Being an active member of a social news website is in trend these days. Even the number of community pageviews is also huge. And, the number just keeps growing and growing. If you want to create social news websites like Reddit, Dig, or SlashDot, this is the peak time to get started with.
But before digging deep on how to create social news website, let’s understand what it is all about so that you can know better how to proceed without any mistakes.
What is a Social News Website?
Social news websites are those websites that feature user-generated posts. They provide a platform where users can join a community where they will get a lot of information regarding a particular topic. Users can comment, like, dislike, upvote or downvote the posts and can also submit their own stories to be posted on that site.
In short, its a kind of community website where posts are ranked based on popularity. And, the popularity is based on the number of votes received from the users.
Another important point that you need to know is about Web 2.0 because, with the emergence of Web 2.0, the Social News Websites got its prominence.
So, if you’re wondering what Web 2.0 means, I’ll make it clear to you.
[idea]
- Web 2.0 is a Dynamic Version of Web that allows users to create and share user-generated content using various tools and platforms, rather than just reading the text.
- Some ways of interacting with these user-generated content include Blogging, Podcasting, Tagging, Social bookmarking, Curating with RSS, Social networking, Wikis, Reviews or Rating site.
[/idea]
What features your Social News Website should have?
So far you have learned what is Social Networking website is all about. Now, in order to understand how to create social news website like Reddit, you need to explore the main features that your social news website must comprise of.
Let’s dig into deep.
1. User profiles
Social Websites contains blogs, comments, etc. These blogs are created and shared by users. So, they also want to maintain their profiles as well. You need to provide them a membership option so that they are able to login to your website and can create, share their stories.
2. Topics
You’re currently reading my post on “How to convert a simple blogging site into a social news website”. Similarly, if you’ve joined a forum, you will be in a discussion on a particular topic. So, topics are the base for every social news website as everything is revolving around these topics.
You can create many categories and tags to differentiate the topics. And, the users will be able to submit their stories from the frontend based on these categories.
3. Comments
Using Reddit? Obviously, you have also posted a comment there too on a particular post. Why? Just to express your views or opinions regarding the topic for which the post has been created. So, you have to integrate commenting feature also in order to allow others to express their thoughts on a particular topic.
It can be in a blog as shown below where everyone can post their comments.
Similarly, your active members can also have a comment option or mark post as favorite option on the activity page. See in the image below.
4. Likes and Dislikes
Another aspect that you have to keep in mind is that the users love to express their emotions and sentiments through likes & dislikes, upvotes & downvotes option. This actually is meaningful in terms of finding out what’s being loved by the majority of communities as well as what’s being hated by.
So, make sure your site will have such features.
5. Social Networking Function
No doubt, Social news websites have Social Networking functions. Users can set up their profile, follow activity of other users, connect with them, provide ratings and reviews, do a like, comment, and share the content, and can do a lot more.
How to create social news website?
There are a number of ways that you can start with. But I’m not gonna discuss each of them. Rather, here I’m gonna discuss the easiest way to create social network website like Reddit.
- Buy a Domain Hosting and set up WordPress.
- Download and install a WordPress Plugin like BuddyPress, PeepSo, etc. that can provide you with social networking features.
- Sometimes, not all the features are provided by the WordPress Plugins alone. Rather, you have to take help from the various add-ons to provide extra functionality.
- Just having the functionalities is not enough. Appearance also matters! Set up a WordPress Social Network Theme on your WordPress site that can help you present your site beautifully.
Final Thoughts
No need to be a tech-savvy guy. No need to learn how to write code. No need to spend thousands of dollars to design and launch a custom social news website. Just a simple trick and it.
So, when you’re going to create social news website of your own? Leave a comment below or simply contact us directly in case of any queries.
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