Here are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions.
1. Why should I get a Social Application developed?
2. How long does it take to develop a Facebook application? How about OpenSocial?
3. How much is it going to cost me?
4. Why should I outsource my Facebook or OpenSocial development?
5. Why should I get Mobicules to do it?
6. Why should I get my own Social Network built, and not use a service like ning?
7. What is ELGG? Why should I use ELGG?
8. What can Mobicules do for me if I want to build a Social Network using ELGG?
9. Can Mobicules help me with hosting my web application?
1. Why should I get a Social Application developed?
With a Social Application, you take your service or your idea to a Social Network, which is an online meeting place already visited by a large number of people, and where people feel comfortable. Not only that, people also have their friends on Social Networks, where they are already communicating with each other regarding their lives, hobbies and activities.
This creates a great opportunity for the Social Application to engage the people on the Social Network by providing them functionality that enhances their experience.In other words, with a Social Application, you don’t have to “attract” users by heavy and expensive marketing like you would have to in case of stand-alone website. A well designed application on a Social Network will grow fast, riding the viral effects. Please also read this post on our blog.
2. How long does it take to develop a Facebook application? How about OpenSocial?
A typical Facebook application would take 20-30 days to deveop. For rich and involved Facebook applications, this can go up to months, and it can take just a few days to do a very simple one. We can give you a definitive answer within 24 hours of you telling us your requirement.
The same would hold true for OpenSocial Applications too. While to develop Opensocial Applications we might need more or less the same amount of time as developing Facebook Applications, more time might be needed for porting the Opensocial Applications to work across different Social Networks like MySpace, Hi5, Orkut, Ning etc.
3. How much is it going to cost me?
Please send in a mail to info@mobicules.com with your requirements, and we’d get back with a quote in less than 24 hours. We have been developing Facebook and OpenSocial Applications for quite some time now, and have built a large number of re-usable components which makes our pricing extremely competitive.
4. Why should I outsource my Facebook or OpenSocial development?
Social Network Application platforms like Facebook and OpenSocial are fast moving, and fast evolving. Developing Social Application is really the job of experts, because the developer needs to be in constant touch with the changes and updates in the platforms, and needs to understand how they affect usability and viral growth.
5. Why should I get Mobicules to do it?
We are the Social Application experts. We have a team of excellent Developers, who know their stuff, and can foresee issues and problems with implementations right at the stage where specifications are being defined. We have Project Managers in our team who have experience of handling teams of extremely skilled Facebook and OpenSocial developers. Add to that the cost advantage we offer due to our re-usable modules, and we think we can give you a deal thats unbeatable.
6. Why should I get my own Social Network built, and not use a service like ning?
Services like ning are horizontal, purpose-agnostic services, meaning, they do not have the scope for deep customization for social networks needing special functionalities. For instance, if you are looking to build a social network for professionals, you might want to provide features to users to build their profile as a resume, where they can post their skills, their work experience and talk about their skills in a structured way. You might want to impose access controls on such a network, as to which users can access what features, and might also want to bring in payment to unlock features. This is just an example of what you can not do with a service like ning, and for which you would need your own custom social network.
7. What is ELGG? Why should I use ELGG?
ELGG is an Open Source Social Network written in php. It provides a very good feature set, and is a very good platform to build on and create great social networks. Please go through this presentation that provides an introduction on ELGG, and its capabilities.
8. What can Mobicules do for me if I want to build a Social Network using ELGG?
We can build any functionality that you want to have in our social network on top of ELGG, to deliver a completely customized solution to you. ELGG has an extendable architectures, which enables us to add new functionality and re-write existing one to provide any level of customization. Just write to us on info@mobicules.com, and we’ll work out a solution for you.
9. Can Mobicules help me with hosting my web application?
Sure we can. We can handle everything from hosting on a small virtual dedicated server to a compute cloud like Amazon ec2. We can help you zero in on the correct hosting requirements according to your needs.
