How we did a social network for motorists
Hello, habrasoobschestvo!
Recently there was published a post in which it was told about services, one way or another connected with automotive topics and communication between motorists. Our project " Nomera " also did not forget to mention.
')
Let's face it - the way we were presented to readers is fundamentally wrong and we would like to tell a little about ourselves, our users, our indicators and development prospects.
So, let's begin.
All car owners are stuck in traffic jams and it has ever occurred to everyone “How can a girl / boyfriend from a nearby car write?”. With someone I wanted to start a conversation, and someone to respond to rudeness.
We decided to take up the implementation - to give people the opportunity to communicate in traffic jams, write messages to the car number, even if it is not registered. One of the main features of the project was, and remains to this day, the registration by the vehicle number, which is also the login.
For a quick start of the project, a third-party company was found, which in a month and a half had rolled out an iOS application with basic functionality:
• user registration,
• adding to friends and private messages,
• the general tape of posts of users,
• viewing users on the map.
We wanted to launch the application before the New Year, since this is a period of eternal urban traffic jams.
And we did it - the application became available on December 21, 2012.
The first successes surpassed our wildest expectations - a few days after publication, we were the second in the top free applications of the Russian AppStore and the first in the Social Networks category.
In January, the figures fell, but we confidently stayed in the TOP-10. Even during the year they were hanging out on the TOP-100 free spaces.
Since the quick start was important, it greatly affected the quality of the application - it was very raw and we received a huge amount of complaints from users. Gradually, we are coping with the "inheritance" of the old code and are actively engaged in rewriting many functions.
We still face technical problems to this day - the application is constantly being upgraded and glitches are being fixed.
A year after the launch, we realized that the project had grown a lot and third-party developers would be problematic to develop it. The recruitment of the team has begun, which currently includes a developer for Android, two iOS developers, a server programmer, a technical support specialist, a moderator, a system administrator, a project manager and a designer who joined the company just a couple of months ago. And this is not counting the three dozen voluntary moderators who, in their spare time, remove content that is prohibited by the rules.
Some existing projects were reviewed, but everything was completely different - mostly portals that collect violator numbers and the like. We were confident that the future is mobility and geolocation, because the main communication comes directly from the car (which is why we still have not done the web version of the “Rooms”).
After the successful launch of the project, a fairly decent number of clone applications began to appear (we counted about 7), but no one could at least get a little closer to our number of users, not to mention the activity in the application.
Since the launch, we have accumulated just over a million users.
The ratio between iOS and Android users is approximately 80% to 20%.
We are growing quite actively, taking into account the fact that they have not been widely promoted anywhere (apart from several reviews in thematic publications and a couple of publications in automotive journals).
The monthly increase in users is from 30 to 90 thousand.
The main part of our users are young people and girls between the ages of 20 and 40, mostly traveling by car.
By the way, for those who travel by vehicle, we have the function of confirming the number. We thought that there would be many who wanted to separate themselves from the crowd (for each confirmed number there is a tick stating that the number is real) - in fact, it was not bombed. There are about 3,000 confirmed numbers in the system. For the most part, many try to hide license plate information.
When registering, users indicate the car on which they are moving. Here we also have an interesting selection.
The first place is confidently occupied by the VAZ car brand (at least in some ways they are the first). The second and third are Toyota and BMW cars, respectively.
18 users entered, that go on Bugatti Veyron. Such a quantity of Bugatti cars has never been on the territory of the Russian Federation. :)
NomeRA is very popular in Moscow, St. Petersburg and, oddly enough, in Vladivostok.
We have a very active audience. Both official and informal meetings of users are quite often held.
Last year, a joint trip to the sea was organized - not too numerous, but cheerful and positive.
This year we are also planning a trip in September. If there is a wish - join .
Our audience is not at all IT-shnaya - simple people who want to talk. Often a lot of passions flare up and too violent users in the old Banim (depending on the severity of the actions performed, the ban time also varies). At the time of publication in the ban list has about 2500 users.
It is not typical for social networks to carry out technical support by phone and thoroughly analyze all situations, but we do it. Our technical support staffs just have nerves of iron - you can hear more passion in a day than on NTV (somehow they even came to understand us).
