If you look at all the build up around social networking, you might consider that it’s a craze that will soon weaken. Advertisers don’t think so. After seeing how many teens and adults (40%) in the US are on social networking sites, they are upping their budgets for the new year.

Last year, advertisers spent $920 million advertising on social networks. They plan to spend a lot more this year - 69 percent more, according to eMarketer - around $1.6 billion. It’s not expected to slow either. In the next four years the figure is expected to reach $2.7 billion. Read the rest of this entry »

Social networks are quickly developing iPhone apps due to demand and trends. The iPhone is has been the craze for the past 12 months. The first quarter of fiscal year of 2008 made sales of 2,315,000 iPhones. At this rate, the 4th quarter of 2008 can yield over 4,000,000 iPhones sold. Based on these stats, social networks should provide you with quick and easy access to information and data from your iPhone. The following social networks have made the adjustment recently: Read the rest of this entry »

There are pros and cons to outsourcing a large expensive project such as a social network site. Outsourcing has been a huge trend in the 21st century, and many netpreneurs starting a social network turn to outsourcing their web development. Depending on the gravity of the project, local or referred web development firms should be taken into consideration first if cost is not a factor. There will be a feeling of stronger reassurance from the client. If anything goes wrong, you can easily visit them personally, or you can make a local call because they have the same time zone as you unlike other countries. Read the rest of this entry »

Elgg has finally released its version 1.0 to the public. This version has been a few years in the making. The Elgg team has put together a list of features in the new 1.0 version that’s been totally upgraded. Elgg has many similarities to Drupal and Joomla, yet it has a social networking focus instead of a content focus.
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Social networking sites are becoming more dynamic and user driven. The database contains site content and important information that lures your visitors to your social network. Therefore, a database back up has to occur every so often in order to avoid accidents such as your web host crashing, the database being accidentally erased, not paying the bills, and the hosting company deleting your files, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many open source solutions out there available to develop your social network. Why reinvent the wheel and start from scratch? I will list open source solutions based on PHP and MySQL that can be used for a social network. Read the rest of this entry »