You may have noticed that social media apps are more than a little popular these days! The likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are worth billions. They’re sit at the top of the App Store chart on a daily basis, and they’ve become an ingrained part of our lives. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to design and build the next Twitter?
Well, it might sound like fantasy, but it is possible. Anyone can come up with an idea for an app, and sketch it out. Take your idea to expert app developers, and bring it to life. It sounds simple, but it all relies on one fantastic idea. At the core of these apps is a fantastic heart and foundation that entices users. So, how do you create your own?
Mimic real life – Creating a social media app is all about taking a social experience, and putting it on the web. That’s the beauty behind Facebook’s model. They took basic social interactions, and put them online. Instagram is nothing more than showing people pictures, and telling friends about what you’re up to. If you want to create a new social media experience, take a real-world interaction, and put it online.
Start sketching – You can go over ideas in your head for as long as you want, but the best trick is to start sketching. When you start drawing the app, and sketching out how it will look, the ideas start to come naturally. After all, an app is a hands-on, creative experience. Don’t worry about being too detailed or specific yet. Just get a feel for how the app will work, and what it will do. make hundreds of little sketches, and pull all the best ideas together.
Do some research – At the same time, dive into the world of social media apps. Get a sense of what else is out there, and make sure your idea is unique. Does your app already exist? What could yours do better, and where is the gap in the market? Think like Snapchat. There are already hundreds of messaging and photo apps out there. But, they found a way to make it unique, by introducing self-destructing images. That unique idea now values them at more than $10 billion!
Make a wireframe – With some good sketches and plenty of research, you’re not ready to design the app. There are plenty of wireframing software kits out there. They allow you to quickly and easily put together a flow for your app. Using simple drag-and-drop boxes, you can create a blueprint of the design.
Get feedback – Before you finally hand everything over to the expert app developers, get some feedback. Show your designs to your friends and family. Most importantly, show them to your target audience. Take their thoughts on board, and make any final changes. Go back to the drawing board, and make sure it’s perfect.
Finally, you can hand the blueprints over to your app developers, and let them build the tricky parts. All that’s left to do is market your app. Congratulations, you just created your first social media application!
Social Media With Rita 
Leave a Reply