How to develop social networks when you’re a start-up
2009-04-27 11:42
405 查看
When developing social networks, the biggest challenge for
start-ups may not be safeguarding against failure so much as preparing
for massive success.
The first commandment
for building a social network is: Thou Shalt Scale. A social network
needs to be able to cope with huge spikes in users – perhaps multiple
millions – and if it can’t, users will abandon the site in droves. It
is also critical to make a site ‘sticky’ by providing compelling
reasons for users to stay once they’re on the site; innovative design
and unique, robust applications are therefore an absolute prerequisite.
Users tend to flock to new networks – well, the good ones – but numbers
drop off sharply when critical mass is reached. The issues then become
scaling back down and, of course, retention. Networks employ various
methods to keep users interested, such as notification of applications,
alerts for new messages and new activity, and reminders to visit. These
all require users to submit contact details and, and for an audience
now wary of putting details online, very strong security policies must
be enforced across the social network.
If there aren’t enough users on the site at launch, it appears ‘empty’
and potential users bounce off, probably never to return. Start-ups
therefore must feed users onto the site prior to launch, either by
inviting beta testers to the site or by actively recruiting users from
their own networks of contacts – including employees.
Some organisations partner with specialist web site developers to turn
their vision of a social networking site into a reality. In this case,
start-ups should only seek developers with a strong track record in
developing social networks. This is because developing this type of
site requires specialist skills to both address the challenges –
including the rapid development of unique and robust applications,
coping with rapid change, creating fresh design and handling
exponential load spikes – and embrace the opportunities.
New Bamboo Top Tips
1. Get feedback early and often. Get people using your social
networking site during its development and act on their feedback.
Therefore you ensure that you consistently navigate your network
towards success.
2. Go cross-channel if you can. Maximise your user numbers by making the site accessible via mobile devices.
3. Plug into existing networks. Including links to established
networks – Facebook and iPhone applications for example – will help put
you one step ahead of the game.
4. Create a Unique Selling Point (USP). No one cares if you provide
the same features as other established sites. Do something different
and focus on that completely.
5. Or….target a niche audience. A social networking site is only
useful if everyone you know is on it. Facebook initially targetted
individual colleges for example.
*Gwyn Morfey is an application developer at New Bamboo.
start-ups may not be safeguarding against failure so much as preparing
for massive success.
The first commandment
for building a social network is: Thou Shalt Scale. A social network
needs to be able to cope with huge spikes in users – perhaps multiple
millions – and if it can’t, users will abandon the site in droves. It
is also critical to make a site ‘sticky’ by providing compelling
reasons for users to stay once they’re on the site; innovative design
and unique, robust applications are therefore an absolute prerequisite.
Users tend to flock to new networks – well, the good ones – but numbers
drop off sharply when critical mass is reached. The issues then become
scaling back down and, of course, retention. Networks employ various
methods to keep users interested, such as notification of applications,
alerts for new messages and new activity, and reminders to visit. These
all require users to submit contact details and, and for an audience
now wary of putting details online, very strong security policies must
be enforced across the social network.
If there aren’t enough users on the site at launch, it appears ‘empty’
and potential users bounce off, probably never to return. Start-ups
therefore must feed users onto the site prior to launch, either by
inviting beta testers to the site or by actively recruiting users from
their own networks of contacts – including employees.
Some organisations partner with specialist web site developers to turn
their vision of a social networking site into a reality. In this case,
start-ups should only seek developers with a strong track record in
developing social networks. This is because developing this type of
site requires specialist skills to both address the challenges –
including the rapid development of unique and robust applications,
coping with rapid change, creating fresh design and handling
exponential load spikes – and embrace the opportunities.
New Bamboo Top Tips
1. Get feedback early and often. Get people using your social
networking site during its development and act on their feedback.
Therefore you ensure that you consistently navigate your network
towards success.
2. Go cross-channel if you can. Maximise your user numbers by making the site accessible via mobile devices.
3. Plug into existing networks. Including links to established
networks – Facebook and iPhone applications for example – will help put
you one step ahead of the game.
4. Create a Unique Selling Point (USP). No one cares if you provide
the same features as other established sites. Do something different
and focus on that completely.
5. Or….target a niche audience. A social networking site is only
useful if everyone you know is on it. Facebook initially targetted
individual colleges for example.
*Gwyn Morfey is an application developer at New Bamboo.
相关文章推荐
- How to specify port number when start up VNC server?
- How to tell if you’re running the 32 bit or 64 bit kernel in Mac OS X Snow Leopard
- [知其然不知其所以然-30] How to work around when system can not be woken up
- In C how do you redirect stdin/stdout/stderr to files when making an execvp() or similar call?
- About UID and How to autostart an application on boot up in 3rd- Startup List Management API
- (转)Three challenges you’re going to face when building a chatbot
- If you have multiple web application run how to determin which is yours when you debug using visual studio 2008?
- 【转】How to Start Intel Hardware-assisted Virtualization (hypervisor) on Linux to Speed-up Intel Android x86 Emulator
- How to let FIR open a URL when you click an image
- vscode : how to fix "XHR Failed" when you open extension panel
- How to make app start automatically When the application starts
- [howto] General 5.10 - HowTo: Speed up ubuntu boot process - the way you can feel it. - updated
- 32-bit Assembler is Easy, why and how to develop using the assembler; start learning to program in Assembly now!
- When you’re nearly 40 and unmarried, and you realize you’re going to be okay
- How to Know When You’ve Made It(摘录自 work from passion)
- Start-to-Finish Visual Basic 2005: Learn Visual Basic 2005 as You Design and Develop a Complete Appl
- How to assign the priority when using rspc_api_chain_start?
- how to install NOkia SDK of Chinese Version when you meet a Error:"Could not load jvm.dll"
- "Unexpected Error 0x8ffe2740 Occurred" Error Message When You Try to Start a Web Site
- How to cal Session_End() method when you store the Session state not in Inprc but StageServer, etc.