What is it?

Ning is an online platform for people to create their own social networks.  Ning competes with large social sites like MySpace and Facebook by appealing to people who want to create their own social networks around specific interests with their own visual design, choice of features, and member data. The unique feature of Ning is that anyone can create their own social network for a particular topic or need, catering to specific membership bases.

Key Features

• Easy to create social networks.
• Ability to customize your network to fit your needs and personality.
• Upload photos, videos, and keep in touch with forums.

Who uses it?

Ning is open to clubs, organizations, businesses, hobbies, and even just individual groups of people.  Ning has a vast array of users, varying from the “Christian Alternative to Myspace” to small businesses using it as their primary website.

How does it work?

After creating a free account, users can create and customize their own social networks.  After picking out your personalized URL, you can then control membership, forums, files, and more… adapting the network to fit your needs.  Since Ning is free, there are advertisements. For a fee, however, you can have complete control over these and any additional links to Ning that are found on your network.  You can also have Ning directed to your own domain name.

Things to consider before using Ning

• Although you can limit membership, your public network is publicly viewable unless you restrict the privacy levels.

Uses as an Instructional Technology

• Use Ning as a class affiliated space, where staff and students alike can feel comfortable belonging to the same social network.
• Use Ning to organize group projects and allow the instructor to keep in touch and offer advice to students.

Resources at Wooster

• “7 Things to Know About Ning” available here.
• A Ning account may be created at www.ning.com