How to Build a Social Media Platform from Scratch?

As of 2025, the estimated number of internet and social media platforms is 5.52 billion and 5.24 billion, respectively. This shows that almost everyone using the internet has social accounts on different social media platforms. 

Seeing this, people worldwide have started showing curiosity about how to build a social media app from scratch. Entrepreneurs are making their social media platforms and making money. Investing money and time to create a social media platform is highly profitable, but it can be a high-risk venture. However, entrepreneurs seek the best social media app development company to make a social media application. They’re doing this because they can make lots of money from that.

If we look at the market size, the social media app development market was estimated at USD 76.58 billion in 2024. It is projected to reach USD 207.31 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 28.3%. 

If you’re curious about your own custom social media app development with no experience in development, we’re here to help. In this article, we’ve covered all the aspects, including step-by-step social media app buider process, essential features, tech stack, factors impacting development cost, and much more. 

Let’s get started! 

Introduction to Social Media Platforms 

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube dominate the worldwide market. Let’s take a look at the number of active users of each top social media platform in the world: 

Social Media Platforms	Numbers of Monthly Active Users
Facebook	Over 3 Billion
YouTube	Over 2 Billion
Instagram	Over 2 Billion
WhatsApp	Over 2 Billion
TikTok	Over 1.6 Billion
LinkedIn	Over 1 Billion

Regarding market capitalization, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook generated an annual revenue $178.8 billion, the highest market share among all social media platforms. Instagram and WhatsApp are both sub-brands of Facebook.

To build a social media platform, it is essential to understand social media encompasses diverse online environments. They are all designed for digital connections but cater to specific interactions and functions. Let’s use popular social media sites as an example. LinkedIn focuses on professionals looking to grow their network, whereas Facebook encourages intimate relationships between friends and family. On the other hand, Instagram and YouTube are the most popular platforms for sharing images and videos.

Each social media platform features different tools and functionalities. Understand this with a table comparing Instagram and YouTube. 

Instagram	YouTube
Focuses on photos and short videos.	Focuses on long content like tutorials, vlogs, etc.
Highly focused on aesthetics and image quality.	Prioritizes audio and narration alongside video content.
Limited monetization options like brand partnerships and influencer marketing.	Different monetization options like ads, channel memberships, and merchandise.
Live streaming is available with a Q&A session.	Offers advanced features to the audience and more robust live streaming.

As an entrepreneur, you must choose a social media platform supporting your goals and ideas. Let’s examine the various social media platforms and their opportunities to help you decide what platform you’re willing to create. 

Recommended: How to Build a Social Media App Like MeWe? 

What are the Different Types of Social Media Platforms? 

Understand 6 different types of platforms to build a social media platform from scratch; why? Because each platform attracts a distinctive audience. This allows you to target the right audience with the most relevant content strategically, maximizing reach and engagement. The five types of social media platforms are as follows: 

1. Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites have the biggest market share in social media platforms. Most entrepreneurs seek social network application development like LinkedIn. These social media platforms allow users to connect with people, share updates, and build relationships. They’re ideal for personal interaction, professional purposes, creating communities, and promoting businesses through networking. 

Examples: Facebook and LinkedIn are the biggest examples of social networking sites.  

2. Photo Sharing Platforms

Statista reports that the 18-34 age group accounts for over 60% of Instagram’s global user base, with 29.5% in the 18-24 age bracket and 31.6% in the 25-34 age bracket as of April 2025. Therefore, it can be said that these photo-sharing platforms primarily attract young audiences. Photo-sharing social media platforms allow users to upload, share, and explore photos. These platforms are visual-centric, catering to audiences who appreciate creativity and aesthetics. 

Examples: Instagram and Pinterest are the biggest examples. 

3. Video Sharing Platforms

These platforms allow users to upload and share video content across different channels. They support diverse content types like entertainment, education, brand promotion, etc. A video-sharing platform’s development must prioritize advanced video processing technologies (such as video compression and video streaming platform optimization), high-load server capabilities, and all-inclusive data management systems.

