How to Create a Social Media App

The number of social media apps continues to grow, though, they have already taken up a great part of our lives and the application market. In the whole world the usage of smartphone has increased, as a result, appeared the opportunities for social networks with more advanced features.

Nowadays a lot of entrepreneurs want to be a part of the prosperous market and consider building new social media platforms.

Here you will learn how to create a social media app.

To understand what niche you want to enter and what big competitors will be waiting for you there you should realise what categories all social media apps are divided into:

• Social network apps They help to connect and communicate with other people online. They are used for personal needs (Facebook, Twitter) or for professional communication (LinkedIn).

• Media sharing networks These apps let users share all kinds of media files (photos, videos, GIF files, etc.). The most famous among them are Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Vimeo, and Imgur.

• Networks for consumer reviews They are used by customers to find and review businesses they’ve had experience with. The best example here is Yelp.

• Community and discussion forums These are used for asking questions and receiving answers, sharing news, ideas, insights, and experience. The most prominent apps in this category are Quora and Reddit.

• Bookmarking and content curation networks With the help of these apps, one can share his own content and discover the content of other users and save it. Pinterest, Mix, and Flipboard belong to this type of social media apps.

• Blogging and publishing platforms Such media platforms let users create their own blogs and publish their content there. Tumblr and Medium are extremely popular now among these platforms.

• Interest-based networks They help to unite people with common interests. Such platforms allow users to share their hobbies and related experiences.

• Anonymous social networks This kind of social networks is very popular with teenagers because it allows them to communicate anonymously with each other.

MVP Social Media App Development: All You Should Know

You should learn some basic requirements to your future product design, if you want to create a social media app that will look and feel nice and appealing.

All social media apps should stick to the following simple rules:

• Use blue color as it is not considered annoying.
• Use the same navigation bar with search functions, notifications, and profile icon throughout the app on every screen where they are required.
• The design of the whole application should be adapted to a specific platform. Besides your app design should have its key features in common with all platforms. It is important to provide equal user experience and feel if a user changes iOS to Android or vice versa.
• Smooth switch from a web app design to a mobile app design to make user experience similar on any device.
• Focus on a user’s face with the help of round profile pictures, which makes it easier to remember them or distinguish them from the list of others.
• Infinite scroll of posts.
• Focus on user content and design simplicity.
• Possibility of self-expression in design (like changing a profile picture, cover image, or even profile colors).
• Relevant content and simple search of users.
• On the first stages provide a quick sign in or app entry without signing up to give an opportunity for users to find out more about your product.

The above mentioned best practices are sure to help you find the happy medium between what you want your design to be and what it should be.

It is necessary to make designs for the full app version, to look at your project globally, plan possible interactions, and set a correct app architecture. As soon as your development team sees the complete picture, it becomes clear to them how to create a social media app you request.

Important Aspects of Social Network Development for Different Platforms

Before you come to actually building a social network lots of work needs to be done to prepare. Be sure that it is worth it. The more you are informed and the better all is set up before developers start working on your new social media app, the smoother will the development process be.

General information on social media app development for Android:

• Architecture: MVVM (model–view–viewmodel) architectural pattern
• Programming language: Earlier we used only Java to develop apps for Android but now Kotlin is preferable for all new projects.
• Framework: The main framework used is Google Play Services. It allows for access to Google Services like Firebase, Cloud Messages, In-App purchases, Geolocation, etc.
• Library: RxJava2 mostly for composing asynchronous operations.

General information on social media app development for iOS:

• Architecture: MVVM (model–view–viewmodel) architectural pattern
• Programming language: We use Swift to develop apps for iOS.
• Frameworks: Dip framework used as a service locator.
• Library: RxSwift

Learn more here