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here is an almost overwhelming number of options on the social web for businesses to create and participate in communities. You hear a lot about Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter () communities, and even LinkedIn Groups; but businesses have another option when looking to build a community online that’s often overlooked despite having nearly 40 million users: Ning. Ning allows businesses to create their own off-site social network for their brand’s community, and participate in existing conversations with the communities they are looking to engage. Here are 6 ways businesses can put Ning to work.

Ning, which just announced that they’ve reached 37 million registered users and 1.6 million social networks, is a web service that allows anyone to create their own branded social network. Networks created on Ning can have sections for videos, photos, chat, music, groups, events, forums, and blogs. Members of your network have their own profile pages, can make friends, send them messages, get email notifications, update status, and install third party apps — basically anything you’d expect from a modern social network. Ning provides their basic service for free, and offers premium services that allow users to use their own domain name, get more attentive customer support, utilize more storage space, remove ads and remove promotional links. Creating a social network on Ning or participating in networks already popular on the site are great ways for businesses to add value and connect with potential customers.

Let's Move Away From Social Media and Get Down to Business

Last Words About Social Media Social media is still a term we use. But it has become so cliche that it is somewhat of a turn off. It's important to distinguish that the people who have championed the cause for social computing are often deeply involved with the "social media" community. They are important people in the enterprise who should be sought for leadership in bringing the world of social computing to the ways we conduct business. Social media sounds too much like buzz hype. We need to get down to business. Social computing is a good thing. But even better is the proof that these practices work so we may use tools that help get the work done.