Social Media Sites To Make Friends

Social media websites have changed the way we interact with friends, family, and businesses. And today, there are a plethora of social media platforms to choose from, with new ones each year. If you have an idea to make a social media website, you can do it in WordPress.

Facebook took the internet by storm when it went global in 2006 and it is the biggest social network now. When it comes to social media, Facebook is the king. That’s why, depsite numerous privacy concerns, it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. There is nothing that can match Facebook right. Best Social Apps to Make Friends and Meet People with Similar Interests 1) Facebook Facebook has very quickly become the world’s largest social media platform. People all over the world are using. Sometimes, it's hard to make new friends, or you don't know where to start. Here are 11 apps for meeting friends online to get to know people. The creators of REALU 'believe that social media. In the early days of social networking, business professionals turned to Ryze to make connections. The site allowed users to build profiles, add friends and send messages.

Today, I am going to demonstrate how to create a social website from scratch.

What is Social Media?

Social media is a type of website or application that is designed to allow users to share content with other users in real-time. The content can be in the form of text, images, videos, or something else entirely. It really depends on the website or app.

And while most people will instantly think of Facebook or Twitter, the term social media is extremely vague, which is why new “social” websites and apps appear each year.

Social Media Sites To Make Friends At Home

For instance, not many people think of dating apps like Tinder as a social media network, but why isn’t it? You can share information about yourself, share images & videos, and you can even check in with friends. It certainly meets the definition of a social network.

And that is what most modern (new) social networks are built upon, helping a specific audience of people connect to discuss a certain topic. It’s very vague, but that opens the door for creativity and diversity between platforms.

Creating a social media website is not easy, but let’s examine the basics while using WordPress.

How to Create Your Social Media Website

1. Research & Create A Website Checklist

The first step of creating a social network is to actually plan how it will operate and differentiate itself from the competition. Many eager beginners may try to immediately start building a website, but this will certainly fail.

Instead, I highly recommend building a checklist that includes the features and concepts you want your website to include.

This includes figuring out the focus of your website (business relations, dating, etc.) and identifying your target audience. You cannot build a website of any kind without this information in mind as it should influence every single aspect of the design process.

This is also the time you should spend coming up with a logo and name. After all, you are going to need to make sure the domain name is available. Other things to consider include:

• How will sharing images and video work
• Are there paid memberships
• How will users add friends and connections
• Did you plan a phone app (you better)
• How will you market your social network

You should not proceed with building a website until you have a strong mental image of it and how it will operate. That said, you will likely need to compromise on some of the design elements. But having them in place will not only get better results but speed up the process.

2. Find A Web Host and Choose A Domain Name

With the initial research completed and a checklist to follow, it’s time to get started. And the first step of building a social network, or any website for that matter, is to choose a web hosting company.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a web hosting company is responsible for renting out web servers, which are used to store your website. Whenever someone accesses your website, they are really connecting to that server.

Thus, it directly influences your social media site’s performance.

While there are many web hosting companies to choose from, the results can vary wildly between companies. That’s why here at GreenGeeks, we are proud of the speeds and high level of support that we offer customers.

And most importantly, we think about our impact on the planet. That’s why every website we host is actually carbon-negative. We accomplish this by calculating how much energy every website uses and purchase 3-times that amount in wind energy.

We also include a free domain name, which is a great segway into choosing a domain name.

The name you choose will be one of the biggest choices you can make. It needs to be catchy and short, but this can be very hard to achieve in today’s expanding online world. After all, there are literally over a billion websites available with unique domain names.

And sadly, some companies even exist for the sole purpose of buying the rights to domain names to sell them back at exorbitant sums. Therefore, don’t be alarmed if the name you want for your social media site is already taken; you are going to have to get creative.

3. Choose A CMS (WordPress)

The next major decision you need to make is choosing a Content Management System (CMS) to create your social network. And luckily, this is the easiest decision on this list. Without a doubt, WordPress is the best CMS you can choose to build a website.

Let’s not beat around the bush, WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world and currently has a market share of 39.5%! Or to put it another way, nearly 40% of all websites are built using WordPress. And this has several advantages.

First, it has a very strong community that is eager to share tips and tricks. And you will find many websites with dedicated WordPress tutorials and resources to take advantage of. As a result of its popularity, it has an enormous amount of API integrations to choose from.

But what makes WordPress so popular in the first place?

It’s really easy to use. You can build an entire social media website without writing a single line of code by taking advantage of the huge library of plugins and themes. In the past, coding has been the limiting factor for many businesses that want a website.

Non Dating Site Just Friends

However, that’s all in the past. A plugin is kind of like an app for your smartphone. It adds a specific function or feature to your website. Whereas a theme is like wallpaper, it decides what your website will look like and can be customized extensively.

In fact, today, you can choose from thousands of plugins and themes for WordPress. And you can get started immediately by using the one-click installation method.

Let’s take a closer look at plugins and themes.

4. Select A Theme & Plugins to Use

You are going to be spending a lot of time using plugins and customizing theme’s in WordPress, but it all begins with choosing the right ones to use. And that can be challenging because there are so many of them to choose from.

Many plugins fit into every type of website, but I have taken the time to assemble a few plugins and themes that you will find useful when building a social network.

BuddyPress

BuddyPress is modern social networking software built for WordPress. With it, you can add the essential components of a social media platform like account creation, private messages, group chat & interactions, and so much more.

This is a must-have plugin for any social media website built with WordPress.

Be Social

And to accompany BuddyPress, you are going to need a theme. Be Social is a terrific option that was actually built with BuddyPress integration in mind. The design choices really reflect the social network elements and provide a sleek and modern design.

It offers a variety of features and tools to help build an exciting social network.

