Top 7 Social Media App Features To Keep Users Active!
Published On November 18th, 2024 Communication
Are you keen to learn what features of a social media app grabs the eye of the seeker? Or just want to develop a ravishing social media app with features that engages your users? Then for all those brainies, this is your tech lab!
Social media apps have completely taken a head turn in revolutionizing customer interaction and the way people connect with the world.
All thanks to the tech giants that made it possible by bringing out the concept of social media app interactions. Due to this, many businesses are trying to launch social apps in the market and cherish the revenue they dreamt of and enhance user engagement and retention within the app.
But this is not as easy as slicing a cake, because to make your social media application a success, you need to research on the likes and dislikes of your target audiences, their pain points, the services they desire for, and the best social media app features. Being said, we will help you achieve your goal by providing some of the universally-liked features that some of the popular social media apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, and Insta have in common.
Without any ado, let us head straight.
Table of Contents
7 Most Popular Features Of A Social Media App!
Let me tell you that not every social media app developed in this era is going to be a huge hit or going to go viral among audiences. But, for sure, you can help your web or mobile apps to receive applause by integrating some of the basic features that most of the successful apps have in common, and for that, a short research on the feature list is mandatory.
Therefore, in the section below, we have a comprehensive social media app features list to help you go in the right direction:
#1: Easy & Interactive UI/UX
UI/UX is one of the prime components in the app development process as it is how users communicate with the app. So, before strategizing on how to take your app to the next level, finalizing on the layout, basic elements, UI components, what content and media to include, navigation parameters, and input controls is a must. Only then, will you be able to deliver a seamless and hassle-free navigation experience to your users? Plus, some researchers too predict that having an easy and simple UI can boost the retention level of app users.
#2: Consistent & Clear Design
Users love to engage with social media apps when they are pleasant to the eye. And it is this cohesive nature that many social media applications fail to understand and design their UI quite poorly. Here, when we talk about consistency, it does not mean that all pages should be the same, or the content should remain similar. But, maintaining a constant font size, theme schemas, and color combination. Using an AI Fonts Generator can help achieve this consistency by selecting the appropriate fonts automatically. This way, it will eject a soothing user experience and will not create an unnecessary sensory overload for users’ eyes. Thus, when you plan your app, ensure to make it consistent.
#3: Two-Factor Authentication
Going social is positive and there are plenty of benefits in it, but at the same time, it attracts many unwanted visitors to your app in the form of malware attacks or identity threats. And, the best way to prevent those and keep your data from getting eavesdropped is to implement a secure login feature that lets users fill out their details and set a strong password for them that makes it difficult to crack.
Additionally, adding security features like two-factor authentication can make your app robust and stronger as the users would receive a code to their email address or mobile device during every login. Our small suggestion is that do not think of security to be a feature, but an in-built tool in your app.
#4: In-app Messaging & Video Calling
The main reason users would use a social media app is to easily and quickly communicate with friends and families. Imagine your social media app is devoid of instant messaging or video calling capabilities, then your app retention rates would surely blow out. Therefore, make sure to add rich messaging and calling features like push notifications, one-to-one, and group chats, group video calling, language translation, presence indicators, delivery receipts, and more that users adore in giant social media apps.
Above this, if you doubt us on this part, then you may see that WhatsApp, Facebook, and Snapchat have in-app messaging features as a default option to raise engagement and retention bars. In case you feel it difficult to build those, you may simply opt to integrate video calling API or chat SDK to your mobile or web chat system.
#5: Exclusive In-app Communication Features
When it comes to offering the best social media app features to make an app receive positive feedback and stand out, the following features are a must. It is these features that help users to engage with each other thereby boosting retention levels. However, please ensure that the cost of building a social media app can result in you paying $40,000 to a maximum of $110,000.
Here’s a list of some of the basic features to include in a social media app:
1. Push Notifications: Notifies users whenever a message or a call is missed or received.
2. Single and Group Video Calls: Offers one-to-one and group video chats for users to converse with one another.
3. Typing Indicators: Lets users know when their peer is typing to keep chats on.
4. Online presence indicators: Allows users to learn when the other user is online or not.
5. UI Kits: Gives full control of the look and feel of communication apps to easily integrate UI components.
6. Delivery and read receipts: Lets users know when their messages are delivered and read.
7. End-to-end encryption: This feature allows users to engage in a secure and encrypted communication with other users. Some of the common E2E encryption protocols include AES-256, SSL, and TLS.
