General Discussions

**xml** · 03-16-2006, 02:59 AM

Hi,

I'm currently working on a social network site; I'm not actually into social networking myself, so I'd like to get some opinions on what the perfect social networking site would include.

Most of my projects resolve around search technology, so the searching will be a major role on the site, with advanced age, distance, sex etc search functions.

One thing I noticed when researching competing sites is that most require a sign up before you use even some of the basic services. This is something I'd like to bypass.

If anyone has ANY ideas on what you think would make a good social networking site from your perspective, I'd much appreciate it.

**stOx** · 03-16-2006, 03:17 AM

Like yourself i dont go to any soocial networking sites, But the concept seems to be quite straight forward.

The main things they tend to include are:
profiles
Images
Image rating/commenting
Customisable pages
Personal messaging

Something that i think would make a difference is the search feature, Like you say.
Allowing guests to search for users and view theiir main profile image, But only allow them to message them and view all photos if they sign up would more than likely increase how many sign ups your site gets, And give guests something to do before signing up.

And making the search as advanced as possible would help.
Allow people to search for location, sex, age, images, Interests. Include as many specific search options as you can think of.

**xml** · 03-16-2006, 03:25 AM

How important would you rate the following:

Images
Image rating/commenting
Customisable pages

I understand the popularity with images, i plan to include this later on.

But the customisable pages... I was planning to make it all standard.

Possibly the thing i HATE the most about myspace is the whacky stuff people do with their profile pages. Totally unusable.

**stOx** · 03-16-2006, 03:34 AM

Yeah i would agree that the pages people create on myspace are usually disgusting, bloated with JS and fulll of gifs.. But, Unfortunately, thats what (young) people like lol.
They see it as part of the whole "expressing thier personality" thing.
"Look at me! I like neon pink and green!"

I would say if you are targeting mainstream the image rating and commenting is fundemental. People love to tell the world if someone is good looking or not, and they love to know what everyone thinks of them.

You could always try something new and make it more like an advanced blog.
Maybe target older more professional people, People who would concentrate more on content than appearence and posting pics of thier boobs.