How much does it cost to Start & run a Social network?

Hey guys,

I am wanting to start a social network.. I want this site to hit big. Many people have to me that social networks cost a bunch of money with sever cost (I thought all you needed was a web host) But I have been told otherwise. I know that I will need to get it coded and programmed which would cost a lot but I still don't really have a good idea of how much it would cost.. Does anyone know?

 

It would cost a fair bit. At first you could use a shared host but after your first few hundred members would need to upgrade to dedicated servers. A custom script would cost a few thousand and marketing would also cost a few thousand to get the site of it's feet and get some members.

 

Hmm.... I see thats a lot more then I thought but I guess If you can find investors then that would be better and you won't have to come out of pocket with so much

 

I mean If you didn't want a custom script you could get away with a pre-built one for a few hundred but like most things it's the marketing that could kill the idea due to the fact that their are already the really popular Facebook, Twitter and Google+ you would need to spend thousands on marketing and seo to make it all work and even then you may have trouble. So I would really only recommend it if you had a lazy million in the bank and didn't know what to do with it, lol.

 

if much mony than i will invest thanks.

 

Shared host won't work for a social community website. Most shared host has limited email sending limit and on social network you need to have a huge email sending limit per hour. To get started with you can get a VPS hosting and if the traffic increases then you will need to upgrade to dedicated server. If your social network is fun and unique then many people should join it and make it go viral on internet. You will need money only for a good hosting, and if you don't know website coding, PHP, JAVA whatever, then you will need money to hire developers.

 

200€-300€/month for a dedicated server, 10,000€-100,000€ for a custom coded social networking system, 1,000,000€ for advertising and bottle of your favorite wiskey to drink after you shut everything down after a year.

What is "big" for you? Your neighborhood, 1000 members, 100,000 members or 1,000,000 members? Google is spending tens of millions and they can't make it big because Facebook is destroying everything in their way. The question is what do you want to achieve? Should you look into NING?

 

Good points.
A few have mentioned paying developer to do custom coded which will cost a bomb. My question- is there a need to use a custom coded software? Why not use those free SNS software around? Does it make difference to success of the site whether you use free or custom coded software?
My guess is the big killer cost is the advertising/ marketing/SEO cost. The server hosting and software costs will be peanuts compared to that.

 

You could get away with a budget dedi for $100 per month, free software like elgg or oxwall, and advertising costs of your choice.

 

don't waste your time and money that is my advise

 

I would say buy yourself a Social network application thats already built and install it shouldnt cost more then 1000$... then comes the hard part where you have to start promoting the site. for that i would start with a small active group and keep it exclusive and then expand slowly.

 

It will cost an awful lot - the actual set up may not be expensive but in an already over-saturated market, your promotion and marketing costs will be sky high.

 

I would say on average design site 1000 $, server 300$/permonth, Advertising 500$ per month , this is for a small budget.

 

Its totally depend on your requirments.

 

I think that it depends upon what type of Business you start, What type of Investor you are and What type of Equipment you use.

 

Starting a social network is cheap. You just need a nice domain, a regular host and a free open source source networking script (there are many online), some free plugins. Then you can build on that.
If you add up a webmaster to set it up and designer to do some minimum custom identity like a logo, total budget required first year can be $100-$1000. Exact value depends on how much can you do yourself and time you have to look for best deals.

But starting it is not the difficult part. Thousands of people start social networks monthly (check social network software downloads). Few take off (as registrations).
That's where the difficult and expensive part comes: marketing strategy, advertising, finding investors.

 

don't wastle gays get action for clucthed best

 

there is a lot of companies that can make this job for you

 

I agree with VideoWhisper.com.

I created social networking site but searching for a catchy domain name (Still running in a free domain) and its hard to promote it (no time) and getting ads.

 

Starting a social network may easy.But I am sure that It will be very difficult to maintain a Social network with huge traffic.Also don't believe that you can manage it in an shared host