Ning build your own Social Network

 

Ning, is a platform where you can create your own social network, you get a combination between a blog platform, a forum and a social network that don’t have all the features.

You can upload videos or embed from YouTube and Google, upload photos or you can add them from Flickr, create blogs, discussion forums, you can add RSS, some widgets and members have customizable profiles.

When you see it first time you say that this it’s all you ever wanted, it could be but is not.  This platform has many features, but is hard to use. You need some time to learn what you can do and what you can’t, to add a widget you have to create a text box, click edit button and paste the code. You can’t customize the template in many ways, you can choose from a couple of template and edit the CSS but this is all you can do if you don’t want to become a developer.

 You can use Ning for free or use the premium version, the free version has AdSense ads on the right side, and you can still show you own ads in a text box. In the premium version you can show your own ads for $20, use you own domain name for $5, remove the “Create Your Own Social Network” button for $8 and if your social network exceeds 10GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth, you can purchase more storage and bandwidth for $10. This premium service forces you to buy everything from them even bandwidth, and it's pretty expensive.

You can get rid of the ads if you create a network for adult content, even if you don’t show any explicit content, the draw back is that visitors have to sign up before they can see more that your main page.

Ning allows any content on your network even adult content, the most visited network are adult networks, if you want to create one the backgrounds and headers must not contain nudity and you have to make the network private and add a splash screen. They don’t “police” the network but when you receive an email asking you to purchase more bandwidth and you didn’t use your quota and have illegal content on your network, you know what you have to do, pay or move out and backup the member’s information before they delete the account.

Ning is growing rapidly; there are networks with thousands of members but because of their “premium” service I would use my own network script on my own host. Ning is useful because they follow.