Ning is a great platform for creating individual social networks or communities of practice. It allows you to have your own site to which people can sign up and leave blog posts, have forum discussions, upload photos and videos and publish RSS feeds. I had a play here.
It’s another example of being able to get a social site up and running quickly and freely. The only ads are Google text ones, so they aren’t really intrusive.
Another reason to pay attention to Ning is that it is backed by Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame – a man who knows his stuff.
I sometimes wonder whether it would be preferable to abandon the bespoke work we’re doing with the IDeA CoP paltform and use an off the shelf development environment such as Ning. Not sure yet what the right answer is, since I also have to ensure the IDeA CoP solution is fully integrated with other (legacy) platform, such as the IDeA knowledge web site. Will be keeping an eye on NIng to see how it it develops.
I don’t think that the likes of Ning are really an option for the IDeA project, Steve. Part of the reason is its reliance on AJAX type technology, which is at present incompatible with the majority of browsers in use in the local government sector.
Also, it is aimed mainly at the social end of social networking, though with a little work you can have something more professional in place. But for a small group who want to get something up and running quickly and cheaply, it’s a good option.