Programming Languages for Social Networks – Which One to Choose?

This guest column is by Tatsiana Levdikova, Web Design and Development Expert,

We can hardly imagine our life without social networking websites like Facebook, Flickr, Pinterest, etc. Such websites have become much more than news portals or tools linking people from all over world – they are now sources of income not only for their owners, but also for businesses that use these networks to build their online presence.

With many businesses being interested in running their own social networking websites, development of such websites is gaining traction right now. There are many programming languages that can be used to develop social networks. We are going to discuss the most popular ones that are often chosen for websites development.

PHP

This programming language is very popular among social network developers: it is recognized as a very powerful tool enabling to make dynamic and interactive web pages. According to estimates by W3Techs, PHP is used by more than 80% of all the websites whose server-side programming language is known. Besides, PHP is made use of in most out-of-the-box social networking software.

Major social networks like Facebook and Pinterest use PHP. Facebook started off as a PHP website. Now Facebook uses HACK, its custom-tailored dialect of PHP. The Russian social networking giant, Vkontakte, also developed its own version of PHP – KPHP – to improve performance of the website. KPHP is believed to be much productive that HACK.

Websites written on PHP often face hacker attacks: many people know this language, and some of them turned to the “dark side of the Force” and started stealing valuable data that can be used by their bosses or sold to someone else. One more problem is the direct correlation between growth of a PHP website and a number of servers required to run it.

Notwithstanding this fact PHP remains a programming language that makes it possible to develop a social networking website in a very quick manner. Besides, a cost of such projects is not very high if compared to other languages.

Java

Java is often chosen by those developers who plan to create high-traffic websites which need room to grow. And the main reason for that is that websites built using this language outperform others in terms of speed. Another advantage of Java is that it is platform-independent due to availability of the Java Virtual Machine. Java does not requires a compiler to become readable on any platform – the Machine interprets compiled Java binary code for a computer’s processor.

One more factor making Java so attractive for social network developers is its great development ecosystem. This programming language also has a big community of developers and, consequently, can boast excellent documentation as well as support coming along with it. Java makes both sever-side and client-side programming possible. If you plan to develop a complex website (e.g. a social network) that will be reliable enough Java is the best choice in this case.

But there are some factors that should be considered before launching a Java project, and a high cost of such a project is the first one to take into account. A team of Java programmers costs much more than any other programming language team. Other factors are high server and client requirements and complex infrastructure that must be developed and supported.

So if you plan to develop a small social network or a community think twice before choosing Java for this purpose.

Perl

A high level language designed to be fast to write and fast to run, Perl was developed around three decades ago, but it became useful for web programming in the late/mid 1990-s when developers started to use it to create dynamic web pages. This language has been losing ground since PHP was designed as a language for web development.However, those who think that Perl is not used any more for websites development are mistaken. Though there are many websites written on other languages, Perl is still made use of. A number of well-known websites were built using this programming language: Craigslist, IMDb, Amazon, and more.

Perl can boast a large and friendly community. That is why it is easy to find good code examples or get answers you need using online forums or discuss best practices with other Perl developers. This language is still live – a new version of Perl (Perl 6) was released last year.

But will Perl work for a social network? Those who love this language will give a positive answer. Indeed, Perl can be used for anything. However, you will need many man-hours to create a web framework that will work properly. Development of a complex social networking website in pure Perl will not only take much time, but also result in significant expenses.

Python

Python is known as an easy, flexible and powerful general purpose programming language that is good for web development. This programming language is used by such online properties as Pinterest, Reddit, Youtube and Disqus, to name a few.

However, Python can handle only the back-end part of a social network. You will have to do the front-end part in different languages (e.g. HTML) since Python does not support them. There are many frameworks that can be used to make websites in Python. Developers can create their frameworks, as well.

That sounds promising, isn’t it? But is Python a good choice for custom social networks? Social networking websites have many users and many instances of all their pages run simultaneously, thus representing high-load environments. Generally recognized as an interpreted language, Python needs more time to process requests than compiled languages need. So compiled languages are preferable when it comes to social pages.