Examples: YouTube and TikTok. Instagram can also be an example of this because it allows us to upload, edit, and share videos. 

4. Microblogging Platforms

Microblogging platforms enable users to publish short, frequent updates in text, links, and various media forms. Twitter is the largest example of a microblogging platform, reaching 12.6% of internet users worldwide. This platform is ideal for communicating globally, providing timely news and updates, and expressing ideas quickly to a worldwide audience. 

Examples: Twitter and Tumblr. 

5. Social News & Discussion Platforms

If you want to build a social media platform that creates community, then social news platforms are the one.  These platforms allow users to discuss topics in-depth and connect with the community globally. Two leading community-building services are Quora and Reddit, which operate as platforms for questions and discussion answers. Quora and Reddit receive 300 million and 430 million active users monthly.

Examples: Reddit and Quora. 

6. Relationship Networks

Relationship networks are dating apps, but they are also considered social media platforms. The market of relationship networks is huge, with over 349 million active users worldwide. Platforms like Tinder enable users to find their real-life connections and dates. 

Example: Tinder, Badoo 

Understanding these platforms can help you decide what social networking app to develop. Now, it’s time to learn the eight steps to help you build a social media platform from scratch. 

8 Steps to Build a Social Media Platform from Scratch 

How to make a social media app? To build a social media app, you must follow specific strategies, utilize relevant technologies, stay informed about social media market trends, target the right audience, and understand their behavior. The eight steps that will help you in social media app development are as follows: 

Step 1:  Define App Type & Target Audience

After deciding on the type of social media platform, you must explore the market and define your niche audience. Understand what app you create and whom you’ll create it for before proceeding with custom social media app development. Before jumping to the development stage, you must follow some steps: 

• Market Research 

Explore the market and get a feel for it. Examine different types of social media platforms that you are willing to create. Learn their unique selling proposition, features, and how users interact with such platforms. Also, find what they’re missing to provide to their audience and consider that factor in your app. This will help you visualize the path you need to take.

• Find a Niche 

Since this is your first time developing a social media app, you must identify a niche market. For instance, the social media app Strava was explicitly designed for a specific market or audience—fitness enthusiasts like cyclists or runners. Depending on demand, you might later grow your audience and market.

• Define Target Audience

To define your target audience, you must identify specific demographics like age, gender, interests, occupation, income level, habits, etc. After that, create detailed buyer personas that represent your ideal users. 

Step 2: Decide on the Revenue Model

Why do you build a social media platform? Of course, for financial gain and out of enthusiasm. Therefore, understanding how your app will generate revenue is crucial. For that, understanding different revenue model types is a must. However, before exploring them, let us tell you that even free social media apps like Snapchat make money. 

• Freemium Model

The freemium monetization model allows users to sign in and use basic features for free. However, they have some limitations when offering advanced features since they are available for paid users only. 

Examples: LinkedIn, Twitter, Twitch, etc. 

• Advertisement

The advertisement monetization model works best on social media sites with the highest user activity. With billions of user profiles on sites like Facebook and TikTok, marketers can find the ideal venue to promote their products.

Examples: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. 

• In-App Purchases

This monetization model allows your app to generate revenue by offering virtual items, additional features, or exclusive content. They offer a premium experience beyond the basic free functionalities. For example, TikTok allows users to purchase virtual coins to give live streamers. 

Examples: Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, etc. 

Remember, a social media platform can be created with multiple monetization models. 

Step 3: Come Up With a USP and Strategy

Social media is a broad field where giants like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp dominate the market. To build a social network from scratch just like them is not the right way to achieve success. You must develop a unique selling proposition that defines your unique idea and attracts customers. 

Follow the SWOT strategy (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to build a social media platform. In this analysis, you will find what problem you will address through your app and what value it offers. Eventually, you will understand how your app will stand out among other platforms. This will allow you to better prepare for your app’s success. 

