Build a social network — for communities that general networks don't serve.
Facebook and LinkedIn are general networks. Niche social networks — for specific professions, interests, or locations — succeed because general networks optimize for the masses, not the community. The technology is tractable. The network effect is the hard part.
Founder building a social network for a specific community or professional group where general networks like LinkedIn or Facebook don't serve the community's specific needs
Social networks are among the hardest products to build because the technology is only 20% of the challenge. The other 80% is solving the cold start problem: users come for content, content comes from users. Without users, there's no content.
Niche social networks that have succeeded: Strava (running/cycling), Goodreads (books), Letterboxd (film), Behance (design portfolio), GitHub (developer portfolio + collaboration). Each found a community that general networks underserved and built a product for that community's specific behavior.
Technology vs. network effect: The technology for a social network is tractable. The network effect is not automatic. Successful niche networks seeded their community with curated content and specific community members before opening the platform.
Social network core technology: User profiles with follow/connection graph. Activity feed with ranking. Content creation (posts, media, etc.). Engagement (likes, comments, shares). Notifications. Search and discovery.
Social network deployed — user profiles, activity feeds, connections/follow, content creation, and community features
User profiles
customizable profile with media, bio, links
Social graph
follow (asymmetric) or connect (symmetric) model
Activity feed
time-based or ranked feed of content
Content creation
posts with text, images, video
Engagement
reactions, comments, shares, bookmarks
Discovery
search, trending, recommended profiles
One honest number to start.
Fixed-scope, fixed-price. The number below is the starting point — final scope is built from your brief.
Social network deployed — user profiles, activity feeds, connections/follow, content creation, and community features
Three steps, every time.
The same repeatable engagement on every project. No surprises, no mystery, no billable ambiguity.
Brief & discovery.
We send you questions, then get on a call. Output: a written scope with every step, feature, and integration listed.
Build & ship.
Fixed schedule, weekly reviews. No scope creep unless you change the scope — and if you do, we reprice it transparently.
Warranty & retainer.
30-day warranty on every launch. Most clients stay on a monthly retainer for ongoing features and maintenance.
Why Fixed-Price Matters Here
Social networks have defined profile, feed, and engagement patterns. Fixed-price from the spec.
Related engagements.
Questions, answered.
Follow (asymmetric, like Twitter/Instagram) for content creators and audiences. Connection (symmetric, like LinkedIn/Facebook) for professional or community networks where mutual relationship is expected. The network type determines the graph model.
Chronological feed for V1 — simple, transparent, trusted by early users. Algorithmic ranking added later when you have enough signal (engagement data) to rank meaningfully.
Tell Ryel about your project.
Describe what you’re building and what outcome you need. You’ll have a written, fixed-price scope within the week.