One more problem is that Python is not supported by many cheap web hosts, while PHP is supported by nearly all web hosts. A cost of Python projects is relatively high, while this language is believed to be a little bit outdated irrespective regular releases of new versions.

.NET

Though it is not a programming language, this framework is worth being included in this list. It has become very popular given support provided by Microsoft, its developer.Some of the biggest social networking websites were created using it. Myspace is one of these websites.

Social giants like Facebook would choose .NET for their websites if they were developed today. This platform has many advantages. For instance, there are many developers working with this .Net. You can be sure that a website developed using .NET will have solid and quick performance.

This framework continues to develop, and it has a large community which provides solid support to all its members and it is very friendly to newcomers.

But there are some cons, as well. One of them is that open source databases and messaging platforms that are commonly used by websites like Twitter often have little or even no support for Windows. .Net is also often associated with its early versions which lagged behind PHP to a great extent. If you plan to continue developing you social networking website you may face great expenses as a .NET project becomes more expensive per server.

All in all, there are many programming languages that can be used to develop a social networking website. A number of factors will impact the choice of a language: a complexity of the project, future development plans, a budget of a project, etc. The first step you need to take is to discuss your idea with a company having experience in social network development.

Why the Smartwatch Trend is Here to Stay

The growing trend of buying Smartwatches reveals the changing consumer behaviour. World’s technology giants like Apple, Garmin, Vivoactive, Samsung Gear etc. have introduced their own smartwatches to club with their smartphones or other compatible devices. As stated by the director of Android Wear, David Singleton, in the next 50 years of time everyone would learn to live a life with wearable technology and all of us would be living like this. The rising demand of smartwatches has immersed with the growing need of consumers. People demand a gadget which can keep them accountable, and fitness monitors are a bonus for most. This leads them to invest in wearable devices like Fitness bands and Smartwatches.

What Does the Current Trend Say

If the facts and figures are to be believed, the smartwatch technology will witness a tremendous growth and will amount to 70% of the total wearable technology shipments by 2019. As per another data published by International Data Corporation (IDC), the shipment of wearable devices has seen a whopping increase of 67.2% since 2015, which is quite a big number.

Another study made by Garner Inc. points on the same lines and it says that smartwatches sales is on a rising trend currently. As per the same forecast, the total sales of wearable electronic devices would be about 274.6 million units globally by the end of 2016, which clearly indicates 18.4% increase in sales compared to 2015 when 232 million units were sold globally. As far as the revenue generation is concerned, wearable electronics will generate $28.7 billion in the year 2016 in which $11.5 billion would be fetched only by smartwatch business.

With big players like Apple and Samsung investing resources in research and development of hi-tech devices, the user base would increase by 48% in 2017 as compared to 2015, a big move indeed. The increased sales of smartphones would also indirectly boost the sales of smartwatches as both are connected!

Currently smartwatches segment is explored by only a small section of the society as it comes under premium gadget category. Soon, it will penetrate strongly in the urban market as the rates are competitive as many big and small companies are bringing in this gadget to Indian market. Chinese players are also doing their best by introducing feature packed smartwatches in affordable range and forming a habit of using it in Indian market.

Why Smartwatches?

Smartwatches are quiet useful because of their versatile features. They have different apps that can be very useful while working outdoors, travelling, workouts etc. Some carry a camera which stays on the strap of the watch to take pictures with ease. Smartwatches are now available for Android, Windows and iOS platforms, which are the most popular operating systems for smartphones.

Without having to pull out their phone often, users can answer calls, send messages, store pictures and navigate. The trend suggests that smartwatches will be the future as it is the only way when things can go really online and automation can be rooted to its best.

Top Smartwatch Brands in 2016

There are a lot many smartwatch makers now, as mentioned above. The market still remains to be dominated by a few key players, here are the top 4 of them

Apple Watch

This smartwatch is offered by technology leader Apple. Its design has set a trend in the fashion industry. With the best quality and design, it is available in both 38 mm and 42 mm. It has intelligent interface and has battery capacity of one day. Apple Smartwatch has a compact design and is equipped with all the latest features.

