Dong Phuong
Instameow Role Fullstack developer
Duration 03/2025 - 05/2025
GitHub PhuongCaradoc/Instameow
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Instameow A modern social media platform
Instameow is a full-stack social media application that provides users with a familiar yet unique social networking experience. The platform combines Instagram's visual-first approach with Facebook's robust sharing capabilities, creating a versatile social media experience. As a full-stack developer with a focus on frontend, I was primarily responsible for building and refining the user interface, ensuring responsiveness and usability across devices. On the backend, I contributed to setting up the database schema, implementing key functionalities, and integrating real-time features using Socket.IO and Redis. This group project helped me strengthen both my technical expertise and teamwork skills, especially in cross-functional communication, task coordination, and version control with Git. It also deepened my understanding of building scalable, real-time web applications.
Tech stack
Frontend: ReactJS, TailwindCSS, Axios Backend: Node.js, RESTful API Real-time: Socket.io, Redis Database: PostgreSQL, Redis
Context
Motivation I’ve always wanted to create my own social media platform — one that combines the clean, photo-centric UI of Instagram with the rich emotional interactions of Facebook. Instagram excels at showcasing high-quality visuals, but its interaction model feels limited. On the other hand, Facebook offers a wide range of emotional reactions and features, but its interface can feel cluttered. That’s why I envisioned a platform that blends the strengths of both: a space where users can upload and view beautiful, high-resolution photos while also reacting and engaging with a wide range of expressive emotions — from like, love, and laugh to sad and wow.
My Role As a full-stack developer with a frontend focus, I was responsible for: Frontend (Primary Focus):
  • Fully designed and built the entire frontend using ReactJS and TailwindCSS
  • Implemented a responsive layout with support for dark/light themes
  • Developed all core UI components: feed, post cards, comments, profiles, modals
  • Ensured a smooth, consistent user experience across devices
Backend (Contributions):
  • Assisted in database schema design using PostgreSQL
  • Implemented real-time comment/like updates using Socket.IO
  • Configured Redis to support live interactions across users
  • Wrote RESTful APIs for posts, users, and notifications
Collaboration:
  • Coordinated tasks via Git/GitHub with feature branches and pull requests
  • Participated in daily stand-ups and feature planning
  • Collaborated closely with backend to ensure consistency
Project Brief
Key Features Instameow is a full-stack social media application that enables users to:
  • Photo upload & preview
  • Profile pages and editable user bios
  • Like, comment, and follow features (real-time updates)
  • Real-time messaging
  • Live notifications and online/offline status
  • Responsive layout for both desktop and mobile
  • Secure user authentication with JWT
⚡️ The Challenge: Initially, I stored the Socket.IO instance in React Context, but this got reset on every page refresh, causing real-time features to break.
After researching community practices and Socket.IO docs, I moved socket handling to a separate module outside of React, and enabled auto-reconnect logic to restore connections and rejoin necessary rooms after reload. Through this challenge, I realized that keeping the Socket.IO instance inside React Context wasn’t a good idea—it got reset on every page reload, which broke all real-time features. So I moved the socket logic to a separate module outside React and added auto-reconnect and room rejoining. That fixed the issue, and I ended up learning a lot about how to make real-time features more stable and persistent.