Let’s examine some tips that will help you come up with a USP: 

• You can follow the business model canvas to document your USP. This model contains blocks like key partners, key activities, value propositions, customer relationships, customer segments, key resources, etc.
• Analyze different types of social networking applications and understand their USP. This will help you to find the USP by learning the functionalities they didn’t offer.
• To decide on a USP, you must follow four steps: making it memorable, being autistic, focusing on benefits, and testing and refining it.

Step 4: Choose Basic and Advanced Features

The next step after deciding on a USP is choosing the features. This is one of the essential steps since it decides the success of your application. Choose basic and advanced features you want to incorporate within your application. Let’s find out the basic features that must be included within your application: 

• User Profile: This is the most common feature that gives personalized space to users to manage their details, preferences, and activity. 
• Social Authorization: It enables a quick login via third-party platforms like Google or Facebook for user convenience. 
• Posts & Feed: The most important feature for sharing content, engaging with posts, and visualizing users’ updates. 
• Notifications: Gives real-time alerts to inform users about interactions, updates, and new content. 
• Content Uploading: This allows users to upload photos, videos, and text easily, supporting various media formats.
• Search Function: With an advanced search feature, users can find specific content, profiles, and hashtags.  
• Messaging System: This allows direct communication between users, as well as supporting text, multimedia, and group chats for interaction.

Moreover, today’s social media platforms also integrate live streaming, story features, customization options, and AI-powered recommendations. Augmented reality, artificial intelligence chatbots, and other technologies are being hugely implemented in social media platforms. 

As an admin, you must integrate some features, including admin registration and authorization, user management, super admin, etc. 

Step 5: Find the Best Development Option

Now that you have decided everything, it’s time to develop your social media app platform. Do you think this is an ending? Of course not; it’s just the beginning. Finding the best development option means who you think is fine to develop your application. Here, you’ll get four options: 

• Build by Your Own 

Globally, very few business owners with technical coding abilities can create their apps. Nonetheless, most business owners either employ developers or use app builders that don’t require coding to create simple apps.

• Hire Freelance Developers 

This is the most budget-friendly way to develop a social media platform. However, cost-cutting leads to several tasks in your head, including project management, finding, and communicating with freelancers. This will not guarantee that you will develop an app as you thought it would. 

• Choose App Builders 

Innovation and technology have advanced, allowing you to create your app using app builders. Nonetheless, app builders can be used to create basic apps. Because app builders have limits when integrating functionality, creating a social media app with them can be intimidating.

• Go With an App Development Company/Agency 

The best option for building a social media platform is to choose a social network application development company. These companies and agencies have professionals with expertise and experience in social media app buider. You just need to invest and communicate to develop your app. They build apps on time and focus on scalability and customization. 

Step 6: Choose Technology Stack

In case you’re not familiar, the technology stack comprises programming languages, frameworks, databases, and other tools. They’re used to build and run an application, which means you can’t proceed with the development process without choosing the technology stack. You must select the appropriate development stack based on your target platform. Let’s examine different types of technology stacks with this table. 

