In today’s rapid market, several social channels have been nothing short of booming and are the hot talk amongst people of all age groups.
Walk through the digital climate and you will observe new social media apps like Instagram standing hot as fire in the year and beyond.
For one rising star, Instagram came about in October 2009 when computer programmer Kevin Systrom started working on a location-based app called ‘Burbn’. Users have been using this app with its evolving features to capture moments that are special in our lives.
Our research tells the percentage of U.S adults who use social media apps like Instagram increased from 5% in 2005 to 79% in 2019. Even on a global stage, the speed of diffusion is striking. With 1 billion people using Instagram every month, it is the second most downloaded app in the world. Software Development companies are nowadays hiring talented social media app development experts.
Surprising enough? Wait, till the end! The rise of social media is an extraordinary example of how quickly and drastically social behaviors can change.
Looking for top-notch developers to build your social media app? Contact us now to hire Flutter developers and kick start the development process within a week's time!
Social Media App? What is it? Why Should you Create One?
When you hear the term social media app, maybe apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Linkedin spring to mind. But, have you ever thought about how to make a social media app like Instagram?
Social media apps are an open forum for you to connect with people from all across the world with an easy user interface. Thanks to modern technology, you now have the opportunity to create a social media app like Instagram of your own. A social space dedicated entirely to you and your community!
Want to build a social media app like Instagram? Hire mobile app developers now & get started.
How To Build A Social Media App Like Instagram Using Flutter?
Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit for building beautiful, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. Nowadays, it is one of the best technologies to use for investing in app development. Sounds interesting? Check out this post to learn the benefits of investing in Flutter development.
Okay, Flutter can be a good option to build a mobile app. But, why at all build an app like Instagram?
Instagram has its own unique set of features and capabilities. When Instagram first popped back in 2010, it was just like any other social platform: filled with selfies, pets, and pictures of food. Not that interesting or amusing, right?
Fast-forward to 2019 and Instagram’s transformation from a simple photo-sharing app to a full-on marketing channel is nearly complete.
We all know how great Instagram is for sharing photos and videos with our friends and family, but it’s also an incredible channel for e-commerce marketing. Because of this visual nature, Instagram holds massive opportunities for e-commerce businesses looking to showcase their products.
Not just that, it has some astounding features that captivate every human on this planet. Let's glance at a few must-have features for your next social media app like Instagram.
#1: Keep your Algorithms on Interest
Instagram predicts how much you’ll care about a post. The more they think you’ll “like” that post, the higher it appears in your feed. This is based on “past behavior on similar content and potentially machine vision analyzing the actual content of the post,” according to Instagram.
#2. Instagram Aesthetic
One of the hardest parts of making your Instagram feed look amazing is figuring out how to make all your individual photos look good beside each other. By using tools that allow you to seamlessly embed Instagram feed on your website, you can maintain a cohesive and visually appealing online presence.
Instagram aesthetics have a different level of engagement altogether. People invest more time in how their profiles look. They want to pick a color scheme and focus on the lighting to give that perfect look!
#3. Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories have been fast-growing, reaching 500 million daily active users by early 2019. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop.
In fact, the company is only making it easier to share your stories by adding additional features like filters, an option to share with close friends, layouts, gaming filters, additional music, etc. The option to share your Instagram Stories to Facebook automatically is a great way to cross-promote your content so that you can reach a greater audience.
#4. IGTV
When IGTV first launched, it wasn’t quite clear how it was performing or what it would bring to marketers’ Instagram strategy.
IGTV is still alive and well, and will likely continue to rise in importance throughout 2020. Helps people to discover accounts they follow that are also creating long-form video content. Creators are seeing more and more views on their IGTV videos, making it a great tactic to test for your business.
#5 Reels
After the Tik-Tok ban in India, Instagram with its agility introduced a look-alike of it. Reels became popular within a few days as the entire Tik-Tok audience was diverted to Reels. A short 10-second video clipping with animations and music was a must-try for every artist.
Apart from these amazing features, which by the way are being incorporated by other social media apps like Snapchat and Facebook too, what else was the reason for success for Instagram?
I believe there are some reasons for this success:
- Instagram allows you to take ordinary photos and make them look extraordinary through its beautiful yet so natural filters.
- People don’t want to read long texts, so they are more interested in watching videos and pictures, and this is the baseline of Instagram.
- It’s simple and easy to use and free! What else does the audience need?
- It has a lot of fun features and it keeps updating by analyzing the daily needs of users.
- It doesn’t contain too many frustrating ads; nothing pops up!
So, what are you waiting for? Do you think it's time for you to build one such interactive and amusing social media app?
"Fun Fact: 60% of people say they discover new things on Instagram."
How to Build an App Like Instagram?
