In the realm of social networking, there are three typical approaches taken when a company or organization wants to enter the market with a new social network or web 2.0 offering. You can go the route of completely custom, completely turnkey, or a hybrid approach that utilizes a powerful framework and optimized modules that can be completely customized and configured based on your unique project requirements; producing standard features in innovative and fresh ways. We take the hybrid approach and can launch your social networking website with modules such as social profiles, content management, blogs, photos, videos, search, shopping and payment, RSS, events, data collection, OpenID, messages, chat, groups, comments, rating, metrics/analytics, and much more. The modules are all customized, all designs are unique, and every social networking site we build is built from the ground-up based on extensive planning/architecture/documentation and for usability and power.

We live and breath social networking: approximately 75% of all of our projects are social networking / community-driven websites and we are very involved in the social networking industry with attendance at conferences, meet-ups, and trade shows. We maintain a social networking-oriented blog and stay abreast of market happenings through consistent and thorough research and involvement in the Los Angeles social media community. We can help you from documentation/planning to beta launch to public launch to the marketing of your social network through social media channels, the staffing of your social networking start-up after launch, and even helping you find investors.

A Custom Framework
We have worked long and hard to develop a powerful framework designed to drive the next generation of web-based applications. Because we have this pre-existing framework in place, we’re able to spend our time tailoring everything to fit your needs, developing the custom modules required to set yourself apart in a highly competitive market. Getting customer feedback is critical to creating useable applications that are a pleasure to work with. Long development cycles usually lead to customer feedback getting lost and forgotten about. Working from our framework creates short development cycles, allowing you to get your product or new features launched as quickly as possible.

General Feature Sampling:

• Custom professional design (including layout, navigation, header/footer, styles, formatting, logo, etc...)
• Search engine friendly coding
• Multi-browser compatible
• Membership sign-up
• Member admin panel
• Share text, photos, flash, videos, songs, files
• Tagging
• Advertising Module
• Messaging
• Message Board
• Calendars
• Weather
• Statistics
• Blogs
• Chat
• Polls
• Newsletter
• Events
• User profiles
• User awards
• Commenting
• Moderation
• Metrics / Ad Stats
• Privacy Controls
• vLogs
• Groups
• Friends
• Photos
• Dynamic Content
• Content Management w/WYSIWYG functionalities
• Ratings
• RSS
• Widgets
• Forums
• Search
• Videos
• Billing
• Keyword Advanced Search
• General Search
• Automatic Notifications & Reminders
• Facebook Auxillary Application
• Mobile Version
• SMS/Text Message Support

Custom vs. Turnkey

Turnkey is best for prototype social networks, auxiliary social networks, and social networks “on a budget” while custom is best for enterprise social networks, revenue-generating social networks, social networks with long-term plans, and social networks blending social functionality with other functionalities such as e-commerce, directories, etc...

Our custom social networking solutions are built with a marketing-infused approach and demographic-based design and development to give you a scalable, extensible solution that you have complete control over from the get-go.

In a nutshell, a custom social network may offer these advantages:

* Strategic Design
Design with a purpose, not around pre-determined layouts/functionality.
* Better Usability
With screens and functions designed specifically for your target audience and your desired value propositions, your website can be far more usable.
* Differentiation
It’s not nearly as effective to simply apply the social network feature set to a vertical market or niche in the same way everyone else has and expect results. Our approach will naturally create differentiation, so you’re network is not simply “more of the same” in the realm of web 2.0.
* Ownership
You own it, you can host it where you want, and you can maintain/improve/sell the code as you see fit. AKA, your money isn’t spent, it’s invested.