Samsung Gear S2

Samsung smartwatch is leading the industry with its Rotating Bexel, Tizen Operating System, Amoled screen and stylish design. The screen of Samsung smartwatch has Amoled display and is sharp, vivacious and circular. It has a storage capacity of 4GB and has dual core 1.0Ghz processor. Its IP rating is IP68 and has Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth connectivity.    

Moto 360

Moto smartwatch has attractive design and it offers great performance. It has a modular feature and comes with different size options which makes it is very comfortable to wear. The storage capacity of this smartwatch is 4 GB and has Quad core 1.2GHz processor. Its battery can last for 1.5- 2 days and is compatible with Android and iOS. 

How Can You Boost Creative Success in a Team?

As a young manager, I learned that you may be able to invent alone, but you cannot innovate alone.You will need an awful lot of colleagues, partners and bosses to make innovation really happen. That’s because after the ideation of your product, you’ll need to design it, to develop it, to prototype it, to test it, to produce it, to sell it, to invoice it and to service it.

Back in 1989, Steve Jobs had already pointed out the importance of the right team during an interview for Fortune Magazine: “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

I would like to inspire you with two recent studies on teamwork in new product development. They generate great lessons to be learned; one being about creative success and the other being  about high team performance. Both are essential at the start of innovation.

New scientific research reveals insights into how some of the world’s greatest video games were created from the adventures of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider to the apocalyptic drama of Fallout. Mathijs de Vaan, David Stark and Balazs Vedres focused on the question: what accounts for creative success when you’re innovating in a team? Their extensive research focused on the video games industry. They collected data on 12,422 video games that were produced from the inception of the industry in 1979 to 2009 and on the teams that developed them.

Here’s a selection of some of their scientific findings:

• Game changers are likely to be developed by teams that include cognitively different groups (subgroups with varying cognitive sets) that tolerate and exploit overlapping membership across such groups.

• Tensions within teams allow for the development of products that stand out.

• A game is more distinctive if the developer team accommodates larger cohesive groups but this effect declines as the mean size of groups grows further.

• Teams comprising industry veterans are less likely to produce games that deviate from the norm. Including newcomers is a significant positive predictor of distinctiveness.

• Teams with many above-average developers are unlikely to develop distinctive games, while teams with a few absolute standouts (and some that performed poorly in the past) are more likely to produce creative outliers.

• Games developed and published by one firm are more likely to be distinctive than games produced by multiple firms, as less negotiation is necessary and consensus need to be reached.

• Teams embedded within older firms produce games that are less likely to stand out, which proves that older firms, which have established their position within the industry, are less likely to provide the context in which distinctive games can be developed.

• Teams with high cohesion, but with cognitively close developers lead to a narrow focus.

• Creative success was facilitated when cognitively distant groups were socially folded. Yes, something must be shared. But it is not necessarily mutual understanding. It creates a workable space where some misunderstanding is tolerated.

In summary, Professor David Stark says the most successful new video games were created because the creative teams behind the most iconic video games had the ideal mix of career backgrounds and working relationships.

There are 7 important lessons for you to boost creative success in your team at the start of innovation:

1.    Set up your innovation team as “a group of groups”.

2.    Make the ‘cohesive groups’ within the team larger.

3.    Work on group tolerance.

4.    Tension sparks creativity in a tolerant group.

5.    Include newcomers.

6.    ‘One-firm’ teams need to compromise less and make more distinctive concepts.

7.    Compose a team of cognitively different innovators.

Keep these lessons learned in mind when you are composing your team. Wishing you lots of success on your creative journeys.

How Innovative Ideas Arise

 (Photo Credit: Daniel Alexander.)

In 2010, Thomas Thwaites decided he wanted to build a toaster from scratch. He walked into a shop, purchased the cheapest toaster he could find, and promptly went home and broke it down piece by piece.

