Service · App development

Custom social media network app development.

A community platform under your own brand or association's name. Not a channel within Facebook, LinkedIn or WhatsApp, but a standalone app where your members, alumni or professional peers can find each other. Profiles, feeds, DMs, groups, events and moderation, custom built, under your own control, with EU data residency and no advertising business model.

iOS & AndroidReal-time feeds & DMsAI moderationGDPR, DSA & AI Act

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A network of your own is something different from a Facebook group.

An alumni association, industry body or professional community that wants to bring its members together has really only two options: rely on the big networks (a Facebook group, LinkedIn group, WhatsApp, Slack or Discord) or build a platform of its own. The first route is quick to set up, but you hand over your member relationships and your data to a third party that does not see your community as its core business. The second route, a custom app or digital platform, requires an upfront investment, but gives you an environment that you shape yourself and that remains under your control in five or ten years' time.

We build custom social networks and community apps for alumni associations, trade bodies, professional communities, brand communities and B2B niches that want their own environment. Not an imitation of Twitter or Facebook, but a platform that suits how your members actually come together. Sometimes that is a serious, member-only B2B environment in the style of Doctors.net or BNI. Sometimes it is a lively fan community around a brand, sports club or festival. Sometimes it is a platform for a specific profession (accountants, lawyers, photographers, makers) that doesn't want an advertising-funded social network but does want a working space to share knowledge and find each other.

What your own network should look like depends on your audience, your relationship with your members and your business model. We design and build apps tailored to that, similar to our approach for a focused B2C app, but with community and moderation at the heart of the product rather than as an afterthought.

Three types of your own social network.

The right choice depends on who your members are, how private the network needs to be and which features are essential. We'll discuss which approach fits during the introductory conversation.

Compact project · fixed sprint budget

Member-only community app

A focused app for a defined group, such as an alumni association, a professional body or a private brand community around a product or festival. Profiles, a shared feed, groups around themes or intake years, DMs and push notifications form the core. Often with single sign-on via an existing membership system, or a custom registration flow with approval by an administrator. The tone is familiar, the membership is manageable and moderation can remain partly manual.

Profiles & feedGroupsDMsPush

Mid-sized project · fixed sprint budget

Professional niche network

A custom network for a profession or industry, similar in purpose to Doctors.net for medical professionals, or a BNI-style B2B network for business owners. Alongside feeds and groups, you get events with registration, a member directory with full-text search, a knowledge base of articles or case studies, and a moderation layer suited to sensitive professional content. Often linked to membership administration, an e-learning platform or a marketplace for members to offer services to one another.

Events & agendaFull-text searchMember directoryMarketplace layer

Larger project · fixed sprint budget

Scalable consumer network

An open or semi-open community platform that scales to tens or hundreds of thousands of users: an interest network around sport, hobbies, lifestyle or culture, or a fan platform for a media company or brand. Real-time feeds with recommendation algorithms, content discovery, AI moderation in the review queue, reporting flows, transparency reports for the DSA and, depending on growth, DSA VLOP readiness. Built on a real-time backend with WebSockets, a full-text search stack (Elastic, Meilisearch or OpenSearch) and a CDN for media. Often combined with an LLM layer for AI moderation and recommendations.

Real-time feedsAI moderationDSA flowsMulti-language

What you get at the end.

A working community platform in both app stores, plus the organisational and legal framework to run it yourself.

