It seems that many colleges & universities are creating social networking websites. These university social networks are of value in many ways. As we all know endowments & alumni donations tend to make up a large portion most educational institutions wealth. Pearse Street Inc who has come to be known as the “social network design” company has built a social networking software with features meant to increase these donations. Pearse Street VP Jonathan McInerney says ” We’ve developed many features with university, student and alumni needs in mind. We first develop to create and improve the sense of community bond. We strive to improve communication flow between faculty, students, education departments & alumni. We develop job boards where employers can engage students, soon to be alumni & alumni. We’ve really strived to meet these many needs with an extra emphasis on increasing donations of alumni, inter alum networking & employment of alumni.” . Universities seem to be jumping on the band wagon fast unfortunately many use there regular web development team instead of an experienced social network development company. The good social network design companies not only have a base social software developed and tested but also understand the intricate interactions that take place on these type of portals. The site needs to have the right features and organization of those features to keep the community engaged and coming back for more. “We design & develop our sites to encourage frequent participation of the users, we want the users checking back multiple times each day not once a month. We want our university social networks to become an important part of the users daily life. We’re creating our online community software with features that increase donations dramatically”.

Fuchsia McInerney the CEO of the social networking website design/development company Pearse Street Inc . Fuchsia who has posted over 500 client projects on the Pearse Street blog has finally started a personal blog. For someone who years ago was a writer by trade and who now is owner & CEO of the leading company in social network design and application development it’s odd it’s taken this long to get her to personally blog. It’s unclear right now what the ultimate direction of this blog will be, it seems one part CEO lessons learned, one part Web Designer/Developer Advice and a final part Mom/Life commentary. It’s clear that she is sharing information valuable to owners of a web technology companies and anyone who is starting a web based business. Her article on avoiding the pitfalls of design by committee proved to be both informative and entertaining. Her article on the reasons to start a social networking website outlined why all businesses should be considering this important move. I’m going to keep on reading with excitement to see what can be learned from the ultra successful Fuchsia the “social network design guru”.

Pearse Street Inc has recently launched the online community JoinHaiti.org . Pearse Street owner Fuchsia McInerney decided to use her companies unique expertise to give much more then a monetary donation to this cause. Help spread the link!

I’ve been with Pearse Street Inc from the first $300 small business website design. We’ve moved on to design for Fox Entertainment, Interscope Records and Pope John Paul II. We’ve moved form the most simple to the most complicated and challenging of web endeavors. Now our specialty is the development of social networking websites and applications.

We have been in the business of social network design for years now and have learned many lessons along the way. We’ve developed systems that guide the process. Initially we developed a social networking framework with that and the talented graphic design team we proceeded. With each new website we’ve learned a couple of lessons and added a few systems. We often tell clients “NO” now when before we’d allow a client to guide us to far away from the direction of a quality product produced in a reasonable time period. We tend to throw some features in at no charge that will add value and we tweak the direction on occasion. We’ve learned this very valuable phrase though “Lets Start A Phase 2 List” . I can’t say enough how much trouble this phrase has saved us and clients. We finish the first phase and we collect a list of phase 2 features/ideas. When phase one is complete we begin registering users and the feedback from these real users can be considered during planning for future features. We learned early on if the development/direction of the website is allowed to transform on a day to day basis the creation of a working website will never be realized. When the working site is fully integrated with the graphic design elements we begin a QA process. A bug list is created and the team works through each bug fixing all the little things. The client participates in the QA phase an a list of the clients requested changes is created and worked through. Upon final approval of the website it’s made live and the fun begins.

How To Create a Social Network? How to Help in the Development Process?

1. Hire the correct company. Check the portfolio and that the sites in it are social networks, call a couple of former clients and ask about the experience. Make sure they have a fully developed and tested social networking framework. Not just any web development company can create a social network.
2. Take the time to fill out the project questionnaire. The project questionnaire will help your designer create your vision.
3. During the initial Graphic Design process which includes the design of the logo and the layout of the pages remember. Your designer is the professional, give them your preferences and ideas then give them the creative freedom to follow their instincts.
4. During the Web Development phase DO NOT PANIC, your not going to see as much work done on a day to day basis (unless you want us to print out thousands of pages of code) .  At this time it is natural to worry that maybe your project isn’t a priority or that it’s not being worked on. YOUR PROJECT IS BEING WORKED ON.
5. Enjoy your website. Collect user feedback and all new ideas for phase 2.

Jonathan McInerney

VP Pearse Street Inc