A group of anthropologists are of the opinion that, humans can only maintain stable relationships with no more than 150 people. This number refers to the people belonging to families, friends, tribes, or other purposeful groups, with whom, a significant relationship is established. However, in this digital world, where information flows at the speed of your imagination, it does not count if you really know the person on the other side on your first contact. The social networking software tools available today has brought the people closer to each other, creating invaluable personal brand equity, raising the awareness of your identity.

Do you love social networking software provided by online communities such as MySpace and Facebook? Have you been considering starting a social networking website of your own? What will it take to make it succeed? The following paragraphs will discuss what to consider before you start a social networking website with community software tools, and why you should start one.

So why start a social networking site?

Online community networks help you to find quality people, who are keen to know about you, as much as you do. The community network connects like-minded people, sharing their common interests and backgrounds. You would like to join groups, where you can find the immediate relevance to their lives and interests. The success of the sites, such as, MySpace and LinkedIn has been overwhelming. Some have found these sites to be too generalized and unfocused, and there has been a demand by more and more people for networks where they can meet and establish relationships.

What features should I look for?

In starting a social networking site, you would need to choose the right social networking software, which provides the right social network software tools for the members to communicate and make new friends. It would preferably have the features of emailing, blogging, instant messaging, and a space for your member profile. You would need to do a lot of research in order to find out the social networking software that you are going to use. Research is also needed to find out what could be added to your community software, so that the network site that you want to start is different from the others, offering services which would attract more and more people to your web site. Ideally there should be a feature that allows your members to publish classified advertisements.

You could think of starting a variety of social networking sites. In these, the targets could be the fund managers, traders, and analyst communities, meant exclusively for such professional subscribers. There could be different groups, and people from different profession would be joining their respective groups, to discuss matters of business and information.

How do I go about doing it?

Research is probably the most important step you will take when you are considering starting a social networking website of your own. You may have questions such as:

1. Which social networking software is currently most popular?
2. Which community software has remained most popular over the years?
3. Which social network software is the least complicated to maneuver?

One way to find out which social networking software is most popular among computer users is to look up the current statistics by utilizing your favorite search engine. You can take the same steps in order to find out which community software has remained within the most popular group over the last few years. In order to figure out which social network software is easiest to use, you could become a registered member of various online communities, and test the software each website offers. With some reading and research, these questions can be easily answered, saving you time and money in the long run.

If you are considering starting a social network website with community software tools, you may also need to consider your targeted audience, as well as the type of software they may desire. What group of people are you most trying to attract? What type of social network software will best attract your targeted group? Reading, research, and asking plenty of questions can help you to answer these questions, as well as questions like them.

Social networking has become a multi-billionaire dollar industry, and is growing every day. Experts predict and expect growth of over 300% in the next 5 years. Now is the perfect time to get in, and get a piece of the market, before it becomes saturated. I hope that I provided you with a useful guide for what things you should consider before making your decision, and how to go about starting your own social networking site.