“Hey, let me check in on Facebook”, “Let’s share our pics on Instagram”, “Wait, I’m reading a tweet” – such dialogues have become common these days. The social network platforms which were designed to relish free time have invaded every corner of our lives – with hardly anyone unfamiliar with the terms Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. These social media apps have built a virtual world around us where we can interact with people from another part of the world and share the moments.

According to a survey by Statista, 3.6 billion people were active on social networking platforms in 2020, while the number is expected to reach 4.41 billion social media app users by the year 2025 (globally).

Though Facebook, Instagram, and other such apps are ruling the market, there are endless opportunities for app developers to enter the social media market with the drastic increase in the use of smartphones and mobile devices.


However, entering this competitive market is not everyone’s cup of tea. The existing social media platforms have raised the standard of the kind of services users want, which states you need to study the market religiously and consider various other factors before beginning with the process to create a social media application from scratch.

Factors to Consider for Social Media App Development

Captivating Idea

A social media app’s success is determined by how viral the app goes and till what time sphere. How mind-blowing your app idea is? Will it gain seasonal success or remain in the market for years? Why would users choose my app over existing social networking apps? Ask such questions from yourself and come up with a unique and mind-blowing app idea that the market would welcome.

The most overwhelming example is the Sarahah app. The social networking platform brought the concept of sending messages without disclosing your name into existence, which was welcomed by the market with open hearts.

Choosing the Right Platform

Though both Android and iOS are popular, you need to determine which platform is more appropriate for social media app development. Dig deep into the market and find out which platform can connect you with your target audience and have higher conversion possibilities. Based on that, turn towards the rest process. Otherwise, you can go with the same strategy that Instagram adopted, i.e, launching an app for the iOS platform firstly and then extend services to Android.

Focus on the Key Features

To create a mobile app that enjoys the limelight in the social media market, you must review the top-grossing social networking sites and evaluate which feature is apt. Some of the best features that make a social media app popular are:

Individual Profiles: Providing an individual profile to users where they can see just their activities and maintain the decorum of their right to express is also the necessity of a social media application.

While there are different ways you can enable users to personalize their profile and feel having complete control over the whole, the best ways are:

  • Allow them to add a profile picture and a background image
  • Empower them to customize their bio followed by selecting their choice and preference
  • Encourage them to add the URL of their website or blog.

To get clarity of this option, get into the shoes of your users and understand what they want.

News Feed: A news feed (as you must have seen in the case of Facebook and Twitter) basically shows the updates from your subscription or connection. This is a significant way to remain familiar with what others have uploaded without checking their profiles individually. In this context, mobile app developers from JatApp use different machine learning algorithms to present content based on the user preference, activities, and popularity of the content.

Apart from this, adding elements for interactions including like, comment and share would also be a profitable deal.

Media Sharing: Probably the most engaging feature of a social media app is the ability to share media content. From text to images, audio, and videos, social networking sites facilitate opportunities to share different kinds of content. It’s up to you, what type of content you wish to be exchanged on your platform.

Besides, also decide the timeline and other constraints for content exchange. For example, Twitter allows 280 characters of content sharing, while Snapchat empowers users to share for a lifetime of 24hrs.

Networking: The option to make new friends or follow people is the key element of every social media app. So, don’t forget to include it in your plan.

Work on the perfect algorithm and let the users connect with one another based on their interest, location, mutual friends, etc., and that also with a single click. In addition to this, you can also use the contact list of the user for connecting them to each other.

Search: This is again an inevitable part of social media development strategy. With this feature, the app users could easily search and find anything on the platform, like events, photos, or a friend.

Discussion forums: As the basic element of all the interactions is knowledge gathering and sharing, the social networking platforms are acting more like communities for discussing ideas and leveraging the perks of Q&A services. The best examples are Quora and Reddit.

Private Communication: Even if the public user interaction experience is exhilarating, there’s always a need for a private chat corner. So, look forward to it. Add messaging features to your app and give users another reason to stick to your platform.

Establishing a Connection with Other Social Networking Platforms

Presently, all the social media platforms are somehow connected to one another, creating a mesh that enables users to share activity on different platforms at the same time. To become a part of this super-connected social market, it is imperative that you also look forward to establishing a connection with the existing social networking platforms. Allow smartphone users to sign up using the credentials of a few popular pre-decided social media platforms. Besides, assist them in sharing information/picture/video on different platforms with one single click from your app. This will speed up your login process and will help you to use existing social media apps for raising your social graph.

Performing Quality Assurance is a Necessity

Unlike other apps, social media apps demand a high-end quality assurance run and testing JavaScript in Chrome. The app must be optimized to perform well on several devices, OS versions and screen resolutions no matter only 10 or 10,000 users are active on the platform. So, pay equal attention to testing and quality assurance as well. Do not remain confined to the design and development of your social media application. 

To remain in the social media world, your app has to be ‘beyond perfection. You can’t bear a single glitch in the app loading or performance for gaining fame in the market.

Do Marketing like a PRO

Regardless of the type of mobile application you developed, invest in the marketing of the app for blockbuster success. Think about different ways to promote your applications, such as reaching out to influencers, building a strong ASO strategy, engrossing the audience on social networking platforms, introducing different referral mechanisms, and blogging.

Now, as you have an app idea and are well-versed with the factors to study for launching a successful social networking app, what’s your next step? Connect with our experts and discuss how you can craft a better future in the social media world.