Recently, an amateur football club from Nizhny Novgorod, consisting of our users, asked us for permission to call ourselves “Nomera” - we could not refuse such a request. :)
Also, with the help of "Numbers" people find their halves - at least five official marriages are currently recorded. We were even invited to the wedding.
Back end:
PHP - 80% (synchronous requests);
JAVA - users and events on the map;
NodeJS - Comet (long poll requests), instant messages and notifications;
Sphinx - search for users;
DB - MySQL 5.5;
OS - Ubuntu 14.04
Front end:
Native development (Xcode and Eclipse).
We are well aware that at the moment the application is not in the best condition - the design is frankly outdated, there is little functionality for motorists, there are many complaints. But we are working on it.
The new design of the application for iOS has already been approved and the development of a completely new version has begun - most of the client part will be rewritten and we will finally get rid of the constant glitches and subquality issues. The release of the new version is expected by the end of this fall.
Not only the visual component of the project, but also its ideology will be changed - services will be added that will help users on the road:
• alerts on traffic incidents on the route,
• camera alerts,
• the opportunity to ask for a ride,
• the opportunity to ask for help on the road,
• viewing fines from the application,
• and many other useful functions for the motorist.
Separately, you need to say about the Android version, which is currently missing from Google Play. The reason is simple - blocking for content that does not comply with Google’s rules. There were quite a few articles on this topic on Habré ( for example, here ) - and we were no exception. After a year of being in Google Play, we unexpectedly received a letter in which we were notified that the application was removed from the catalog for “having content of a sexual nature”. We strengthened the moderation, added the ability to complain to the post, tried to enter a dialogue with representatives of Google Play, but this did not produce results.
Therefore, we distribute the version for Android through alternative sources:
Opera Mobile Store and directly through our website .
The same version for iPhone can be downloaded in the AppStore .
If you have any questions, wishes or suggestions - write in the comments, we always welcome constructive and interesting dialogues.
Recently there was published a post in which it was told about services, one way or another connected with automotive topics and communication between motorists. Our project " Nomera " also did not forget to mention.
')
Let's face it - the way we were presented to readers is fundamentally wrong and we would like to tell a little about ourselves, our users, our indicators and development prospects.
So, let's begin.
A bit of history
All car owners are stuck in traffic jams and it has ever occurred to everyone “How can a girl / boyfriend from a nearby car write?”. With someone I wanted to start a conversation, and someone to respond to rudeness.
We decided to take up the implementation - to give people the opportunity to communicate in traffic jams, write messages to the car number, even if it is not registered. One of the main features of the project was, and remains to this day, the registration by the vehicle number, which is also the login.
For a quick start of the project, a third-party company was found, which in a month and a half had rolled out an iOS application with basic functionality:
• user registration,
• adding to friends and private messages,
• the general tape of posts of users,
• viewing users on the map.
We wanted to launch the application before the New Year, since this is a period of eternal urban traffic jams.
And we did it - the application became available on December 21, 2012.
The first successes surpassed our wildest expectations - a few days after publication, we were the second in the top free applications of the Russian AppStore and the first in the Social Networks category.
In January, the figures fell, but we confidently stayed in the TOP-10. Even during the year they were hanging out on the TOP-100 free spaces.
Since the quick start was important, it greatly affected the quality of the application - it was very raw and we received a huge amount of complaints from users. Gradually, we are coping with the "inheritance" of the old code and are actively engaged in rewriting many functions.
We still face technical problems to this day - the application is constantly being upgraded and glitches are being fixed.
A year after the launch, we realized that the project had grown a lot and third-party developers would be problematic to develop it. The recruitment of the team has begun, which currently includes a developer for Android, two iOS developers, a server programmer, a technical support specialist, a moderator, a system administrator, a project manager and a designer who joined the company just a couple of months ago. And this is not counting the three dozen voluntary moderators who, in their spare time, remove content that is prohibited by the rules.
Pro market and competitors
Some existing projects were reviewed, but everything was completely different - mostly portals that collect violator numbers and the like. We were confident that the future is mobility and geolocation, because the main communication comes directly from the car (which is why we still have not done the web version of the “Rooms”).
