Whats needed to create a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter?

[thunderingvest423]

So, I was wondering what is needed to create a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter.

For example what languages would you need:
PHP
HTML
etc.....

As well, what sort of material things. (Such as servers, etc.)

And, how easy is it to learn these languages and skills and how expensive it would be to hire people with the required skills and to buy servers and such like.

[Daniel B]

You would definitely need to know HTML, CSS and Javascript for the front end. For the back end PHP would be a good choice. Yes, you will need one or more servers to run this on.

You will run into two major difficulties in creating a site like Twitter or Facebook. The first is scalability. The functionality of Twitter is really pretty simple and a good programmer could put together a Twitter like site in a couple days. The real trick is to make is scalable to large numbers of users, that is MUCH more difficult then the basic functionality.

The second, and probably most difficult problem is getting people to use it. Social networking sites aren't useful unless there are a good number of people on them, but people won't going them unless there are already other people there.

[Stephanie]

Well if you want to do it all easily and for free, try using http://www.ning.com.

[David G]

Buy your needed software from http://www.ning.com and install it to your web hosting account to get your website online at your own domain name.

As you may know a domain name is just a name, not a real website. If you are going to create your website: 1- Buy a domain name. A domain name is a name you want to call your website (ex: http://www.yahoo.com). To get a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. 2- Buy a web hosting service to provide your online space and enable you to get your website online at your purchased domain name.

If you want to start your website I recommend purchase your domain and hosting together. In this way it is possible to get your domain for free. Some hosting services offer this gift today.

As an experienced webmaster I recommend BH web hosting which I’m sure it would work for you and fulfill all your requirements. They have a really great offer for hosting & I have used them for over 3 yrs now, and have never had a single problem with them.

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Hope this helps.