How to create a social media app like Facebook?

Facebook, as we know, is an online social networking and social media service owned by Meta Platforms. Any mention of social media is incomplete without mentioning Facebook as it has become one of the most popular platforms. It is an inclusive and dynamic social media channel with multiple features.

If you are planning to launch an app like Facebook, you are headed in the right direction. Continue reading and learn how to make a social media app like Facebook. We have discussed multiple methods of app development that suit all budgets and businesses. Go through the details and know how and where to start.

In this blog

1. Some facts and statistics about Facebook
2. Benefits of creating a social media app like Facebook
3. What are the challenges in creating and promoting a social media app?
4. Key features of a social networking app like Facebook
5. How to build a social media app like Facebook?
6. Frequently Asked Questions

Some facts and statistics about Facebook

Facebook has a website and a mobile app that is complemented by the messenger app. However, the app is more popular among users as compared to the website. This is true for most social media platforms. Therefore, turning your social media website into an app is a smart decision. However, before you proceed to do that, you should study the market and learn about the current trends.

To help you get a better picture, we have compiled some statistics and facts related to Facebook and social media in general. Go through them before you learn to build an app of your own:

Source

• The total number of social media users is expected to cross six billion by the year 2027.
• On an average, internet users spend 147 minutes (2.45 hours) per day on social media and messaging apps.
• Around 37 percent of all the people in the world use Facebook.
• Approximately two billion people access Facebook every day through web and app.
• Facebook app has been downloaded over five billion times till date.
• In the year 2022, Facebook app was downloaded 413 million times.
• 81 percent users accessed Facebook through mobile in 2022.
• Facebook has 2,958 million monthly active users, the highest among all popular social media platforms.
• YouTube ranks second in the list with 2,514 million monthly active users.
• WhatsApp and Instagram rank third with 2,000 million monthly active users each.
• In 2022, Meta Platforms generated a revenue of more than USD 116 billion.
• In 2022, Meta’s total Family of Apps (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.) revenue amounted to USD 114 billion.
• Total revenue in the Social Networking segment was projected to reach USD 43.39 billion in 2022.
• The revenue is expected to reach USD 63 billion by 2017, showing a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 6.71%.

The stats above show that the social media industry is on a growth trajectory and is likely to grow more in the coming years. It is a viable time to launch a social media app of your own. Stay tuned and discover the benefits of creating an app like Facebook.

Benefits of creating a social media app like Facebook

It is evident that Meta Platforms is ruling in the social media realm. However, the industry is ever growing and there is ample space for new and innovative ideas. Thus, there can be several advantages to creating and launching an app like Facebook. 

For instance, the demand for social apps is high and it is easy for such apps to attract traffic and revenue. Moreover, you can ensure the following benefits by launching a social media app of your own:

Connect directly with your audience

Whether you are creating an app for the public at large or for a dedicated segment of audience, colleagues, employees, customers, stakeholders or community members, a social media and networking app can bring you closer to people. It can help you connect with them directly and give them direct access to your platform.

Boost SEO and increase traffic

An app like Facebook inspires users to generate content. It is well known that user-generated content can be more beneficial than paid branding activities. Therefore a social media app can also help you get loyal traffic and bolster your SEO and branding efforts. This eventually leads to expansion of the consumer base and an increase in conversions.

Collect better data and insights

Data is the new gold and an app like Facebook inspires people to share a vast range of data and information like demographic details, personal details, employment details, likes and dislikes, and more. This gives you the power to collect user data and insights and use it to make better business decisions and create new opportunities.

Earn revenue through ads

Today almost every business is targeting social media platforms to promote their brand. Facebook is no different. In fact, most of Facebook’s revenue comes through advertisements. Launching your own social media platform can help you tap into this revenue stream and earn by showing relevant and targeted advertisements to your audience.

Suggested Read: Explore the wonders of Facebook marketing for your mobile app

What are the challenges in creating and promoting a social media app?

All major social media platforms – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, and more – have their set audience engagement patterns. If you’re building your own social media app, you perhaps understand the behavior patterns and preferences of users across these platforms. 

As you’re competing with some of the biggest platforms in the world, it’s essential to understand the challenges involved. The following sections cover the challenges involved in creating and promoting a social media app. 

Differentiation 

What incentive does someone using Facebook have to use your social media app? The success of your social media app hinges on this question. If your target audience is happy using Facebook or any other social media network, the chances of your app thriving are low. 

The solution? Differentiate your social media network. This is illustrated with the example of the Gas app. Launched in 2022, the app was built to allow high schoolers to compliment their fellow students and friends anonymously. The app became the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store in October 2022 and was acquired by Discord in January 2023. 

By targeting a specific audience and honing in one particular aspect of high-school culture, Gas was able to differentiate itself and thrive in a deeply competitive market. 

Business model

Most social media platforms rely on ad monetization. Their entire business model is based on showing ads to users. If you plan to adopt the same model, here’s the challenge – can you develop an ad-serving system that is as accurate as Facebook? 

With Meta ads, advertisers are able to target their exact audience segment. Furthermore, they can leverage other ad-serving options like A/B testing, scheduling, bid targeting, etc. These options enable advertisers to leverage the scope and reach of Facebook fully. 

Other major social media platforms also offer similar ad targeting features. If you adopt advertising as your approach, building a similar ad system can be challenging. 

One way to do this would be first to acquire users and build on the app’s networking effect. Once your app reaches a critical mass of users and engagement, you can think of a monetization strategy. It may not be restricted to ads alone. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn didn’t have an obvious monetization model at first – they only focused on growing their userbase and later branched into advertising. 

Building network effects

While creating a network effect is challenging, it is possible with the right approach. 

