Ning case study at Social Media Cafe Manchester
I resisted the garden on a hot evening to attend Social Media Cafe in Manchester’s Northern Quarter this week.
On my last SMC I had spent my time talking to other attendees and not attending the presentations. But here was a chance to hear about Ning and how it had been used in a live project.
Ning enables users to “create their own social networks around specific interests with their own visual design, choice of features and member data,” as expressed on Wikipedia. It continues that “the unique feature of Ning is that anyone can create their own social network for a particular topic or need, catering to specific membership bases.”
The talk was delivered by Maria Ruban of Littlestar who described her use of Ning as an organiser of the Futursonic event that was recently held in the city.
Maria only had 6 weeks rather than 6 months that she preferred to organise the volunteers and make the event a success. She was looking for a social media tool that could be quickly adapted; the aim was to build up a feeling of comradeship, interaction and focus.
Maria said she found Facebook too “clunky” for such an objective but Ning fitted the bill perfectly.
With its applications (such as blogs and photo sharing) and ease of use it was adopted rapidly and justified its choice.
Maria did not indicate any drawbacks.
One issue for some groups will be that it is invitation only, outside parties cannot gain access for comment or viewing. This might prove to be a disadvantage for some, a boon for others, as was the case here.
Ning has been about since October 2005 but this was one of the few case studies I have come across.
I have a potential pitch that could use Ning, early stages though, but very useful to have a clearer idea of what this tool can offer.
The question that comes to mind though is why has Ning not been more readily adopted?
Postscript
There are of course many organisations using Ning successfully and I imagine in some cases for a couple of years. I say “imagine” because I really have only heard Craig McGinty alone talk about it other than Maria.
Why, I don’t know but some might see it as pioneering to use this tool, others old hat perhaps. I would be interested in hearing from those that have established Ning communities or are users and get to know a bit more about their viewpoint.
Tags: ning, Social media