MissingMethod

Remember DiggDong (the dashboard widget that lets you keep track of your Digg submissions automatically)? Well, you can now check out the source from my project repository:svn checkout http://missingmethod-projects.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/widgets/DiggDong

Happy coding!

UPDATE: Now you can skip a lot of these steps and just use CommunityEngine, our instant social networking plugin for Ruby on Rails.
High-Level Process

1. Hire a good designer.
2. Iterate on the look and feel until it’s 80% complete.
3. Code it.
4. Deploy it once it’s 80% complete (80% of the features are 100% complete, not 100% of the features 80% complete).
5. Go back to step 1.

Plugins and other code-related items

• acts_as_commentable for comments on your user profiles and blog posts
• acts_as_attachment for uploading profile pictures
• acts_as_taggable for tagging users and blog posts
• tiny_mce so users who don’t get wikis can have formatted text
• learn how to do a self-referential friendship so your users can have friends
• ez_where
• resource_feeder for simple rss feeds
• resource_hacks
• restful_authentication to maintain the rigor of developing restfully
• white_list
• ffmpeg/mencoder for converting media
• obviously, from some of the plugins mentioned above, you should use edge-rails and embrace the CRUD-constrained approach

Deployment

• Get a dedicated box (we like Slingshot Hosting) - yes, a dedicated box is more expensive, but it’s worth it.
• Integrate tests into your deployment scripts. It’s nice to know your app won’t deploy unless your tests pass.
• Launch ASAP (and let WWIBAN guide your next features).
• Deploy something new everyday (or close to it) for the first couple weeks — don’t worry, it’s not a bad thing. It’ll get you used to your deployment scripts.

fast-forward a month…

Now that your site is launched*

• Read every Kathy Sierra article.
• Follow Mashable and Techcrunch to see which of your competitors get funding or fold.
• Make sure you aren’t making any SEO mistakes.
• Come up with features that are unique to your social networking niche.
• Learn how to make money off your site in ways other than adsense.

* if you’re having trouble getting your site developed, contact us. We’d be happy to develop it for you. Here are two social networking sites we built with Ruby on Rails:

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