Thwaites had assumed the toaster would be a relatively simple machine. By the time he was finished deconstructing it, however, there were more than 400 components laid out on his floor. The toaster contained over 100 different materials with three of the primary ones being plastic, nickel, and steel.

He decided to create the steel components first. After discovering that iron ore was required to make steel, Thwaites called up an iron mine in his region and asked if they would let him use some for the project.

Surprisingly, they agreed.

The Toaster Project

The victory was short-lived.

When it came time to create the plastic case for his toaster, Thwaites realized he would need crude oil to make the plastic. This time, he called up BP and asked if they would fly him out to an oil rig and lend him some oil for the project. They immediately refused. It seems oil companies aren’t nearly as generous as iron mines.

Thwaites had to settle for collecting plastic scraps and melting them into the shape of his toaster case. This is not as easy as it sounds. The homemade toaster ended up looking more like a melted cake than a kitchen appliance.

This pattern continued for the entire span of The Toaster Project. It was nearly impossible to move forward without the help of some previous process. To create the nickel components, for example, he had to resort to melting old coins. He would later say, “I realized that if you started absolutely from scratch you could easily spend your life making a toaster.” [1]

Don’t Start From Scratch

Starting from scratch is usually a bad idea.

Too often, we assume innovative ideas and meaningful changes require a blank slate. When business projects fail, we say things like, “Let’s go back to the drawing board.” When we consider the habits we would like to change, we think, “I just need a fresh start.” However, creative progress is rarely the result of throwing out all previous ideas and completely re-imagining of the world.

Consider an example from nature:

Some experts believe the feathers of birds evolved from reptilian scales. Through the forces of evolution, scales gradually became small feathers, which were used for warmth and insulation at first. Eventually, these small fluffs developed into larger feathers capable of flight.

There wasn’t a magical moment when the animal kingdom said, “Let’s start from scratch and create an animal that can fly.” The development of flying birds was a gradual process of iterating and expanding upon ideas that already worked. [2]

The process of human flight followed a similar path. We typically credit Orville and Wilbur Wright as the inventors of modern flight. However, we seldom discuss the aviation pioneers who preceded them like Otto Lilienthal, Samuel Langley, and Octave Chanute. The Wright brothers learned from and built upon the work of these people during their quest to create the world’s first flying machine.

The most creative innovations are often new combinations of old ideas. Innovative thinkers don’t create, they connect. Furthermore, the most effective way to make progress is usually by making 1 percent improvements to what already works rather than breaking down the whole system and starting over.

Iterate, Don’t Originate

The Toaster Project is an example of how we often fail to notice the complexity of our modern world. When you buy a toaster, you don’t think about everything that has to happen before it appears in the store. You aren’t aware of the iron being carved out of the mountain or the oil being drawn up from the earth. [3]

We are mostly blind to the remarkable interconnectedness of things. This is important to understand because in a complex world it is hard to see which forces are working for you as well as which forces are working against you. Similar to buying a toaster, we tend to focus on the final product and fail to recognize the many processes leading up to it.

When you are dealing with a complex problem, it is usually better to build upon what already works. Any idea that is currently working has passed a lot of tests. Old ideas are a secret weapon because they have already managed to survive in a complex world.

Iterate, don’t originate.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Information for this story was collected from Thomas Thwaites’ personal website, The Toaster Project, and from his TED Talk titled, “How I built a toaster from scratch.”

[2] If you’re curious, I believe the closest living reptile ancestor to birds is the crocodile. You sort of imagine how reptile scales interlink and lay over one another in a similar fashion as bird feathers.

[3] I first read about The Toaster Project in Adapt by Tim Harford. He also discusses the interconnectedness of our modern world. It’s a good read if you’re interested in the idea of applying the concept of evolution to business and life. I recommend it.

