A comment last week to my October 2008 blog post, Ning Social Networking Sites Update , linked back to Ning Exposed - Tech Company Scams its Clients , an article which sharply criticizes Ning’s latest business model and platform, and it alleges foul play on Ning’s part in reacting to complaints by network creators. As a Ning social network creator and user, I happen to appreciate Ning’s recent platform improvements and tend to disagree with the article’s assessments. While the allegations of censorship are disturbing, my careful reading of Ning’s Terms of Service leaves me hopeful that Ning has acted fully within its rights.

Nearly a year has passed since my first Ning article, Ning Social Networking Sites . Ning Still Facing Obstacles Ning seems to be in somewhat of a holding pattern. There are new apps, a new Ning central networking site , and new flexibility, but site creators and users still have their reservations. Since then online social networking has taken some exciting twists and turns. MySpace has lost luster, while Facebook and Twitter have become social media darlings.

8221; Ning “Ning is the fast and free way to create custom Social Websites!” Feature Rich User End, Advanced Admin Console, Paid Membership Integration, Flash Instant Messenger and Chat, Fulfeatured Modules” Boonx “Use flexible and powerful community software and implement your brilliant idea in real life. Our products integrate with your membership management system to give your members new and exciting ways to communicate with one About Contact Web Strategy Vault Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing Jeremiah Owyang discusses how web tools and social media enable companies to connect with customers List of “White Label” or “Private Label” (Applications you can Rebrand) Social Networking Platforms, Community Platforms February 12th, 2007 | Category: White Label Social Network , Industry Index , Social Networking Left Graphic: Forrester Wave™: Community Platforms, Q1 ’09 Important Update:

Ning, which lets you create your own network and join others too, cleverly understands this concept and leverages it. final question to consider is which type of membership activity and where (giant component, middle layer or among singletons) most affects an online network? Group formation in large social networks: membership, growth, and evolution. Boxes And Arrows : The Design Behind the Design Register or Log In Search Stories Ideas Forums People Events Jobs About February Issue, 2009

The primacy of groups and group membership in old-school groupware is outmoded. Another thing is that there are so many groups/communities on topics I like, some of late are LinkedIn groups, Clearstep , Facebook groups, Ning, etc… I What’s special about Ning is that when you create a Ning, you are creating a community space that you can network in, and also create groups. A while back I blogged about the possibility of networks and blogospheres cutting into the need for communities. I

These include a groups of landscape designers and gardeners who have used free Ning social networking software to set up a non-organisation for collective marketing. also talked about membership organisations, and Craig - like Clay Shirky - believes they face a tough time unless they change the way they operate and offer greater value. Craig writes here about the Landscape Juice Network , where professional Two conversations in Manchester this week deepened my understanding of the changes social media is bringing to communication at local level - and the potential for new collaborations between journalists and community activists. The

Ning Social Networks - You can connect with members of a Ning network, interact with them and broadcast messages to them as the site creator, as an administrator, as a group creator and as a friend. My primary Ning sites are Beyond Business Coaching and Let’s Follow Each Other . Subscription through Ning can be powerful, but it takes much I’ve written about list building extensively in connection with social media . It’s time to revisit social media list building once again.

As of this writing, only membership in regional networks requires no permission.) Finally, anyone who wishes to create a niche social network site can do so on Ning, a platform and hosting service that encourages users to create their own SNSs. Based on Orkut data, Spertus, Sahami, and Büyükkökten (2005) identified a topology of users through their membership in certain communities; they suggest that sites can use this to recommend additional communities of interest to users. JCMC Home Submit Issues Author Index Editors About JCMC boyd, d.

Consider the internal challenges faced by member organisations who used to the benefits of a captive audience can struggle to launch an attractive CoP faced with increasing competition from LinkedIn, Facebook and diy platforms like Ning, not to mention the lose of control over their brand with conversations on blogs and in Twitter. It’s easy to see that this would have a straightforward financial measure, for example in terms of number of membership renewals. Skip to Navigation Skip to Content Sign up for a newsletter Contact Us Sign in Who we are What we do Who we support Where you can meet us Common pitfalls of Communities of Practice 24th August 2009 by Stuart Glendinning Hall When addressing how best grow communities of practice (CoP) it’s wise first to consider what type of communities we are talking about.

Because people are busy, they often belong to many communities we call multi-membership. read more March 6, 2007 Community Building: How To Create Your Own Social Media Network With Ning Stop [social] networking: Build your own network! - Print this article July 29, 2009 ? Online Community Building Strategy: Good Advice From Nancy White Building an online community is in my opinion the best investment you can make toward guaranteeing yourself greater influence, authority and opportunity for business.