Ever since the world has shrunk to a global village, people are craving more tools and technologies to keep them connected. This keeps increasing the demand for newer social media platforms and mobile apps. The market is full of such apps that allow people to stay in touch with messaging and calling features, share important moments through sending images, videos, and video calling, and smile together through sharing emojis and stickers.

social media app

Innovation knocked on the door of social media apps and the world was blessed even with apps that allow strangers from all over the globe to connect. There are thousands of apps that give people a chance to talk to someone living miles away, learn about their culture and traditions, and connect on a deeper level. The wheel of innovation is still spinning and we can witness a lot of new social media apps entering the market. If you want to make your own social media networking mobile app, you are in luck for this article is going to explain all you must know.

Market Trends and Figures About Social Media Apps

We can tell you a dozen times that the number of social media apps is growing but you are going to need some figures to believe us. So, we have gathered some interesting facts and figures for you to know.

There are dozens of other facts and figures that you can find on the internet easily. However, one key takeaway from these figures is the power of social media platforms. The number of social media app users is growing each day and people are continuously looking for a new platform offering them the ultimate experience of their lives. It is the right time for you to make your own social media networking mobile app and launch it.

Why Should You Make Your Own Social Media Networking Mobile App?

The number of people is increasing drastically all over the world. Another thing increasing is the need for these people to stay connected. Since we are living in a world connected with the internet, social media apps provide the easiest way to stay in touch with loved ones or get to know more people from other parts of the world. We believe you are already thinking to make your own social media networking mobile app. However, if you are still not sure why you should create one, we are here to help you out. One can easily come up with hundreds of reasons to develop apps connecting people and we have curated a list of reasons for you.

app development

While a lot of other apps struggle to reach their target audience, social media apps take just a few weeks to go viral all over the globe. TikTok is a famous example of these apps. It had a sudden rise in the market attracting influencers from all the nations to join and share their content. Developing a social media app puts you in a good place having a huge opportunity to gain a good number of users overnight.

Social media apps have risen as one of the best investments in recent years. This has given an opportunity to a lot of new developers to launch their apps in the market. These apps give people a chance to stay connected. This feature merged with the chances of going viral would save you from spending a lot for marketing of your app. Instead, you can host ads of different businesses on your app and make a new stream of revenue generation.

Social media apps can also serve as a Kickstarter for your business. The fame and success of your app can earn a good name for your app helping you have a good number of downloads even for your other apps. This would help you come up with new ideas, push them in the market and make a better name. Hence, you can think of these apps as an opportunity for growth for your business as well.

Types of Social Media Apps Available

A lot of people quote Facebook when asked about social media. However, the reality is much different as we have hundreds if not thousands of social media apps used currently. If you believe that social media apps are all the same, you must give it another thought. Based on the demands of the users, the developers have learnt to make different types of social media apps. For you to make your own social media app, you must first be aware of the types of apps available in the market. Here are 5 most famous types of apps you might want to build:

types of social media apps

Networking Social Media Apps

This is by far the most famous type of social media app. This category includes the apps that are built solely for the purpose of giving people a platform to connect. You can use these platforms to either connect with your loved ones or form new connections. Sharing the knowledge, having interactions, and holding activities are offered by these apps.

An interesting fact is that these apps can be used to form personal relationships or professional ones. It is up to the apps that what kind of image they want to make in the market. The famous examples include Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Where LinkedIn is a famous example of social networking app used for professional growth, Facebook is used mostly for personal connections. Twitter can be used for both sorts of networking. One can share thoughts, add content, post images, go live or showcase videos on their accounts.

Networking Social Media Apps

Social Media Apps for Reviews

A few years back, some businesses identified a potential gap between the businesses and clients in the market. Where the businesses wanted to attract customers, customers wanted to go to places tested and liked by their fellow customers. That is how social media apps for reviews came into the world. These apps are used by people to drop reviews for restaurants, hotels, malls, and literally anything and everything. Other visitors can read the reviews and decide whether to visit the place or not.

Social Media Apps for Reviews

The famous examples of such apps are TripAdvisor and Yelp that display reviews given by the community members for different locations and experiences. These apps have been helping a lot of people in eliminating even the tiniest hint of doubts. Where businesses benefit from these apps, they are proved to be helpful for the customers as well.

Video-Sharing Social Media Apps

Another famous category of social media apps is video sharing apps. These apps are designed for people who enjoy either watching or hosting videos. These videos can belong to any category ranging from entertainment to education and much more. They allow people to curate content, add descriptions, add tags, and upload them on their accounts. The users can even have comments, dislikes and receive messages from their followers as well.