Manish Bhattacharya-The kid who paid his Education Loan by hacking Facebook

A Bug-hunter from Bihar | Manish Bhattacharya


Post his 12th grade (Science) from Bhagalpur in Bihar, Manish Bhattacharya wanted to join an IIT. But, as luck would have it, his family could not finance his coaching for engineering entrances. After two failed attempts to bag an admission at any of the Government colleges, he made up his mind to pursue engineering from a tier-3 college in Meerut and took an educational loan to fund his education. He was still tensed about how he would repay the educational loan.

 
Things changed when he saw a friend’s Facebook post on his timeline, who had received an e-mail from Microsoft, thanking him to fix a bug. He was impressed by the fact that such big-time Companies were acknowledging student’s efforts.

 
Manish Bhattacharya then immersed himself wholeheartedly in learning ethical hacking and security issues of websites. He rose to fame  when he found a vulnerability in Facebook and won its Bug-Bounty Programme.

 
Manish Bhattacharya was over the moon when he was rewarded with $5000 by Facebook. Newspapers carried his story and he became a celebrity overnight. He repaid his educational loan with the cash prize.

 
That was just the start and there was no looking back. He only went uphill from there. He started to earn handsome amounts of money, while still in college.

 
He is a security consultant in a US-based company and has earns in lakhs every month. He also freelances by detecting bugs in various other websites. His current ranking on Google’s Bug-Bounty Programme is 62!

 
So far he has discovered bugs in the websites of Microsoft, Facebook, Dropbox, Shopify, Asana, Github, etc. and has won several awards for the same.

 
Today, he earns more than an IIT-IIM graduate and his family couldn’t be any more prouder. He was offered a job by Yahoo, which he had to let go. He is looking forward for setting up a start-up.

Here’s his complete story as posted on Quora when a user asked, “What was the most magical moment of your life?”

“When Facebook paid me $5000.

Those people who say “Money can’t buy happiness” are dead wrong.

I did my 12th on scholarship. Got 65% marks in 12th and failed to qualify IIT-JEE and AIEEE. Dropped a year to prepare on my own, was not able to afford the extra financial pressure of coaching . Next year result was better but not good enough to get admission in government colleges.

My father said “we can’t afford engineering, join the local college for B.Sc”.

That was tough for me, I contacted few private college and got to know I can get admission on my present rank and 12th marks.

But “Where’s the money ?” dad asked.

“Give me 25K , that’ll confirm the admission and then we’ll talk to banks for education loan” I replied.

“I earn 8k per month, 25k is big deal but don’t worry I’ll ask my boss if he could help” dad replied.

Next day he borrowed 25k from his boss, asked one of his friend to convert that in DD (demand draft) . I got the DD by 5 PM and next day took a general ticket to Delhi.

I got the admission and later with little struggle got the loan as well.

From the 1st day there was this extra pressure of loan.

Somewhere in second year I came to know about this term Bug bounty program , where big company pay for reporting security issues in their website. It took me almost a year to learn in and out of security, meanwhile I got a cheap laptop.

And one Sunday afternoon I reported few security bugs to Facebook (notes and message).

Monday evening I got a mail from Facebook and Bang !

I was not able to sleep that night. $5000 (3 lakh) was a big deal, I had never seen that much amount in my account or even in my dad’s account.

Next day I took the day off from classes to calm down but one of my teacher called and asked me to come (It was all over my Facebook).


I made a guest appearance for 5 minute with a copy of W-8BEN form in my hand. (Someone clicked this pic ), whole class congratulated.

Next day it was in newspaper

After this I never stopped, I became financially independent. Paid my education loan that year, got clients from all over the world, contributed to security of 500+ websites.

Now Ranked #62 (worldwide) on Google bug bounty program & Vulnerability Reward Program

Made my first million in college and got covered by national/international newspapers and blogs.

Manish Bhattacharya is an inspiration, in the true sense of the word, for people who think that not getting into IIT is the end of life.
This article should serve as a wake-up call for people who think that getting into IITs is the be-all and end-all of one’s life. Be purposeful, zealous and be guided by your goal. Remember that talent is not patented to any institution.