Technology Stack	Technology Type	Description	Use Case
LAMP Stack	Front-end: HTML, CSS, JavaScript Server-side: PHP Database: MySQL	Widely used for web applications with a structured database.	CMS, eCommerce websites.
MERN Stack	Front-end: React.js Back-end: Node.js Database: MongoDB	JavaScript-based full-stack for high-performance web apps.	Single-page applications, dynamic websites.
MEAN Stack	Front-end: Angular.js Back-end: Node.js Database: MongoDB	Full JavaScript framework for fast, scalable web apps.	Enterprise applications, real-time apps.
Django + React	Front-end: React.js Back-end: Django (Python) Database: PostgreSQL	Combines React’s UI flexibility with Django’s security.	Data-heavy applications, finance platforms.
Ruby On Rails + React	Front-end: React.js Back-end: Ruby on Rails Database: PostgreSQL	Fast development with Ruby and interactive UI with React.	MVPs, eCommerce platforms.
Flutter + Firebase	Front-end: Flutter (Cross-platform mobile app) Back-end: Firebase (BaaS) Database: Firebase Firestore	Ideal for mobile apps with real-time database needs.	Mobile applications, chat apps.
Vue.js + Laravel	Front-end: Vue.js Back-end: Laravel (PHP) Database: MySQL/PostgreSQL	Great for interactive UI and robust backend.	Enterprise applications, admin panels.
Spring Boot + React	Front-end: React.js Back-end: Spring Boot (Java) Database: MySQL/PostgreSQL	Combines Java backend with React’s UI for scalable solutions.	Banking applications, high-security platforms.
Next.js + Node.js	Front-end: Next.js Back-end: Node.js Database: PostgreSQL	Optimized for SEO with server-side rendering.	Content-heavy websites, eCommerce.
Elixir + Phoenix	Front-end: LiveView (Phoenix) Back-end: Elixir (Phoenix) Database: PostgreSQL	High-concurrency backend with real-time capabilities.	Real-time applications, chat platforms.
GraphQL + Node.js	Front-end: React.js Back-end: Node.js with GraphQL API Database: PostgreSQL/MongoDB	Efficient API querying and data fetching.	Data-driven applications, real-time dashboards.

The development stack may sound new to you if you don’t know about coding. You can choose the right development stack by communicating with app developers. 

Step 7: Development & Launching

After choosing the social media app tech stack, you must look for the best social media app developers to start developing your application. However, the development process contains four phases: discovery, development, quality assurance, and post-maintenance. 

• Discovery Phase

The objective of the discovery phase is to explore market opportunities and understand the competitive landscape. These steps help the development team to project functional specifications and features backlog. The phase contains the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). 

UI– The user interface decides how the app will work.

UX- User experience decides how users will interact with the app. 

The discovery phase ends with a design prototype used in the development phase. 

• Development Phase

This is the stage where developers work on the application’s code. They write code for cross-platform, iOS, and Android apps based on the entrepreneur’s preference. The development phase contains several sub-phases, including coding, feature implementation, frontend development, backend development, API integration, and database creation. 

• Quality Assurance 

Quality assurance is the top priority for Android & iOS social media app developers to ensure you will not experience any bugs and errors. In quality assurance, developers check for errors and bugs and fix them before launching to the market. When they feel the development phase is done, they launch the application. 

• Post Development 

After launching your social media app, analyzing performance and user feedback is essential. Many changes must be made if users require new features and want customization in a specific feature. Post-maintenance includes bug fixing, performance optimization, security updates, feature enhancement, compatibility updates, brand reputation management, etc. 

Step 8: Marketing and Promotion

The final step to making your app successful is determining where and how to promote it. Marketing and promoting a newly launched social media app is crucial to gaining traction and attracting users. A well-thought-out marketing strategy helps create awareness and drive downloads. One key strategy is to identify the target audience and tailor the app’s messaging and features to meet their needs. Leveraging social media platforms for promotion can generate buzz and collaboration with influencers to reach a larger audience. Paid ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google can further amplify reach.

Ensure your app ranks higher in app store searches through app store optimization. Here, keyword optimization, attractive visuals, and positive reviews also increase users’ chances of being liked. Apart from that, hosting events, giveaways, or exclusive content can engage new users to join. Moreover, gathering user feedback and iterating on the app’s features based on this feedback can help improve the app’s reputation and user retention, fostering organic growth. These eight steps were necessary to build a social media platform from scratch. Understanding these steps clarifies how to build a social network website from scratch. Now, are you curious about the social media app development cost of your social networking app? Let’s find out!

How to Make Money from Social Media App Development?

Following, we’ve listed top monetization startegies for social media app development. Let’s learn:

There are several proven ways to make money from social media app development, depending on your app’s features, target audience, and growth strategy. Here are the main monetization methods explained with real-world context:

1. In-App Advertising

Ads remain the most common revenue source for social media apps. You can integrate:

• Banner Ads: Displayed at the top or bottom of the feed.

