testing time and debugging and conceptual "can't get there from here" moments, note that some clients see bugs as a "character flaw" in the programmer rather than a near-inevitable effect of recoding to changing specs all night long...
- SteveJobs0
from experience - quite a bit of it, actually - i'd also recommend going with something that's out of the box. that is, unless you have a small team of over-zealous developers who all have worked on large architected projects and are fully capable of collaborating, and someone who can lead the charge and keep everyone on track and work 12hr days for about 4-5 months with no major architectural changes or re-writes... then, just maybe you can do this yourself. otherwise don't bother.
if you really need it from scratch and have a few hundred k to fund the project, then let me know.
ps. the larger the team, the longer it will take. i did this with myself and one other friend who i've worked with for years, so there was cohesion. the secret ingredients are less people each a jack of all trades.
- LightsDownLow0
Check out Jom Social http://www.jomsocial.com/ Based off of the Joomla platform. Pretty cheap and has a lot of support which is nice.
- SteveJobs0
oh, and i also worked for myspace back when it was the most trafficked site on the web, so i know the large and small of it.
- weren't you also the CEO of Apple at one point also?********
- weren't you also the CEO of Apple at one point also?