The app in both stores plus web environmentProduction builds in the App Store and Google Play, plus a web version for desktop users and for publicly searchable profiles or content where that suits. Cross-platform via React Native or Flutter, or native iOS and Android where push engagement or real-time performance requires it.
Real-time backendAPIs, identity, a WebSocket layer for live feeds and chats, push infrastructure, a CDN for media and a full-text search engine for members, posts and groups. Runs on AWS, GCP or Azure in an EU region, with autoscaling for peak loads around events or campaigns.
Moderation suiteA moderation queue for human moderators, combined with automated checks via a custom or licensed AI moderation layer for text and images. Reporting flows for members, audit trails for decisions, and the DSA-required statement-of-reasons export where the network is large enough to be subject to it.
Admin portal for your teamA back office where your moderators can manage member accounts, review posts, set up groups and events, send push campaigns, handle abuse reports and monitor the health of the network in terms of activity, retention and reported incidents.
Compliance fileGDPR processing register focused on member data, ePrivacy consent, DPIA, DSA assessment (internal complaints flow, transparency reports, statements of reasons), AI Act assessment for recommendation and moderation algorithms, WCAG/EAA testing and, where young people are part of the target group, GDPR children's data and youth protection flows.
Codebase, documentation and ownershipFull source code, build instructions, architecture overview and a community runbook for your team. Code ownership rests with you: no vendor lock-in to a closed platform, and no ad-funded business model that turns your members into the product.
Management contract (optional)OS updates, store policy monitoring, security patches, ongoing development on data and continued moderation tooling. Fixed monthly fee, with response times depending on the tier.

Which organisations we build private networks for.

A selection of the target groups we often sit down with. If you don't quite recognise yourself in these categories, we're still happy to talk — the common thread is a sense of ownership over your own community.

Alumni & associations

Alumni networks and former member platforms

Universities, universities of applied sciences, student societies, regiments or employers with an active alumni base. A custom app where former members find one another again, graduating year groups stay active, events are announced and a member directory with career information is available. Often linked to an existing membership administration system and a payment flow for subscriptions or event tickets.

Industry & professional groups

Industry associations and professional bodies

Professional bodies for lawyers, accountants, architects, photographers, makers or medical professionals. A members-only platform with specialist knowledge, case discussions, peer support and moderation that fits professional ethics and disciplinary rules. Includes integration with an e-learning platform for continuing professional development and a directory of specialisms.

B2B niche networks

Doctors.net- or BNI-style platforms

Closed networks for one specific profession or one specific market: think of a community for GPs, a network for financial advisers or a BNI-style business network with chapter flows, one-to-one integrations and referral tracking. The value lies in the trust between members and in the effort new members must make to get in.

Brand communities

A bespoke community around a brand or product

D2C brands, gaming platforms, sports equipment brands, hobby providers or cultural institutions that no longer want to serve their customers and fans through a Facebook group, but through an app of their own. A community layer around the product, often linked to a loyalty programme or a marketplace between members.

Sport & interests

Interest groups around sport, hobbies or lifestyle

Sports federations, hobby associations or lifestyle communities with a nationwide membership base. A network where local groups find one another, events are announced, achievements are shared and knowledge is passed from experienced to newer members. Often with activity tracking, leaderboards and a calendar integration.

Media companies & publishers

Reader and subscriber communities

Newspapers, magazines, podcast publishers or newsletter platforms that want an active reader community around their publications — not as a comment section beneath articles, but as a standalone discussion environment. Subscribers-only access, editorial moderation and a direct line between editorial team and readers.

Education & training providers

Student and learner networks

Universities of applied sciences, training institutes and online learning platforms that want a community around their cohort of participants, where learning and working together takes place: project groups, mentor integrations, study-buddy matching and a knowledge base of alumni. Often alongside or within an existing LMS environment.

Public sector & participation

Civic and neighbourhood networks

Municipalities, housing associations, care institutions or neighbourhood initiatives that want a trusted platform for residents or clients, as opposed to open social media with more public noise. High accessibility requirements (WCAG/EAA), multiple languages where relevant and clear moderation in line with the organisation's guidelines.

How a custom network project works.

Introduction and community strategy

A conversation in which we define the nature of your community. Who the members are, how high the barrier to entry is, what the existing contact points are (post, email, events) and which behavioural patterns you want to strengthen or, conversely, prevent on the platform. A custom network is not a copy of Twitter: the social design is a subject in its own right in this phase, alongside the technology.

Discovery, behavioural and compliance scan

A workshop with your team, plus interviews with a handful of prospective members — active, passive and sceptical alike. From that we develop wireframes for onboarding, the feed mechanics, the group structure, direct messages and moderation flows. In parallel we check GDPR (with particular attention to member data), ePrivacy, the Digital Services Act (DSA), the AI Act for recommendation and moderation algorithms, WCAG/EAA, and, where the target audience is young people, GDPR-K and youth protection. For larger communities, we also map out the DSA reporting and transparency requirements.

