Social Network - how hard is it to make?

I have a really good idea for one, well - make that 2 good ideas.. only problem is, I don't have much experience with websites.

How hard would it be to make one myself?? And if I weren't to do it myself, what type of person would I need to help?

 

You would need a programmer and if you want it to be huge it will cost you anywhere in the XXX.XXX range. (that includes the advertising, script creation, etc.) That's just an estimate I am giving, but I wouldn't know for sure as I am not a programmer.

 

What type of social network site do you intend to make? Something like Facebook, Myspace, Friendster etc?

In my opinion, unless you know how to come up with a social network site that does everything that the others cannot do, otherwise it's really a waste of time to clone another social network.

Thanks.

 

Thanks, I'm not looking for it to be anywhere near the scale of myspace and nothing like it. It's a specific niche that may have 300-1000 core users. It would eventually grow, but the advertising on my part, would be relatively easy. However, I do want it to be very professional looking and have much potential.

Would you say the costs of that would be around $1,000 or so?

 

Myspace type sites are easy. Most of these are just a simple database design, and some scripts to handle profiles, privet messages, etc. I could probably crack one out over a weekend ( Dont ask me, Im not for hire).

To really make one, your probably looking at around 3k-6k on the cheap for a POS social script, or 10k-30k for something that is worth your money/time.

 

Could I just get something like this?

http://www.iscripts.com/socialware/

 

Have you checked out its features?

If it has all the features you want, you can go for it. Just spare the $1k to a designer to make a nice template for you. After all, the software costs only $100 and there's nothing much to lose.

But bear in mind, if you're targeting around 1k core users, you would need a clustered of servers, which would easily cost you at least 4 figures to maintain every month.

All the best.

 

You don't need a cluster for 1k users; you can probably handle 20k-50k on one server depending on the script, the server and the admin of the server. PM me what you require and I can advise you probably.

 

Can't some open-source social-networking script, such as AROUNMe, Elgg or Pligg, do the job? Especially Pligg is fairly popular.

 

You might want to try Ning, which is a white label social network...

 

Custom coded is very difficult.

I custom coded http://www.listbook.net and it's just grown and grown into something rather unwieldy and where it to get much bigger, i'd probably have to refine the code a fair amount.

That said, there are plenty of pre packaged options such as phpfox which might help you.
If you want something completely custom then you might have to get in a freelancer.

 

Actually making a social network is not hard...but getting traffic and forming a community is really hard,if u are sure u can get the traffic,you can better invest on it

 

They are tuff to make. But you can purchase well made scripts that have everything you need. The worst thing is promoting and getting members.
Good luck with your site though

 

Hi,

You can use Joomla - I have used joomla for teensitez.com and afunky.com

Good luck in whatever you choose.

Rgds JB

 

You just need to post in a freelance website and let many web designers bid for your project.

 

u could find one out of the box

 

I beleive it would take a few years to learn how to make a website like that. Unless you hire someone to do it for you.

 

just get socialengine.net and advertise, thats it, about ~500$

 

thanks people, much good advise here.

 

what about phpfox?