Thoughts On Ning
October 14, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I was recently involved in a discussion about Ning. Create-it-yourself social networks. Sounds impressive (you too can build your own Facebook in just a few clicks). Works really well, requires absolutely no technical ability to get a social network set up. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
That’s my conclusion anyway. Now, here’s how I came to that:
Advantages of Ning:
- You can have your own social network up and running in a couple of minutes. You can have video panels, forums, members, chat all going on. And it’s free (if you go for them hosting and having ads on your network). But the key to success on the web is always content. Getting a clear message out to the right people about your service is what you want to do. Ideas and content rule, technology is merely the conduit that facilitates the message.
Disadvantages of Ning:
- Why would you want to create a social network away from Facebook which is where all the people are? Given that the population of Facebook is the size of Brazil, why would you want to restrict your social network to something the size of the Aran Islands? One of the many benefits of Facebook is that when new people join your Fan Page, their friends can see when they do. This can encourage friends to join, which increases your numbers. If your subject matter is interesting enough, this viral effect can spread fast. If your social network is on Ning, you are limited to directly inviting people to join. But there isn’t anything like the numbers browsing Ning like there are on Facebook, so it’s automatically limiting your potential.
- All the elements you get on Ning, you get on Facebook. Only difference is that it’s easy to style Ning to make it look more gorgeous than the corporate blue and white that is FB.
- What if you went ahead with Ning and then found that your members or your audience just aren’t into it? Then you’ll look a bit silly with a Ning network and no-one coming to talk to you. The risk here is that organisations will go out and build wholly inappropriate Ning networks just because someone has made it easy to do so. The social network for consumers of dishwasher powder anyone? No I don’t think so.
All of this leads me nicely on to:
My Top 5 Tips For Getting Started With Social Networking
- Start off with a device for getting your key messages out - a blog can work extremely well. Or perhaps your message is better communicated through video? In which case, you can easily set up a channel on Youtube and use that to publish your messages. A content plan is key. Whether you’re blogging or youtubing, it’s a good idea to work out who your audiences are, then consider what your main themes are. Then sit down with a calendar and fill in what you’re going to say and when, then stick to it. Here’s a whole post on blog content planning.
- Then get to work. Write your blog regularly. Read other’s blogs. Comment. Take part in the conversation, because you can’t really expect people to want to talk to you if you’re not talking to them, now can you?
- When you’ve got some momentum in your messages (and even some alliteration!), then look at how you’re going to re-package that content and get it out on the social networks. You can include your blog feed in Facebook and LinkedIn so once you’re regularly blogging, you can be sure that your message is getting republished out there. Consider Twitter as a way of alerting people that you’ve just done a blog post.
- Don’t fall into the trap of using Twitter merely as a place to post your links. While research has found that men are more likely to post links then women (who are more likely to write emotively… yes I know Laura, I absolutely love love love it as well… ), organisations that use Twitter as another form of RSS are failing! Twitter is conversation. If you’re going to be on it, get chatting. Follow people. Take part. If someone asks a question and you have an answer – be helpful, share your knowledge. If someone makes a comment about how much they like Wispa’s, and you do too, then say it. That kind of thing builds rapport. And the charming thing about Twitter is that it celebrates humanity. So what if relationships are being formed about 1980′s chocolate bars on an online space?
- Remember that all of these things require a mindset switch to get it right. It doesn’t work when you allocate a half hour to Twitter and the first Friday of every month to write your blogs. Taking part in the conversation online is an ongoing thing and must be regarded as a organisation-wide change in how we do things around here. There’s no point in having a summer intern do your Twitter for you only to walk away and leave it to languish. A lot of people I hear have fears about the amount of time it’s going to take. If you do it right, it shouldn’t be something that you quantify. It’s just an extension of how you work.
What do you think? You can post your comment here. Or you can go off and set up a Ning social network to do the same thing – but all alone, somewhere else…. !
