Social Networking Website - Case Study

NCrypted has been the technology and internet marketing partner of MetroJoint.com Private Limited since it's launch. From a blue print idea to a 200,000+ daily page views strong social networking website, MetroJoint is fast emerging as one of South-East Asia's premier online social property.

Goals

Design and develop a social networking website which is scalable, user-friendly, versatile and robust. The website had plans to grow rapidly in terms of user-base and content and wanted to maintain the same speed and usability as the traffic increases. Take web 2.0 techniques into account and at the same time, search-engine-friendly code is a must as that is how they planned of doubling their growth-rate each quarter.

Among other things, the core modules to be developed/modified included the Search Engine, Photos, Joints, User Profiles, Videos etc. accounting for almost 90% of the site to be revamped. The client wanted a video player (flash media player) which is scalable, fast and user-friendly for the Videos section of the site. They'd seen other 3rd party players which were not much scalable. The full-screen view or the custom view (custom width-height) was horrible. They didn't want this to happen with their flash player.

Strategy - Technical Aspects:

After several conversations with our client, we mutually decided that the fastest way to complete the development and provide the client the necessary knowledge transfer would be through a series of on site consulting sessions. These consulting sessions included building "Best Practices" for site content, making recommendations on site architecture, and code review of the content management system.

The team was given a strict deadline which was to be followed at any cost. NCrypted has to prioritize on phases to be executed before it started the work just to make sure that the most important phases are taken care of it the schedule passes the deadline.

Design was one of the core issues. Design had to be web 2.0 style; the navigation had to be user-friendly. It had to look attractive but at the same time it had to be faster - which means no graphics to be used.

Server Architecture:

Due to multiple server support, the architecture had to be such that no breaches in security can be found. We decided to store the database, videos and photos, other graphics and files in 3 separate server locations and streamline the data with 'web services' (XML).

What was achieved:

• We not only completed the beta version in given time frame, but also managed to launch the private beta before the launch date. This helped both the teams to encounter certain bugs and provided the time to fix them before opening it to the public.
• The flash media player is unique in looks and functionality - user can embed it in any given width-height format and still enjoy the same quality of the video graphics, audio and the player verticals.
• Site pages are loading faster than before.
• The UI (user interface), look and feel of the site is appealing.
• Site navigation is easier and the branding is maintained perfectly well with introduction of many new tiny features.
• After the launch of this beta version 3.0 and later 3.1 of MetroJoint, the site has seen over 200% increase in traffic, 325% (approx.) increase in page views (due to improved navigation system which produces relevant page results on most site pages) and 150% increase in new member registrations.

*SEO and SEM services provided to the same client is not included in this case study.
*This case study was written when the website was live and active

About Metro Joint

MetroJoint.com was one of the premier and fast growing social networking website in South-East Asia with its primary user base coming from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It's popularity grew during early 2007-08 and at peak it had a registered member database of 200,000+. The website was shut down due to limited growth opportunity and liquidity in late 2012.