Building in sprints with a soft launch in your core community

Every two weeks we deliver a working build, available via TestFlight, Play Console internal testing and a staging web environment. A small core group of members tests along from the first sprint. We build the moderation tooling and admin portal in parallel with the end-user flows, so your team can practise moderation before the network opens up more widely.

Phased rollout and seeding

We don't roll out to the entire member base at once. First, an active vanguard sets the tone for the network. Then rings of members see that there is already activity. This phased rollout reduces the "empty room" effect that sinks many in-house platforms. During this phase we keep the moderation flows, notification cadence and onboarding flexible.

Ongoing maintenance and further development

After the network opens up, the focus shifts to OS updates, store policy changes, further development based on data, and moderation tooling. We work to a quarterly roadmap based on activity figures, member feedback, reported incidents and commercial priorities. The difference between a community app that fades in its first year and a platform that grows lies in this management phase.

Frequently asked questions.

What clients usually want to know before starting work on their own social network.

Why build a custom network instead of a Facebook group or WhatsApp community?

A Facebook or LinkedIn group is quick to set up and costs nothing upfront, but you give up a number of things: you don't have full control over who your members are, you can't create your own brand experience or functional identity, your data sits with a third party whose algorithms decide what your members see, and algorithmic ranking can even hide members from one another if their activity doesn't fit what the platform finds commercially interesting. A platform of your own requires an upfront investment, but gives you ownership over data, brand experience and business model. For associations, industry bodies and brands with a serious relationship with their community, that is almost always the wiser long-term choice, because the relationship with your members is your most important lasting asset.

How does this compare with a regular B2C app?

A community app is a specific variant of a B2C app in which social interaction between users is the core product, rather than a transaction or content consumption. The technical building blocks overlap — onboarding, push notifications, in-app flows — but the substantive focus lies elsewhere: profiles, feeds, direct messages, groups and moderation. The success criteria differ too: not only retention and monetisation, but also the health of the network, the proportion of members actively taking part, and the quality of interaction. That is why, from the first sprint, we work with a community coach from your organisation — someone who, alongside the build, thinks about the social catalyst for the platform.

Which technical stack do you use for a community app?

For the mobile layer we usually work cross-platform with React Native or Flutter: one codebase for iOS and Android, with native modules where performance or platform APIs require it. For the backend we build on a real-time stack with WebSockets (often via WebSocket services on AWS, GCP or Azure, or via a managed platform such as Pusher or Ably), a PostgreSQL database for relational data, and Redis for presence, throttling and feed caches. For full-text search we use Elasticsearch, OpenSearch or Meilisearch, depending on scale and budget. For media we use a CDN with on-the-fly image resizing. For push engagement: OneSignal, Braze or Firebase Cloud Messaging. We build AI moderation through a custom pipeline or connected to models via an LLM integration layer.

How do you handle moderation: manually or automatically?

In practice it is always a combination. Manual moderation by your own team or a contracted moderator is essential for context-sensitive decisions and for getting the tone right. Automated moderation filters out the clearly harmful material before it reaches a person and handles the straightforward cases directly. We build a moderation queue in which AI is the first layer and people are the second, with escalation flows for member reports, audit logs for decisions, and an internal complaints flow as the DSA requires. For sensitive content (youth platforms, professional communities with disciplinary rules), we build stricter review flows and retention periods for evidence.

What does the Digital Services Act say about your own network?

The DSA imposes content moderation and transparency obligations on online platforms that host user-generated content. Smaller networks (fewer than 50 staff and under €10 million in turnover) face lighter requirements, but the basics remain: a working internal complaints procedure, a statement-of-reasons flow for moderation decisions, terms of use that clearly explain what is and is not allowed, and a notice-and-action mechanism for reporting illegal content. Medium-sized platforms take on reporting obligations. Very Large Online Platforms (over 45 million users in the EU) face the strictest requirements, including risk assessments, an audit obligation and transparency about recommendation algorithms. During discovery we establish which scale your network falls into and build the DSA layer accordingly.

