How Do You Run Your Own Social Networking Site??

dextor1372 said:

I would just like to give you guys some info that I had to learn the hard way.

I started my own social networking site a year ago, I decided to code it myself from the ground up as I am a professional PHP designer and have years of experience in custom writing applications like this.

IT WAS NOT EASY ! ! ! !

I work for a large data center and even with server leasing prices crashed, its still going to cost alow. If you think, one person uploads a 5MB high resolution photo. That is viewed 100 times. Thats 500MB of your monthly bandwidth GONE ! !, Here is another way to look at it

1 photos = 5 MB
100 views of that photo = 500 MB
--------------
10 photos = 50 MB
100 views of all photos = 5000 MB (5 GB bandwidth)

most servers only give you between 1000 GB and 2000 GB if your lucky. Your bandwidth will GO QUICKLY and thats just looking at photo's, let say you upload a 100 MB video to your profile, the costs are A LOT

BUT - DONT RUN OFF JUST YET ! ! !

I am still writing the source code for my social networking site and I will be looking to JV with at least 3 other people for marketing ideas, funds and some other areas. So if you guys would like to JV then I DO have a lot that I can bring to the table.

Cheers

.:[ DEXTOR ]:.

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my answer to that would have been dont let them upload 5mb images or 100mb videos... i guess it depends what type of site you have... but i dont see the need to have file sizes that big unless the sites video or photo related...

Elgg, Mahara, and Modmysite.com's "Dolphin Clean" version of Boonex Dolphin are good starters for self hosted social network scripts. There are Facebook and Myspace "clones" for sale but I doubt they can scale efficiently.

Dolphin is a one click installation from c-panel if you host it on Gigapros, and you can start on shared hosting + upgrade to load-balancing if/when you need to. Dolphin 7 will be out sometime between now and summer. It's supposed to be "world changing" but Boonex, in my experience, over-promises and under-delivers. If they keep doing that then they will not last long.

Mosso.com is fricking awesome and Amazon Web Services is a good alternative, utility style host - you are billed for bandwidth as it is used, so as long as your revenue rises in proportion to your costs, then they might be good choices.

Skype, AOL Instant Messenger, and Userplane can be used/integrated into the site to minimize server loads for messaging and video.

If you're going to build around Wordpress or any other CMS then you can "socialize" the site using Google Friend Connect, Facebook Connect, or Boonex Web Presence.

And I just found 40 downloadable Social Networking Apps. Haven't read this yet, wanted to throw it up here while I still had time to edit the post...

maxkiesler.com/index.php/weblog/comments/40_downloadable_open_source_social_software_applications

First off, I apologize for the spelling and grammatical errors in my last post. Now that I've re-read what I've posted, they really stick out.

Actually, I just wanted to add that: operating a social networking site is an online business model on its own.

Perhaps this business model should not be confused with using social networking sites (there are a whole bunch of them out there) to build your website business and draw traffic and even "recruit" evangelists for your products/services.

Oh, I actually meant to ask ukescuba:

@ukescuba: Would you happen to know of any good social networking sites that are actually built with Joomla?
Having only a very basic knowledge of Joomla and its back-end areas and also hearing differing opinions about it, I've avoided exploring this CMS platform but please share your thoughts and experience on this, when you get a chance. Thank you.

Cheerio

BlackHatter767 said:

theres already loads of social networking sites dont think its worth making one

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i know but myspace facebook bebo hi5 youtube etc all sucks thats why im trying to launch a site with a new concept thats hot and fun for members

Well I do some work for VeroticGuide.com and they have about 20,000 members.
Its like an adult Myspace for dudes looking to hook up with easy chicks and escorts. He hasnt made a cent on it yet cuz its all free. So good luck on what ever niche you are working on... I'm sure its not easy now a days..

Stoner47 said:

Well I do some work for VeroticGuide.com and they have about 20,000 members.
Its like an adult Myspace for dudes looking to hook up with easy chicks and escorts. He hasnt made a cent on it yet cuz its all free. So good luck on what ever niche you are working on... I'm sure its not easy now a days..

Click to expand...

so are you trying to say you know how to code?

I can;t believe I forgot to mention Elgg. You can see it running live on budokin.com (not my site)

I own RapBattleTube.com and it gets members everyday but the site hasnt been working properly for months and the Host I'm with just ignores this ticket instead of responding to it. These sites are easy to promote and easily build on there own. I havent advertised or did anything with this site in 8 mo. but it still gets members daily although the site doesnt function properly (hince no pics or media) From my experience of the two Social sites I've own it's safe to say you can manage it buy yourself but not when youre getting 7k visits a day. My other site was getting 4k daily then I sold it but it wasnt hard to manage as the spammers havent found it or took any interest in it.

Questions asked

1 how much does it cost a month to run a site like myspace?

2 what kind of servers do i need?

3 do i need to hire a bunch of moderators programmers and staffs to successfully run my site?

_____________________________________________________________________

Hey my name is black devel[SUP]TM [/SUP]i can answer some of your questions



q 2. you don't really need a server > but Facebook dose

q3 you don't need to "hire" mod or staff in our day and age people would be happy to Volunteer just to be moderators just Simply post a add saying looking for moderators keep a list of people who reply and keep a eye on them and look for the key the things you should look for are:

1. Are they mature?
2. Are they smart?
3. Are they reliable?
4. Are they responsible?

this way you can lave the site in cable hands wile your offline.
As for programmers it may be a good idea to get one to look over your website before you launch and also test your website before it launches 1 of the most common mistakes people make is not tested the website so end up with links that don't work and then need to start sorting it out making the launch just that bit more stressful

hope i helped
thanks Black devel[SUP]TM[/SUP]

Ning lets you do a very basic social networking site (up to 10,000 members with advertising options for monetizing for around $25 a month.

Well, for the hundreth time you could get myspace is free. Take a look on www.myspace.com. Good Day.

We started down this road, but didn't get very far before realizing it was going to take quite a bit more money and time than we had. However, we were using socialengine software and socialenginepro to do the customization. The software and customization was the cheap part, the marketing and trying to convince people to leave FB or G+ was the issue. However if you are trying to make a small local setup, then it may be very easy to do.

i have ning they are charging more now for 10K+ members