01
Challenge
Generic social networks drown photography content. The team wanted a focused community app with the usual social primitives done well, feeds, follows, blocks, notifications, shipped fast and built right.
All work
7Span2023
Case Study
Fotofizz
A social network built only for photographers, share, follow, grow.
- Role
- Backend engineer · Technical lead
- Team
- N/A
- Client
- Fotofizz
- Domain
- Social · Photography community
Overview
A social platform built exclusively for photographers to share, follow, and grow.
02
Approach
Led backend engineering end-to-end. Designed the schema for posts, reactions, comments, and follow/block graphs. Integrated Firebase for OTP authentication, OneSignal for push, and Directus for CMS + moderation tools.
03
Outcome
Delivered a production social backend with graph, feed, and notification primitives built for the photography use case.
What I built
The shipped surface.
05 features
- 01Follow / block graph with visibility rules baked into queries
- 02Post reactions, threaded comments, and saved posts
- 03Firebase OTP for phone-first authentication
- 04OneSignal push notifications for follows, likes, and replies
- 05Moderation dashboard for reports and account actions
Stack
Node.jsDirectusOneSignalFirebaseMySQL
- Led backend engineering end-to-end
- Block/unblock, follow, like & comment systems
- OneSignal push + Firebase OTP phone verification