And the AI Act, if we use recommendation or moderation algorithms?

The AI Act classifies AI systems by risk. For most community platforms, recommendation algorithms and moderation models fall under the "limited risk" category, which carries a transparency obligation: members must be able to tell that AI plays a role in which content they see or which content is moderated. Certain applications, such as biometric categorisation or profiling of vulnerable groups, face stricter requirements. During the build we document which AI components sit where, record the models, datasets and evaluation criteria used, and make sure the transparency layer towards members is accurate. For moderation AI we also support human override flows, so that a purely automated final decision is never taken about an individual.

How do you handle GDPR and member data?

Member data from a social network is, by definition, personal data of a specific category, often with additional dimensions: health data for medical networks, political opinions for participation platforms, religious beliefs for faith-based communities. For every project we carry out a DPIA that records which data we collect, for what purpose, how long we keep it, on what legal basis, and who has access. Encryption in transit and at rest is standard, as is audit logging for changes to member data. For nearly all Dutch communities, EU data residency in an AWS, GCP or Azure region within the EU is the right choice. For youth audiences, we build additional safeguards around consent, data minimisation and parental controls.

Will you build your own feed algorithm, or keep it chronological?

Both are possible. A chronological feed is predictable, transparent and easier to explain to members, which suits closed communities where every member is relevant to every other member. An algorithmic feed can work better in large communities where most content is irrelevant to any individual member and you need a filtering function. We often build a hybrid: a chronological primary feed with a separate "for you" tab that suggests relevant content. For the algorithmic layer, we work with explicit signals (groups you belong to, members you follow, previous interactions) rather than dark patterns designed to maximise engagement time. That suits communities built on trust better than ad-funded networks.

How do you avoid the "empty room" effect at launch?

An empty network is a dead network. Launch is the phase where you have the most to lose or gain. We plan a phased rollout: first a core group of 30 to 100 active members who help build the platform and set its tone, then a ring of enthusiasts, then the wider membership. We build seeding flows so the organisation can prepare content itself, such as an agenda of upcoming events, a set of introductory posts for each group, and a few opening discussion threads. We also work with your community team on a regular editorial rhythm of mailings, push notifications and events, so there is always a reason to open the app in the first sprints.

What if our network is not only social, but also facilitates transactions between members?

Many community platforms over time also become a place for members to trade with each other: jobs, assignments, offers and requests, buying and selling, peer services. That creates a hybrid community and marketplace. We deliberately build that layer on top of the social foundation: profiles also become provider profiles, posts also become listings, and direct messages also become transaction conversations. For the transaction flow itself, we can connect payment providers (Mollie, Stripe, Adyen) and build an escrow layer where it fits. It's important to note that the moderation and compliance layer then becomes heavier, since trade between members brings consumer rights and disputes into play.

What determines the cost of a custom community app?

There are three main factors: the complexity of the social features (a focused alumni app with groups and direct messages versus a scalable network with real-time feeds, AI moderation, recommendation engines and a marketplace layer), the breadth of the launch portfolio (only the Netherlands or several countries and languages, one target audience or several segments), and the level of operation after going live (maintenance only, or ongoing development and moderation support). In addition, compliance aspects such as DSA VLOP readiness, AI Act classification or youth protection come into play in the first sprints. After the initial conversation, we provide a reasoned indication for a first tier, and only once a detailed scope is drawn up do we offer a fixed price per sprint, so you know where you stand.

How quickly can we go live?

A first working build for a defined member-only community app is typically available within a few sprints, via TestFlight, Play Console internal testing and a staging web environment. This is followed by a phase of staged rollout and refinement before you open it up to your entire membership base. For scalable consumer networks with AI moderation, recommendation engines and DSA flows, the process spans several sprints, phased by target group or region. An exact timeline takes shape during the discovery phase, based on scope, integrations and your seeding strategy.

Talk to us about your network.

A no-obligation, half-hour introductory call. Tell us who your members are, what brings them together and why a Facebook group no longer meets your needs. We will help you think through scope, stack and what should be first on the roadmap.

Book an introductory call Or email Fabian directly