SOCIAL NETWORKING SCRIPTS

Welcome back. Last week I talked briefly about how important it is to find a good niche before jumping into the world of social networks.

This week I want to touch on social networking scripts and couple things you should consider when doing your social network script research.

Open source – It’s the only way to go.

What is open source code? Open source code is simply computer code, used in software programs like social networking scripts, that allows the end user to manipulate and modify without fear of prosecution by the codes developer.

In the old days, social network software companies worked hard to protect their code from hackers and their competition.

The end result was that it made it incredibly difficult to take an out of box script and customize it looked like an original product.

There are still a lot of propriety scripts on the market with limited access to the underlying code. The good news is that you can find a lot of good scripts that are all open source.

So began my research

There are well over twenty off the shelf products available in the social community portal market and at least three of the primary big dogs dominating the market are found at bestsocialnetworkingsoftware.com.

What do you want?

This is perhaps one of the most difficult questions facing a new social network entrepreneur. Simple question sure, but how do you answer it and how do you find the script that meets your demands?

Step 1. Put yourself in your members shoes

Like I mentioned in my last article, research your niche, everything should be thought of in terms of your members and their perspective.

What do your members need to better their lives? What can your website do to facilitate communication between like minded individuals and enrich their online experience?

If you think you can plaster up another myspace and expect people to show up, then you are wrong. You will lose. You need to think about your niche and customize your site to meet the needs of that niche.

Step 2. Visit the social software sites and gather information

I can’t really stress how critical it is to do this kind of research before you make the commitment and purchase a script to install on your server.

Take your list of needs, wants and desires and begin comparing the scripts. Create an excel spread sheet and put all the pro’s and con’s of each community script you research.

Visit the forums

Visit the forums of each respected site and look at end user sentiment. Are customers angry, happy or both?

The bottom line is support. Without technical support of both the software company and the users in their forums you are dead in the water. Again, look and see if angry customers are at least getting questions answered in the support forums. If the software you are looking at has no forum, then turn around and run like hell!

Keep an eye out for modification support as well. Some software companies are incredibly limited in terms of after market mods.

Thankfully, a micro-market has opened up in terms of third party modules/modifications for a lot of the scripts available.

Again, think about your members and determine if the script you are considering has mods available that your members could utilize.

Conclusion

Starting a social network is easy. Creating a successful social network requires research and careful planning.

Get familiar with each script by visiting the software manufactures website. Visit the forums, read threads and ask questions.