Kleo

Kleo is another excellent choice to consider as your theme. It is once again built with BuddyPress in mind and offers a variety of extensions to existing BuddyPress features. And to help you get started, there are a variety of demo sites you can utilize as a base.

It’s a great way to get an early start and customize it from there.

Monarch

Back to helpful plugins to consider, Monarch is another top contender. It offers a variety of stylish social sharing options. This can help connect your new fledgling platform with more established brands.

It can be very useful for users that utilize multiple platforms for sharing.

5. Marketing

At this point, your website should be fully functioning after a few hours of designing and setting up plugins and themes. And I can assure you that wasn’t the hard part. No, instead, getting your social network a userbase is going to be the challenge.

Hence, marketing is the most important component to building a website and getting a running start.

Let’s not beat around the bush, getting people to leave existing social platforms that they have been using for years is not going to be easy. In fact, it’s probably impossible for many. But it shouldn’t be your goal.

Instead, you need to highlight how your network is different and what it can offer users.

Luckily, there are a variety of ways to do this, and many of them you are probably aware of:

• Advertise on existing social networks
• Buy advertisements around the internet (expensive but the results speak for themselves)
• Share your website in forums and on Q&A websites
• Utilize SEO friendly design
• Run giveaways and contests
• Make YouTube videos

These are all common marketing ideas, but they have a history of working, and you’re going to need each one of them to grow.

Get Building

This guide has highlighted how to build a social media website using WordPress. It will certainly be a lot of work, but the demand for more social media networks are there, and if you have a creative twist, you can find success.

Which plugins and themes did you use to build your website?

Author: Robert Giaquinto

Robert has been writing tutorials about WordPress and other CMS for over 3 years since joining the GreenGeeks marketing team. Thanks to this, he has had the opportunity to research and master several areas of WordPress including plugin usage, SEO, website design, and social media integration. When he is not creating content for WordPress, Robert is digging up new content ideas for environmental pieces. These range from the pollution in our air to the danger’s wildlife face. And with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he is always eager to discuss the way our technologies are affecting the environment, especially when it comes to solar energy.

One of the coolest things about living in the time and technological age that we do is that we can connect with almost anyone from anywhere in the world at any time. Through all of the different social media channels — from Instagram to Facebook to blogging — we have the opportunity to communicate with and even befriend people we may have never met in real life, which is crazy! It's also really amazing, and something that I am personally super grateful for. I have made so many sweet friends through social media over the years, many of which have become the kind of friends that I don't know where I'd be without today. And it honestly blows my mind that I get to now know and do life with these women simply because we followed one another on Instagram or read each other's blogs... or both!

As an introvert who is typically pretty content being on my own, I have found making friends through social media to be such a godsend. Connecting with others post-college is hard in general and made even more challenging by our often ridiculously busy schedules, and being someone who would 100% choose staying in over going out, it could be so easy to hibernate and thus never meet new people. Which makes me all the more grateful for those that have reached out to me, the ones that I've reached out to, and the friendships that have been born because of our small acts of boldness.

While it's something that at one time may have seemed totally weird, it has become more and more normal and accepted to meet new people through online channels... especially Instagram. Apart from my sweet gals that I met through work, I connected with many of my friends back in Nashville via Instagram. I met my hilarious best friend, a friend I knew from 4+ years of blogging, friends from different states who made a road trip through Nashville, a friend who started an amazing non-profit (and whose wedding I was in!), and even some friends from Amsterdam that I got to spend time with in NYC! These are all cherished friendships that I likely would not have if it weren't for social media, and that's pretty freaking cool. And if you've never reached out to someone online but have always wanted to, keep reading...

TIPS FOR MAKING FRIENDS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA:

Social Media To Make Friends

• Don't be afraid to reach out! I promise, it's really not as weird as you might think or feel it is. It requires some boldness, but send that email or direct message (or even just leave a comment) suggesting the possibility of grabbing coffee/lunch/whatever and explaining your why. Whether it's because you have similar interests or you're needing encouragement or advice, feel free to let that person know why you'd like to meet with them!
  

• Be smart! Meet somewhere public, especially if you don't have any mutual friends IRL. This probably sounds ridiculous, but I say you should treat it like a date... which basically means don't agree to meet in a desolate area or at their house (or any other potential murder-like-scenario) because remember: this is someone you've not met in real life before, so be smart and stay safe.
  

• Please, for the love of all that is good, don't try to meet someone from social media with the hopes of gaining more followers or likes. Because yes that stuff is real and it's shady and I know you're better than that.
  

• Maintain your friendships as best you can! Sometimes, these potential insta-friendships don't work out or don't last and that's okay. But if you walk away from that coffee date knowing that was someone you want to continue a friendship with, let them know, and make the effort to hang out! I am not always the best at this (literally ask any of my friends tagged in the photos in this post) which makes me even more grateful that my friends are so good at keeping in touch, even and especially now that I am far away in California.
  

• Don't take a 'no' to heart. This is a hard one to share, especially after so much encouragement about reaching out to people online, but it's necessary I've reached out to plenty of people who have either been too busy, too difficult to communicate with, or who flat out never responded to me. And while that always stings in the moment, I've learned to let it go when it happens. I typically trust that God will open the right doors for new friendships and connections, so I move on when things don't work out. And these experiences have actually propelled me to treat those who reach out to me with kindness, promptness, and respect, and I always try to make a meet-up work as best I can.

Social Media Sites To Make Friends Without

Here's the thing: the internet can be a real tough place to hang nowadays with all of its bad news and trolls and dark spaces, but it can also be so beautiful and amazing because you really could make some of the sweetest friends just by reaching out to them. So do it! Send that message and meet for coffee, because you never know just what kind of connection could flourish as a result. I'm cheering you on!

I get to hang with a lot of my friends from social media on my podcast, Wild Hearts with Gennean. Make sure to tune in!