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Top 10 Youth Marketing Blogs to Follow in 2106

Youth Marketing Blog

Millennials and Gen Z are the first generations to be constantly connected, and their lifestyle is driven by staying on top of the latest social trends. Companies that want to make a meaningful connection with the younger generations need to have a comprehensive understanding of what's in and what's not with young consumers. An easy way to do this is to read blogs dedicated to the mindset of today's youth.

However, that does not mean finding just any blog written by a teenager. Companies should seek out blogs written by young people, but that nevertheless contain credible, well­-researched content. Here are the top 10 publications dedicated to youthful content that everybody who deals with youth audiences should look into: ​

1. YouthLogix

YouthLogix, the vibrant new online publication founded by 17 ­year ­old entrepreneurs Deep Patel and Connor Blakley, explores and dissects the mind of young consumers. The publication is written by young, highly qualified staff members. YouthLogix reports on almost every trend, strategy, and development of the next generation of consumers. Luminaries such as Jay Abraham, Daymond John, Adam Toren, Brian Solis and Cameron Herold have praised YouthLogix, bolstering the publication's credibility.

2. ​YPulse 

YPulse is a well­ established publication, having begun its operation in 2004. Run by president Dan Coates and COO Tracy Tomasso, YPulse prides itself on presenting high­quality content with verifiable data that accredits their material. Their intricate survey network produces genuine responses and explanations. While much of the content is free, YPulse operates on a "subscribe for content" strategy, so a subscription is necessary to view the best content.

3. ​Youth Marketing Connection

Youth Marketing Connection is a youth marketing and content agency that connects companies with student influencers to better represent a brand. YMC is not strictly a content provider, though their blog offers insights on how to connect with young consumers. YMC primarily focuses on building relationships between influencers and businesses to convey a company's brand in the most effective way. With its highly valued campus relationships, YMC has a large pool of potential influencer partners.

4. ​Voxburner

Voxburner is a classic content provider with deep insights into youth marketing. Its mission is to maintain awareness for young consumers. Much of the staff is comprised of students and young thinkers, and the site is rather loosely structured. It has a more laidback tone than those mentioned above. Voxburner offers reports on statistical behaviors of youth consumers, which businesses can purchase to study the behaviors of today's youth.

5. ​Millennial Marketing

Millennial Marketing, the publication ­powered by Futurecast, is another upbeat content provider. They experiment with format quite a bit, and have set up several web series to give readers insight into the mindset of young consumers. Millennial Marketing sets itself apart with a vast amount of downloadable content. The articles and blog posts are insightful, but the reports they offer may be the most valuable to businesses.

6. ​Immersive Youth Marketing

Immersive Youth Marketingparticipates in almost every facet of marketing to connect businesses with the next generation. What sets the company apart is Youthvine, its proprietary online community. Youthvine is a forum driven by young administrators. It is coordinated to allow owners to communicate with next­generation buyers. IYM's agency establishes the relationships, but Youthvine creates a unique experience to engage the new age.

  Brother held for Pakistan celebrity's                       murder:    Qndeel Baloch   

Waseem Baloch, 25, was arrested in Dera Ghazi Khan in central Pakistan on Saturday night.

The Dawn newspaper said he had confessed to the murder, saying he drugged and strangled her "for dishonouring the Baloch name".

Qandeel Baloch, 26, became a household name for posting sometimes raunchy photographs, comments and videos.

She recently caused controversy by posting pictures of herself alongside a Muslim cleric.

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Media captionQandeel Baloch had a reputation for being Pakistan's first social media celebrity

Dawn quoted police as saying her selfies with Mufti Qavi were one of the issues cited by her brother.

• How the murder reflects a divided country

The paper quoted Waseem Baloch as saying: "She wasn't aware I was killing her. I gave her a tablet and then strangled her."

Police said the brother had escaped to Dera Ghazi Khan after the killing in the Karimabad area of Multan early on Saturday morning.

They said he fled with two friends who were still being sought.

Ms Baloch was buried on Sunday morning in her ancestral village near Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab province. Images from the scene showed scores of people attending the service.