#6: Content Moderation Techniques
Chat moderation is a technique to monitor user-generated content (UGC) within your communication app and safeguard the integrity of the app. Further, it is the chat admins or chat moderators who manually moderate the content and come up with immediate measures to rectify it.
When we speak of content moderation, its solution is not restricted to chat or text alone, but even images and voice messages too can be moderated. And, using a content moderation tool and chat moderation for apps can offer benefits like user and brand safety, user patterns, user retention, brand exposure, improving transactions, and more.
Plus, here’s how MirrorFly’s chat moderation features get into action.
#7: Forums & Cross-Platform Compatibility
One of the best ways to boost your social media app’s reachability is to include forums that help users connect with like-minded people, voice their opinions, and discuss rallies and hobbies to bring about change. Social media statistics show that user engagement increases significantly in these interactive spaces. An example of its success is the new launch that WhatsApp has given to its users by introducing ‘Community.’
Plus, yet another top feature for social media apps is the cross-platform compatibility that allows users to access the app via any of their desired platforms like desktop, mobile, or any browser. In such a case, it is required that users do not feel even the slightest difference on any app, tablet, or smartphone they use.
Final Verdict!
There you go, with the most prominent 7 features that are much liked in any social media app. However, you must realize that these features are just a mere starting point to your app development process and there are plenty of steps you must follow to take your apps to heights.
Once you have these features ready in hand, your next plan has to be on the budget and time to add resources that make your app building from scratch possible. While this is one of the options, the other easy-to-go choice would be to use an in-app communication SDK to your social app and add the features you require.
MirrorFly’s self-hosted solution can come of great help in this case as we let you take complete control of our call and chat features, and render 100% customizable SDKs for a one-time license cost.
So, when you have us with you, what’s the worry? Happy integrating!!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is social media and its features?
Social media is a term that collectively refers to websites and apps that are used for sharing content, collaboration, communication and community-based interactions.
If you set up a personal account on a social media app, you can easily interact with friends, family and communities. Whereas, when you use it as a business app, you can promote your product and resolve customer disputes.
What are the main features of social networking sites?
The main features of social media apps comprise like and share options, media sharing, profile/ page following, private & group chat, video calls, voice calls, push notifications, and more.Â
How can a business use social media features?
As a business, you can use social media apps for engaging your customers, getting reviews and feedback. Also, you can use social media apps for the following reasons:
Drive customer attention and engagement
Advertise your products & services
Do your market research
Monetize your appÂ
Exchange business ideas
Perform competitor analysis
Increase brand visibilityÂ
Offer giveaways
What features of social media make them different from other media?
Traditional media offers only one-way communication, while social media offers two-way communication along with engagement features like likes, comments and shares.Â
Also, traditional media supports only one format, while social media supports multiple formats like documents, video, images, and graphics.
What are the four 4 key characteristics of social media?
An effective social media app exhibits 5 important characteristics: Highly entertaining, Actionable, Monetizable, Collaborative, and Aspirational.Â
What are the 8 features of new media?
Social media is one of the technologies related to new media. Comprehensively, new media includes the following characteristics: interactivity, hypertextual, global networking, digital connectivity and virtual collaboration.Â
Further Reading
- 10 Best Live Video Calling APIs In 2025
- 10+ Best Voice Call APIs & SDKs Providers in 2025
- How to Integrate Video Call API into Your Android & iOS Apps?
- How to Build a Live Video Chat App in 2025
- How to Build a Video Calling App in Flutter?
Krishi Shivasangaran is a digital nomad and a veteran of Digital Marketing strategies. She is passionate about learning the newest trends in video calling APIs. And, when she's off-role, she loves to sketch and make people realize the true color of nature.
We need to integrate social media app features like one to one call, group voice all into our existing app. What could be the costs? Will MirrorFly SDK fit for my business requirements?
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We are developing a health care solution, so we need an features like social media app to continue the development of the communication module.
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We are looking to integrate an API with a web-based software and a mobile application. MirrorFly is one of the providers that we are looking into and would like to discuss more about its capabilities and specific features that you have mentioned in this blog.
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