Now that we have raved enough about Instagram, we believe you must be as comfortable as an old shoe. So are you ready to jump-start and create your own social media app like Instagram?
"To address our own challenges of scalability at Google, we had to build tools ourselves to run the business."
Applications have become the cornerstone of the whole cognitive ecosystem. They can now run on a smartwatch, smart TV, wrist bands, and many other such platforms. And as it is said that necessity is the mother of invention, which is why, we recommend creating a social media app with flutter as it offers stunning features, is easy and pocket-friendly.
Well, to understand the benefits of using Flutter, let's discuss it's few USPs:
1. Integration, Flexibility, and Scalability Capabilities
Google’s Flutter provides enhanced flexibility, integration, and scalability capabilities with its easy to access and integrate framework. Whether you are revitalizing a legacy application or building a quick wireframe to present to the investors, Flutter can be integrated for both purposes.
2. One-Stop Solution
Instead of using different platforms and frameworks for different purposes, Flutter app development provides a one-stop solution to develop, extend, and inculcate change. Want to build effective UIs? Or advance for bugs and fixes? Don't worry, Flutter will fix it all for you.
3. Cross-Platform Development
Save time, energy, and money. With Flutter, you can write the code once, maintain it, and can use that for two apps. The need has gone for developing a different code for a different platform. With Flutter, you can try developing for the Fuchsia platform which is a trial OS in process at Google. Need somebody who understands these codes in and out? Hire developers from us.
4. Own Rendering Engine
Flutter allows you to do so much stuff with your apps that aren’t available on other platforms. Flutter uses Skia for rendering itself onto a platform-provided canvas. Because of the engine, UI built-in Flutter can be launched on virtually any platform. Putting it differently, you no longer have to adjust UI to transfer it to a platform, which simplifies the development process hugely.
Instagram Technology Stack - What Works Best?
A technology stack is a list of all the technology services used to build and run one single application. So what are the technologies applied on Instagram? Our dedicated offshore developers say the below-mentioned technology makes it snowballing!
- React Native -iOS & Android apps
- Python (Django framework) & HTML5JavaScript -server-side
- Computing services -Amazon S3, Amazon, EBS, Amazon EC2
- Database -PostgreSQL
Social Media Apps: Changing the Face of Networking and Socializing!
While new social platforms are open to the possibility of failure, if they get it right, the rewards for businesses are endless. Instagram alone has around 500 million active users every day and the more social media channels there are on the market, the more opportunity a brand or business has to tell its story and reach out to even larger audiences.
Can you recall the time you cooked a delicious cake, and it looked like it came from heaven? You instantly wanted to click a picture and show it to the world. Such a pity, Instagram wasn’t there to help you! So thank god for Instagram, right?
“Users can entertain themselves, run businesses, and socialize all in one place! That's crazy!”
"People today want an escape; a distraction," says Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko. "And gritty scripted TV doesn't fit the bill. The audience is always looking for new ways to engage. Our offshore development team can help you create a platform by looking at multiple metrics but also by leaving space to come up with new content that can revitalize.
Imagine creating a social media app of your own with cool interactive features like Instagram but also add options like Bumble that let you engage and network with people? Or share live locations like WhatsApp? Hire mobile app developers and keep wondering the endless possibilities and features you can add to your social media app!
Is Social Media as Colourful as it Looks Like?
Frequent users of social media apps like Instagram know the addictive power of these platforms – a notification alerting you to a new Snapchat or Instagram follower can immediately draw your attention, no matter what you’re doing. It’s no surprise that social media apps dominate users’ time.
Nearly 40% of smartphone owners say they frequently use social media apps. This is almost 4x more than gaming apps and communication/messaging apps, which tie for second place at 10% each.
So, yes! In our opinion, Social Media taking up most of the user's time is a huge money-making business for the companies and also for the users who run their businesses on them!
The Bottom Line
In 2018, Instagram was the second-most downloaded free app on the Apple app store (second only to Youtube's free mobile-device app).
In 2019, the market research company eMarketer predicted that Instagram would reach 117.2 million users by 2021. Also in 2019, there were 1 billion people that used Instagram every month. Can you imagine the popularity?
While user growth has continued to increase since the Facebook acquisition, Instagram has made a relatively small number of changes to the app, sticking to its simple and intuitive user experience and core focus on photo- and video-sharing capabilities.
Millennial users are more likely to jump from one social media app to another, seeking a platform that is perfectly suited for their needs, according to experts. While we may bemoan the increasing amount of time we spend glued to our news feeds, this trend will likely increase in the future.
Social media apps are here to stay for long and our offshore development team will build on the popularity which will result in engaging features that encourage communication and collaboration. Hire remote developers with YTII and create an exciting social media app.
We can’t wait to sing praises of the fairy tale you are yet to create!
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