On the flip side, Facebook is a growing example of the ultimate end-all be-all social network experience, packed with functionality–plenty of buttons to click and things to do. Thus, the dilemma when embarking on a social network concept. Aim for simplicity, or mash Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and eHarmony into one website and hope that it ultimately outgrows and outshines them all?

The more features you build into your network, the more time it will take and the more expensive your development fees will be. That represents your investment as well as the opportunity costs of launching months or potentially years after you feasibly could. As a builder of social networking websites, you might think that I would push for more features to sell bigger projects, but more often than not I will vote for the simple concept or the scaled down “Phase 1″ feature list. My philosophy is that you can always roll out more features down the road. It’s never too late to do this, but it can be too early in some cases.

I honestly find myself much more excited to work on the simpler websites that come through our doors. With the overall mission or goal of the site being simplified, it provides an opportunity to really optimize a few screens with a handful of key functions. Find the most intuitive experience to engage your users immediately and have them coming back for more without needing to think too hard or search too far. Once they like what they see and can do, that I feel is the time to surprise and reward your user base with new fun features to try out!

Looking at the potential features to build into a network is like being a kid in a candy store… for some. So how do you scale down your concept to achieve a simple but successful concept?

• Find your target audience. Don’t say “everybody.” Think about the specific type of users you want participating on the site. Then think about what they would want to see and do most. This feature should ideally be what fundamentally sets you apart from competing sites. Build off that one group and that key user experience to flesh out the most imperative features for your beta launch.
• In the struggle to identify these key features, don’t feel as if you are relinquishing other features that you really do want. Draft a running Phase 2 list. Once you launch your beta and start growing your initial user base, you’ll be able to periodically add in new features from this list, as well as feedback on desired features that you’ll likely receive from your users. Remember that what you think is critical may not necessarily be what keeps your users coming back. Your community will let you know through their activity and website feedback what they want to see to improve their experience. Even better, collect a focus group and survey what features they would find most helpful!

• Functionality aside, less can be more when it comes to design as well. Web 2.0, shiny, crisp and clean are all terms that our designers like to hear most of the time. It’s a style of design that is minimalist and uses subtle design elements to guide the user experience without overwhelming them with loud or overly intense graphics. This is not always the case of course, as sometimes a site theme calls for a bold color palette or rich, textured graphics. But over the years I have grown to appreciate the many shades of gray that can make up a very elegant design.
• Look to the social network giants as examples of what to do and not to do. While Facebook has an abundance of features, they still have a classic user interface, unlike it’s former rival MySpace which quickly became synonymous with sparkly graphics and cluttered pages. This out of control user experience may have been a key factor in its decline in popularity, especially in certain demographics.

In our consumer-driven society, it’s increasingly difficult to “keep it simple.” There are so many choices, so many possibilities. We rarely get to the store getting only what we set out to buy, we often walk away with much more, some of which we don’t really need or ultimately use. Don’t let your development project turn into a wasteful impulse buy. Drill down to achieve a sensible development plan and remember that simplicity can make all the difference.