[ScrapperTL]

With Facebook facing a lot of heat lately for selling users data, it is only a matter of time before a new competitor steps in to fill humanities modern need for online attention whoring.
I thought some of our more Entrepreneurial minded members may enjoy knowing there are in fact low cost methods to enter the market.

1) Purchase Basic WordPress Hosting from GoDaddy.
Initial Cost: $3.99 Per Month + Free Domain (For 1 Year)
Benefits: GoDaddy Installs and Connects WordPress to your Domain for you.
Long Term Cost: $19.99 Per Month and Up
If your Social Network site takes off, you may need more Storage, Bandwidth and don't forget your yearly Domain Renewal Fee.

2) Get BuddyPress WordPress Plugin
Initial Cost: Free
Benefits: This Plugin has the Potential to turn your Simple Wordpress Website into a Fully Featured Social Network.
At the most basic level, you can fully implement Activity Streams, Friendships, Groups, Notifications and Private Messaging at no cost.
Long Term Cost: Average Cost is $50 One Time Fee
Although BuddyPress is a 100% Free WordPress Plugin, it may not be the most aesthetically pleasing right out of the box.
There are many Premium Themes built specifically for the BuddyPress Plugin, that can be purchased to spice up the visual appeal of your Social Networking Site.

3) MobiLoud, Mobile App Service (Android & IOS)
Initial Cost: $99 Per Month
Benefits: MobiLoud is a Service that converts your WordPress + BuddyPress Social Networking Site into a Mobile App for the Android & IOS Platforms.
They do all the Heavy Lifting from App Creation, App Approval on the Android & IOS Store, Publishing on the Android & IOS Store, adding Monetizable Ads to your App, to ongoing Updates and General Maintenance.
Long Term Cost: $199 Per Month and Up
As your Social Networking Site grows you may opt for additional Mobile Graphic Design help, White Labeling your App for Resale and other Miscellaneous complex upgrades not covered in the lower pricing tiers.

Using the above Method (WordPress + BuddyPress + MobiLoud) your looking at an all-in cost of approximately:
Social Network Site ONLY: $3.99 Per Month
Social Network Site + Mobile Apps: $102.99 Per Month
Premium Themed Social Network Site + Mobile Apps: $102.99 Per Month + one-time $50 (average cost)

Overall, for the Seasoned Entrepreneur, I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised that the initial Overhead is pretty low.
Another great benefit is that you are building an E-mail list with every User Registration.
If you have any background in Affiliate Marketing - you know this is a gold mine!

My personal tests have shown that in order to get the ball rolling on User Registrations, you should start by picking a Small Unique Niche that you know well.

[godfather dust]

If you aren't charging membership fees, how will you avoid becoming Facebook 2.0?

If you are charging, who will join?

Social media has inherent problems not limited to Facebook. At best a competitor will be big brother with less censorship, until the site grows and you have to hire feminists, h1b and soy moderators.

[ScrapperTL]

(04-12-2018 05:17 PM)godfather dust Wrote:  

If you aren't charging membership fees, how will you avoid becoming Facebook 2.0?

If you are charging, who will join?

Social media has inherent problems not limited to Facebook. At best a competitor will be big brother with less censorship, until the site grows and you have to hire feminists, h1b and soy moderators.

Godfather Dust,

Revenue can be generated from the Ads that MobiLoud integrates into the Mobile IOS & Android App.
If you decide not to go with an App, you can put on your Salesman Cap and prospect for people wanting to purchase Ad Space on your Website.
Get creative, one of the major problems plaguing Social Media Networks are -
How do we Profit without selling our Users Private Data?
The Solution? Think out of the box and problem solve.

I don't have all the answers, I am merely showing you that it is not impossible to create your own Affordable and Fully Functional Social Media Network.

[jamaicabound]

Creating a social media site or even a community site in general is one of the most challenging things to do. Hosting video is insanely expensive, building a community can be incredibly hard, you find yourself in this catch 22 where nobody will join without members, but you can't get members without having an active and thriving community. Reddit, Tinder, etc all faced this problem, they used bots early on to make it seem more active and fuler but again this isn't a great user experience.

Also, I like the hustle and the idea of starting small and scaling but honestly unless you have a background as a programmer this is goign to be over your head and incredibly cost prohibitive, add to that using a Godaddy wordpress hosting to host a vibrant and active social media site is kind of a joke.

I'm looking at starting my own little community but its probably going to be more along the lines of a telegram group or a forum

[JohnQPublic]

There's also http://www.ning.com which is probably an infinitely better choice if you actually ever want it to become more than a hobby.

[Vladimir Poontang]

I predict that in the future, social media sites will be individual sites, and people (women) will have to hustle harder for attention. I already have my social network, I've had it for quite some time now.

I have 2 members already.

[Repo]

(04-14-2018 04:54 AM)Vladimir Poontang Wrote:  

I predict that in the future, social media sites will be individual sites, and people (women) will have to hustle harder for attention. I already have my social network, I've had it for quite some time now.

I have 2 members already.

Yes, it was called Myspace