Video-Sharing Social Media Apps

If you are struggling to find a real-life example, we can tell one. YouTube is a video-sharing social media app that has revolutionized the video industry let it be watching, creating, or sharing. It has become the most favorite and accessible video-sharing app. Even though it had a lot of competitors but none of them managed to beat it. If you are aiming to ask us why, we are going to leave it on you to find the reason for it.

Blog Sharing Social Media Apps

The internet is not only composed of people who like to watch videos or upload images. There are people who love to read content on the internet as well. To cater to the needs of these people, the world was introduced to apps allowing the users to write and upload blogs along with reading the content of other writers. These apps also enable the readers to find and follow their favorite writers. Following a writer enables the readers to get notifications whenever new content is posted. Moreover, the readers can also drop comments or messages to their favorite writers.

Some of the famous apps used for blog sharing include Medium, WordPress, and Tumblr. These three platforms have a huge community of writers and readers that are interacting actively. They even allow the writers to customize their blogs to give a new experience and vibe to their readers. If you are a fan of writers, you might want to invest in this category of social media apps.

Social Media Apps for Discussion

The users on the internet can be divided into two groups. One is always seeking knowledge while the other has knowledge and love to share it. We can see social media apps bridging the gap between both groups. The apps used to bridge this gap are known as discussion apps. These apps allow the users to ask a question and post it. Other users can read these questions and drop their answers in form of comments. These questions along with all the answers get to stay on the app for as long as they are not deleted by the one asking the question.

Social Media Apps for Discussion

These apps not only connect the two groups of internet users but allow the future generation to have answers without even asking questions. These apps are getting famous all over the world. The common examples include Quora and Reddit. Some of the networking social media apps have also started adding the feature of discussions as well, however, they are not particularly made for the purpose of asking or answering questions.

6 Steps to Make Your Own Social Media Networking App

Now that you are ready to begin the journey to make a social networking App, it is time for you to know the basic steps. Where there are social media apps that succeed in the market, we have some that fail too. To make sure your app blooms well, here are the steps you must follow when you create your own social networking app. It is necessary that you follow all of these steps closely while developing an app.

steps to build a social media app

Step 1 – Target Audience and Purpose

The first wrong step developers take is not being sure about their target audience. Begin with defining your target audience including their age. This helps you understand the way they think and will perceive your app. Moreover, it will aid you in finalizing the look, feel, and features of your app as well. Write down the purpose of developing the app as well. This could also be seen as the problem you are trying to solve. The kind of app you develop depends heavily on it so, make sure you do it well.

Target Audience and Purpose

Step 2 -Get a Deeper Understanding of Your Community

The next step is to look around and understand the community you are going to enter. Gather some data about your competitors by understanding what they are offering and why they are offering that. Study all the apps you are going to compete against and do not forget to keep notes on them. Write down the features and functionalities to define your app well.

Step 3 -Follow Design Best Practices

Next comes the design of your app. Understand that the design of the app can either make your user leave instantly or bring their friends and family on your app as well. The design of your app must be simple and easy for the user to navigate. At the same time, the design must be able to give a new and unique vibe to the users. Developing a design of this type will help a user differentiate you from your competitors.

Step 4 -Eliminate Extra or Additional Features

Your competitors could be offering hundreds of features when combined and your users must be asking for a dozen new features. However, it is not necessary for you to include all of these features in your app. When you have all the features listed down, only finalize the ones you think are critical for your app. Eliminating the additional features will save you from cluttering your app with features your user can live without making it easy for them to navigate. Moreover, you will save money and launch your app faster in the market.

Step 5 -Choose Technology Stack Wisely

There are dozens of technology stacks available in the market for the app development. There are technology stacks used specifically for the development of Android apps. The technologies used for iOS apps are entirely different. The third category of technology stacks allow the developers to make a cross-platform app. You can use Kotlin and Java if you want to build an Android app or Swift and React Native for iOS apps. For a cross-platform app, go for Flutter.

Technology stacks

Step 6 – Develop the App

With all the tools you need, it is time for you to make your own social media platform App. When you sit down to start coding for your app, make sure that you have broken it down into multiple stages. You do not need to develop the whole app in one go as the experts suggest developing an app in phases. Develop only the major features and functionalities in the first phase and leave the rest for the next phases. It is always suggested to make a plan for all phases before sitting down. To have the app of your dreams, you can also hire a mobile app development company to save yourself time, money, and effort.

Test, Launch and Improvise

While a lot of developers mistake the launch phase as the ending phase of app development, we would tell you a different approach. You must test your app in the testing environment of your choice to see if it is working as you expected or not. In case a bug is found, fix it before launching. Once your app has been launched, gain reviews from your customers. Add their reviews into the next development phases of your app and provide them with changes as well.

This will help you keep a tab on the needs of your users while they also feel they are heard and taken care of. It might look like a lot of work and you might think it is unnecessary. We guarantee that you will not regret doing it, rather you might come back to thank us.