Ning Review

 

                NIng is an online service that allows members to create and share their very own social network. This service was started in 2004 by co-founders Marc and Gina. They say that they started with the simple premise of wanting to see what would happen if everyone had the freedom to create their own social network for anything.

                This service is free and also comes with many features. Some of the features include the ability to invite new members to your network and a full message center with address importing from Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. The profiles are also customizable and allow video and photo sharing. Music and podcast playlist can also be created for other members and played on embedded players. They give the privacy options that extends to the settings of photos, videos, groups and blog post.

                The networks are also fully customizable and offer many other features for businesses using Ning for their networking. Some of these features include being able to run your own ads and use your own domain name. In addition if additional storage is needed it can be purchased from Ning. Advanced customization is also available for software developers who have the knowledge and are familiar with the social networks code. They will have the ability to customize the networks behavior.

                I find Ning to be a very fun and creative site that is only limited by a person’s interest. Any one of your interest probably has a network and if it doesn’t you can create one and wait for likeminded people to reply. The setup is very professional and user friendly. The members do not seem as young or undirected as other social networks. This also makes for a more professional and specialized feel for a network service. So if you have a professional interest of any specialized interest Ning would probably be a good place to meet similar people.