• Video Ads: Play before or during content (e.g., YouTube).

• Native Ads: Blended with content for a smoother user experience (e.g., Instagram sponsored posts).
  Example: Facebook earns billions yearly from targeted advertising.

2. Freemium Model

Offer free basic features but charge for premium upgrades like:

• Advanced filters, stickers, or editing tools.

• Unlimited messages or profile views.

• Ad-free experience.
  Example: LinkedIn Premium users pay for advanced networking and job search tools.

3. Subscription Plans

Recurring subscriptions provide steady revenue. Users pay monthly or yearly for:

• Exclusive content or groups.

• Higher storage space.

• VIP features like analytics, insights, or live-stream perks.
  Example: Clubhouse and Discord use subscription-based models for premium access.

4. In-App Purchases (Microtransactions

Sell virtual goods, coins, badges, or digital gifts.
 Example: TikTok makes big revenue by allowing users to buy and send virtual gifts to creators during live streams.

5. Affiliate Marketing

Promote third-party products/services within your app and earn commission for sales or clicks.
Example: Instagram influencers often monetize through affiliate links and brand partnerships.

6. Sponsored Content & Brand Partnerships

Collaborate with brands to promote products or services directly in your app.

• Sponsored posts or stories.

• Branded challenges and hashtags.
  Example: TikTok partners with brands for viral hashtag campaigns.

7. Data Monetization (Ethical Use)

With proper user consent and privacy compliance, anonymized user data can be analyzed for market insights.
Example: Social media companies sell aggregated trend insights to businesses.

8.E-Commerce Integration

Turn your app into a marketplace where users can shop directly.

• Social commerce stores.

• Influencer shops.
  Example: Instagram Shopping and Facebook Marketplace.

9.Event & Ticketing Features

If your app supports communities or creators, you can charge fees for ticketed live events, webinars, or workshops.
Example: Facebook Events with paid entry.

10. Crowdfunding & Donations

Integrate donation features for creators and communities.
Example: Patreon-style integration or YouTube’s “Super Chat.”

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Social Media App? 

To provide a brief overview, the average cost to build a social media app ranges from $10,000 to $ 120,000 or more.Well, the social media app development cost depends on various factors, including: 

• Development team experience & expertise 
• The complexity of the features you incorporate 
• User interface and user experience (UI/UX) 
• API or third-party integration 
• Integrating advanced technology and innovation 
• Development team location 
• Chosen platform like Android, iOS, or cross-platform 
• Technology stack for development 
• Scalability Requirements and Security Considerations 

 Let’s understand this with a table: 

App Complexity	Estimated Cost	Average Time Frame
Basic	$10,000 – $60,000+	3 – 6 months
Medium	$60,000 – $120,000+	6 – 9 months
Complex	$120,000 – $200,000 or more	Over 9 months

You can also develop an affordable MVP platform for your social media app. MVP is a minimum viable product developed to launch in the market to test a business idea. MVP development aims to collect feedback from early users and improve the product. If the performance is good, entrepreneurs can easily incorporate more features and functionalities and engage more users later. 

Why Choose Apptunix to Build Your Social Media App and Website? 

Apptunix is a leading social media app development company that offers top social media app developers worldwide. The cutting-edge custom social media app development we offer to businesses is exceptional. 

We stand out as a company that provides the best social media app development services. Our professionals are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs bring their innovative ideas to real life. With the best Android & iOS social media app developers, we craft robust, scalable, and feature-rich social media apps that cater to your specific business needs. 

Apptunix ensures that your app delivers a smooth and engaging user experience through intuitive UI/UX design and seamless backend integration. Our social media app development expertise in multiple platforms offers tailored solutions for iOS, Android, cross-platform, or web apps. 

When you choose Apptunix, we ensure that your app gains access to the latest technologies, trends, and future social media app features. This makes the app future-proof and highly competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape. So what are you waiting for? Partner with us and build a social media platform from scratch. Show the world what your ideas are capable of.