After the successful launch of the project, a fairly decent number of clone applications began to appear (we counted about 7), but no one could at least get a little closer to our number of users, not to mention the activity in the application.
Some statistics
Since the launch, we have accumulated just over a million users.
The ratio between iOS and Android users is approximately 80% to 20%.
We are growing quite actively, taking into account the fact that they have not been widely promoted anywhere (apart from several reviews in thematic publications and a couple of publications in automotive journals).
The monthly increase in users is from 30 to 90 thousand.
The main part of our users are young people and girls between the ages of 20 and 40, mostly traveling by car.
User statistics by age
Statistics on existing accounts in the system
By the way, for those who travel by vehicle, we have the function of confirming the number. We thought that there would be many who wanted to separate themselves from the crowd (for each confirmed number there is a tick stating that the number is real) - in fact, it was not bombed. There are about 3,000 confirmed numbers in the system. For the most part, many try to hide license plate information.
When registering, users indicate the car on which they are moving. Here we also have an interesting selection.
The first place is confidently occupied by the VAZ car brand (at least in some ways they are the first). The second and third are Toyota and BMW cars, respectively.
18 users entered, that go on Bugatti Veyron. Such a quantity of Bugatti cars has never been on the territory of the Russian Federation. :)
NomeRA is very popular in Moscow, St. Petersburg and, oddly enough, in Vladivostok.
Graduation of users by cities
About users and meetings
We have a very active audience. Both official and informal meetings of users are quite often held.
Last year, a joint trip to the sea was organized - not too numerous, but cheerful and positive.
This year we are also planning a trip in September. If there is a wish - join .
Our audience is not at all IT-shnaya - simple people who want to talk. Often a lot of passions flare up and too violent users in the old Banim (depending on the severity of the actions performed, the ban time also varies). At the time of publication in the ban list has about 2500 users.
It is not typical for social networks to carry out technical support by phone and thoroughly analyze all situations, but we do it. Our technical support staffs just have nerves of iron - you can hear more passion in a day than on NTV (somehow they even came to understand us).
Recently, an amateur football club from Nizhny Novgorod, consisting of our users, asked us for permission to call ourselves “Nomera” - we could not refuse such a request. :)
Also, with the help of "Numbers" people find their halves - at least five official marriages are currently recorded. We were even invited to the wedding.
About technology
Back end:
PHP - 80% (synchronous requests);
JAVA - users and events on the map;
NodeJS - Comet (long poll requests), instant messages and notifications;
Sphinx - search for users;
DB - MySQL 5.5;
OS - Ubuntu 14.04
Front end:
Native development (Xcode and Eclipse).
Development plans
We are well aware that at the moment the application is not in the best condition - the design is frankly outdated, there is little functionality for motorists, there are many complaints. But we are working on it.
The new design of the application for iOS has already been approved and the development of a completely new version has begun - most of the client part will be rewritten and we will finally get rid of the constant glitches and subquality issues. The release of the new version is expected by the end of this fall.
Not only the visual component of the project, but also its ideology will be changed - services will be added that will help users on the road:
• alerts on traffic incidents on the route,
• camera alerts,
• the opportunity to ask for a ride,
• the opportunity to ask for help on the road,
• viewing fines from the application,
• and many other useful functions for the motorist.
Separately, you need to say about the Android version, which is currently missing from Google Play. The reason is simple - blocking for content that does not comply with Google’s rules. There were quite a few articles on this topic on Habré ( for example, here ) - and we were no exception. After a year of being in Google Play, we unexpectedly received a letter in which we were notified that the application was removed from the catalog for “having content of a sexual nature”. We strengthened the moderation, added the ability to complain to the post, tried to enter a dialogue with representatives of Google Play, but this did not produce results.
Therefore, we distribute the version for Android through alternative sources:
Opera Mobile Store and directly through our website .
The same version for iPhone can be downloaded in the AppStore .
If you have any questions, wishes or suggestions - write in the comments, we always welcome constructive and interesting dialogues.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/231641/
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