What is a network effect? Put simply, a network effect is a phenomenon where the quality of a product improves when more people use it. Network effects are commonly noted in social media. When more people engage on social media, the overall experience of the platform improves. 

How do you evaluate the effectiveness of a social media personality? While followers are important, the key metric to understand a profile’s recent performance is their engagement. Comments, likes, shares etc are essential for making a social media platform truly social. 

Your social media app’s success depends largely on how actively users engage with posts. The aforementioned example of Gas highlights how a simple cultural aspect of high school life can be used to get engagement. You don’t necessarily need big personalities and celebrities to drive conversations. A unique concept coupled with great UI/UX can also help bring organic engagement. 

Key features of a social networking app like Facebook

Facebook has many supporting apps, tools, platforms, and services for individuals as well as business accounts and pages. For example, Facebook Business Manager app, Ads Manager app, Messenger app, etc. They together make it easier for people to manage their accounts, track critical data points and insights, increase their reach and revenue, and more.

Moreover, Facebook offers a ton of features to its users. You can go through the list and pick the ones that align with your app goals and vision:

• Easy registration, sign up & login (including login via Email, Google, etc.)
• Account creation and management
• Social profile creation and management
• Business page creation and management
• Add, remove, and categorize friends
• Like, unlike, follow and unfollow pages
• Create and join pages and groups
• View and manage news feed and wall
• Post text, audio, and video content
• Post stories and chat with others  
• Create events and send invites
• Sell products on marketplace
• Create fund-raising goals and raise money
• Control viewing of posts and profile
• Share location and life events
• Live stream audio and video
• React and comment to posts
• Get real time notification and updates
• Get page, group, and friend suggestions based on data  
• Intuitive search & filter for finding friends, events, etc.
• Track performance and usage data insights  
• In-app advertisement support
• Multilingual & localization support
• Push notification support

These are some of the most common and well-known features of the Facebook app. While it is not necessary for you to incorporate all of them, you can surely take inspiration and curate your own list of features for your social media app.

How to build a social media app like Facebook?

Now let us cut to the chase and learn how to develop an app like Facebook. Go through the steps listed below and get started on social networking app development with ease:

Step 1: Find and list your goals  

Research is a prerequisite of any project and endeavor. Start with conducting extensive market, competitor, and audience research. List down your goals and vision and discuss them with your stakeholders. How will your app standout in the market? What problems or gaps does your app address? What is the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of your app? Who are your targeted users and where are they? Find answers to questions like these and then start with development. This will help you draw a reasonable road-map and allocate the right resources to the project.

When drawing up a plan for your social media app, you should consider factors like differentiation and network effects. Initially, you should target a small audience and expand once you have sufficient proof of concept. 

Step 2: Build prototypes or mockups

Whether it is a wireframe or a full-fledged product prototype, create mockups of your app to outline the design, architecture, navigation, UI/UX, features, and functionalities of the app. This will help you visualize your app goals and share the same with your stakeholders. Get feedback and improve the product model until it is ready for development.

Step 3: Develop your app

Once you are sure of your goals, you can start developing your social media app. The steps that follow will depend upon your choice of development method or software. For instance, if you are fairly new to app development, you can choose from the three options listed below:

I: Build with a no-code social media app builder

Code-free DIY technologies are the future and no-code social media app builders are no different. If you have no idea of coding or you just want an easier, faster and streamlined app development solution then build your social media app with a no-code platform like AppMySite. Such platforms take the guesswork out of app development and make it easier, faster and affordable for all. Go for a tool that is truly code-free and lets you get started with design and development instantly.

Suggested Read: How does no code compare with custom app development?

II: Learn some programming and go with a low-code development software

If you have prior experience in app building and a steep learning curve does not affect your goals, you can build your app with a low-code app development platform. Such platforms require some amount of coding and backend management and may not be as efficient as no-code app builders or as customizable as traditional app development frameworks. Pick a tool and go through their documentation. Learn to code an app with the platform and get started.

III: Hire custom app development agencies or freelancers

If you are ready to invest time and money, you can also go with the traditional methods of app development. Hire an agency or a team of developers that understand your goal and deliver the social media app that you want. However, this method is time-taking and costly. So, be prepared for last minute charges, hidden challenges and the cost of maintaining the app in the long run. Else, take the modern route and simply go with no-code app development.

Step 4: Publish and market your social media app

The final step is publishing your app to the app stores. Ideally, you should publish your app on Google Play and the Apple App Store. App generator tools like AppMySite make it easy to build both Android and iOS apps, so there’s no reason you should restrict yourself to only one app store. 

• To publish on Google Play, you need to create a Google Play Console account. You’re required to pay a one-time fee of $25. 
• To publish on the Apple App Store, you need to create an App Store Connect account. You’re required to pay an annual fee of $99. 

Once your app is live, you need to have a marketing strategy in place to drive app installs. The obvious marketing channels are Google ads & social media and techniques like app store optimization. 

You can also try to recruit active social media influencers to promote your app. The strategy you adopt should align with the specific audience you’re targeting. 

Final words

Building an app like Facebook is not easy but it is not impossible. We can help you take the challenge and empower you to build the social media app of your dreams without coding. If you already have a social networking platform online, you can easily convert your website to app for free with AppMySite. .

Our no-code app builder is quick, easy and affordable and suits all kinds of businesses and industries. Here, you can build your app single-handedly and auto-populate all your data to the app with a few clicks. Else invite your team to collaborate on your app projects and customize how your app looks and feels.

Build a social networking app for your closed community or for the public at large and join the roaring social media industry. If you have any queries or concerns, drop a line in the comment section below and we will get back to you. You can also explore our other blogs and get detailed insights about mobile app development, marketing, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions