How to set up your own Social Network with Ning

Ning is an online platform that allows its users to create their own Social Network and join Social Networks created by other members within the site. This service is free and very easy to use. This online platform has pretty much the same features as other Social Networks such as MySpace and Facebook. Some of the features available are blogs, forums, groups, and of course you can add videos, photos, widgets and profile customization. By creating your own Social Network you can build an online community of people who share the same interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others.

You can use it to:

• Engage coworkers, friends, and family
• Connect to other departments within your organization and globally
• Post projects and project team members so the entire company is kept informed
• Allow individual blogging, discussions, groups
• Share videos, photos, and messaging
• Socially-engage - interact with others that have similar interests

Here is a video that gives you a quick look on how to set up your own Social Network in Ning.


Ning also offers some premium services such as domain name, remove Ning promotional links, remove ads or control the ads that appear on your site, and space and bandwidth upgrades for a small fee.
This is a great service, and if you're looking to start your own Social Network I really recommend you look into Ning.
Ning anyone?

Do you know which web 2.0 application to use?

I'm always testing new web 2.0 applications and services and some times I forget why I don't use some and why I use others a lot. So I decided to do the logical, document it. I created a Wiki called Web 2.0 Applications to keep track of these software and services and at the same time add a quick review of each and make it available to everyone.

In my Wiki I explain what that service is, how can it be used in training, and provide videos and tips when applicable. I also list the services I've tested along with a review which includes their ease of use, fees (if any), URLs, if customization is allow, my star rating and any other information I think will be helpful.

Hopefully my trial and error will help others.

Is there any software or services you use or wouldn't use because of a bad experience that you would like to share with us? You can post your reviews here or add them to my Web 2.0 Applications Wiki.

Adding comments to traditional content

Well one of the features we would like to add to some of our traditional content is to allow users to leave comments and also rate the content. You see our users are not too techie and we want to gently get them to start collaborating with each other and we thought taking baby steps was more appropriate.

We are planning to implement blogs, wikis, and discussion boards this year but we have so much traditional content and it's not interactive. It's great content but again you can't collaborate.

So we have formed a team to look into collaboration tools, and one of them is adding comments to our traditional content. In researching off the shelve applications I found Joomla CommentBox which looks pretty neat but I think the look and feel would be too different from ours.

I'm a big fan of widgets, and I usually use Widget Box for all my widget needs. Just now I visited their site and something told me to search for the word "comments". Oh wow, here it was. There is a widget called Easy Comments that you can add in the body of any web page and it allows users to leave comments. How cool is that? And it has a five start rating. I also found another widget called Instant Rating which combines star ratings with comments or star ratings with reviews.

We will probably continue to research this but in the meantime I've added the Instant Rating's widgets below to show you how they work. Has anyone found another way of adding threads and user ratings to their traditional content?

Differences between blogs, wikis, and discussion boards

This is a question that keeps on coming up so I decided to write a post to clarify it. Now, before I go into the differences I will explain what each of these are.

The word Blog comes from the words Web Log. It's a Web site that allows an individual, or group of individuals, to share a running log of events and personal insights with online audiences. In simple terms, a Blog is an online journal.

A Wiki is a type of Web page that allows anyone with an Internet connection to create and modify pages easily and quickly. This means that anyone that visits your Wiki will be able to create new pages and update your content whenever they desire.The name wiki comes from the Hawaiian words Wiki wiki which means quick.

A Discussion Board is a communication tool that allows individuals to collaborate with others through posting or answering questions. Also referred to as forums, message boards, or bulletin boards.

The differences are:

Blogs:
1. Are personal
2. A posting is owned by a poster (could be owned by a small group)
3. Aim is conversation, change in thinking/self/ideas, writing of the moment
4. Content is considered to be static: once posted, the posting doesn't change (comments can add information to your posting)
5. Content is displayed in reverse chronological order and scrolling is required
6. Comments are optional but encouraged to continue the conversation
7. The intent is personal, news, reflection
8. Voice used is conversational


Wikis:
1. Open to collaboration
2. Topics are considered public space and owned by all
3. Aim is creation of documents
4. Content is not permanent, it can be revised by any one
5. Content is displayed in nodes/tree structure
6. Comments are not expected
7. The intent is informational
8. Voice used is passive and active


Discussion boards:
1. Open to collaboration
2. Are owned by groups with equal responsibilities
3. Aim is to provide support, discuss topics and/or share knowledge
4. Content is considered to be static: once posted the posting doesn't change (answers are provided by others)
5. Content is organized and presented in different ways
6. Answers are required
7. The intent is resolution (when used for support) and enlightenment (when used for discussion or knowledge sharing)
8. Voice used is conversational


Another great resource for differences between blogs and discussion boards is the Common Craft blog. Lee LeFever provides a side-by-side comparison chart.

I'm proud to say this article was used as a reference by the University of Hartford to develop a matrix for their faculty.

What other technologies would you like to know about? Leave your feedback in our comment section below.

Cindy

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Article updated on Jan 4, 2018 with more uses on discussion forums that have emerged after the article was published in 2007.