I’ve seen websites which you can set up but they are usually for individual websites to advertise your business or yourself etc. but how would I go about setting up a social networking website? Or is this possible through those normal web design ones?

Some knowledge of a scripting language is essential (ASP/PHP and an SQL database would be standard fare), and a dedicated server would be needed for a really popular one. If you want to provide extra features, the ability to create flash/java applets and some knowledge of graphic design would also be very helpful.

However, if you want to get it off the ground, the most important thing for such a site is not its construction – you can get many awesome looking but dead examples of this by flicking through Google – but the availability of a good network of contacts to get it off to a good start.