Ning | Create Social Networks for your interests. - 11 views
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Ning is the social platform for the world's interests and passions online. Millions of people every day are coming together across Ning to explore and express their interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around shared pursuits.
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Get your Ning Network up and running in less than 30 seconds.
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Turn your passion into a business, or drive grassroots funding for your campaign or cause.
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Web2 has seen the rise in online social networks like MySpace and Facebook, Ning is different because it allows you to create your own social network to share with a few people or with the world [1]. Project managers, activists, educators or anyone interested in starting-up an online community have the opportunity to create their own free Social Network with Ning [1] [2]. With your own Social Network you can share and discuss projects, form workgroups, collaborate and meet over any cause or topic of interest [1]. Members can ask to join a created Social Network, the administrator and network friends can invite other members to join [3]. Your Social Network can be a public, globally accessible network or it can be a private, select group of approved members only [3]. Ning is a feature-rich Social Network and with the Ning Apps directory, members can add extra functionality to their personal Ning page [4]. Ning network administrators can pick and choose from many features to customise the look and feel of their social network and their members' experience [5]. Your network's members can upload photos to their own photo gallery, they can chat, create conversation topics, upload videos and customise the appearance of their profile page [6]. The searchable Ning Blog [7] has a series of FAQ and help articles to assist new users and network administrators. Your Ning Network can be set up so it appears under your own domain name [8]. Since it commencement in 2005 Ning's co-founders Marc Andreessen (from Netscape fame) & Gina Bianchini have been the brains behind developing the platform for the 20 million visitors who currently use Ning today [9]. see References below
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Ning is an online social collaboration tool which brings together networks of people with similar interests and passions [1]. Ning submits information into categories to ensure content is accessible for users. The categories include: sports, causes, education, art, politics, entertainment, networking and music [1]. It is about creating a customized social network and inviting people to join or joining social networks already created with topics of interest. Ning integrates different applications like blogs, wiki, forums, photo galleries and calendars [1]. Ning's main competitor in the online social network space is SocialGo with Facebook and MySpace offering a similar service however not as tailored and unique [2]. As at 12/11/2008 Ning had over 4 million visitors a month [4] after its launch in 2005. In a recent article, McCracken (2009) [2] revealed that Ning has announced it will no longer provide free networks, which means network creators will either have to switch to a paid plan or leave Ning and move elsewhere. It is a brave move and with other competitors offering a similar service for free, it will be interesting to see if creators will remain with Ning or move on. However as Ramirez (2009) [3] points out, according to the 'ownership rights' which is part of the 'Terms of Services', "Ning owns all right, title and interest, including, all intellectual property rights, in and to the Ning Technology". So depending on what Ning is to be used for, it is important to read the terms of service for any online collaboration tool. References [1] Ning: Create and Discover. Retrieved 16 April 2010 from http://www.ning.com/ [2] McCracken, H. (2010). Ning: No More Free Networks. Retrieved 16 April 2010 from http://www.pcworld.com/article/194379/ning_no_more_free_networks.html [3] Ramirez, N. (2009). Ning Review. Retrieved 16 April 2009 from http://www.thecommunityarchitect.com/2009/06/01/ning-review/ [4] Nations, D. (n.d.). What is Ning? Retrie
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References continued .... [7] Ning Inc. (2010). 'Why You'll ♥ Ning'. Retrieved April 2, 2010 from http://about.ning.com/ [8] Ning Inc. (2010). 'Extend your brand by using your own domain'. Retrieved March 30, 2010 from http://help.ning.com/cgi-bin/ning.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3640 [9] Parr, B. (2010). 'Ning CEO Gina Bianchini Stepping Down. Mashable - the social media guide'. Retrieved April 2, 2010 from http://mashable.com/2010/03/15/ning-ceo-gina-bianchini-stepping-down/