Ning as a Hub for Your Social Group, Part 2: Choosing Features

Building a Social Network has become a lot easier with new sites such Ning. Ning main ability to make building a Social network very modular, using click and drag as it's primary way to build. In this blog we will cover the main page features, and what they can do for your Social Network Hub.

First thing to know is that Ning limits you to 20 items total on your front page. They believe that is the maximum amount you can have and still load within 10 seconds. This may seem like a short time but in Internet time it is an eternity. Keeping your features low can be very useful to getting people involved quicker. The time to load makes a difference with search engines as well as individuals. So watching your load time is important.

To find how to manage and change your features, you first find Manage on your Tab Bar, click through and then you find Features on the second row and the second item from the left, and click through on this. This is available for creators as well as Administrators you assign. Once you click through you will see features listed on the left side, and three columns for the actual page.

To place features, you pick them on the left hand bar, click on it and drag it into place. Most features can be placed anywhere, but if not it the program will tell you. It is important that you balance them. Keeping them even on your page will allow uniform uploading and avoid empty space.

So let us list the features themselves and what they do:

Description: This is your sites description as you have stated. This explains your site ideas, and this can be picked up by Search engines to describe.

Members: This shows who is on your site, and their profiles. The feature can show the latest members, the most popular or featured members. You will have a chance later to decide how many are shown as well.

Photos: By far the most popular feature in my experience. This will show one hundred pictures that will rotate through a slideshow. You will have a choice later of choosing what photo's you allow. My favorite place is in the left hand column, but many people like front and center. It is a personal choice.

Videos: This is one of the more fun but difficult on bandwidth. This one allows you to have videos, and you can easily embed them from other services, or upload up to 100 MB and no more than 10 minutes long. I personally ask they are never loaded directly to the site, and ask people to use Youtube, Google or another hosting service. I only upload material I want to be completely unique to my social network. This is a crucial piece we will discuss later about building a hub.

Blogs: This is just as it sounds. Blogs are Online Logs or articles you write, and they provide solid information or silly nonsense depending on the writers and members of your social media. Blogs represent unique material that makes your social network yours, and acts as a conduit of ideas between members.

Forum/Discussions: Similar to Blogs and on the surface they offer the same thing. The biggest difference is that these can be categorized, while blogs are more members specific. The second difference is settings which promote more conversation than most blogs generate.

Groups: This is areas of your site which can act as a minisite. Here special interests can form, and they can be private or public depending on the settings. They have a text box, rss feed, and a discussion area of it's own. These are great for allowing your members to have contact on a smaller and more intimate level. Also it allows you to hub with older email groups such as YahooGroups and Google Groups.

RSS Feed: This feature allows you to import a RSS feed, from anywhere. This will allow you to import from your main website, your favorite site, and other places. I will be honest, it's my weakest area, and one that I am currently educating myself on.

Music: This allows you to import music, podcasts, and other short pieces under 20 MB. This can be very valuable for sharing audio pieces. If you do not want music on your front page but eventually want to allow your members to have music on their pages, then you need this on your front page. It will not be seen to non-administrators unless you put music/audio file in it.

Events: One of the features that are useful only if you have a event or events to share, or expect your membership does. Now the events can be real time meetings, can be tied into your Meet-up groups, or your local community. But you can also create events that are Internet specific like a podcast, chatroom, or online video show. Anything that is time specific can be displayed here.

Birthdays: Just as it says. It is one feature that may seem a bit silly but lets be honest, almost everyone likes to have his or her birthday recognized. Professional sites may shy away from this feature, but social network sites around groups of people interacting, this is very much about member recognition.

Latest Activity: This shows your latest activity on the site. It gives your site dimension and lets people know what is happening. If you have a lot of members this will constantly refresh. I, at first, disliked this feature but have grown to appreciate it when I want to see the activity on the site. It also converts into a RSS feed that I use on other Ning sites, but more on that later.

Badges: This is a widget that tell people about your site, and they can download one to use on their own Websites and pages on other Social networks.

Text Boxes: This is the singular most important feature as this allows you to customize your site. You are given several of these to use, and can be placed anywhere. They can accept text, html, and even widgets. They are what you use to provide truly unique features or materials. I personally love text boxes, and I think you will find them very useful when you understand how diverse and customizable they are.

Last note, one the upper right hand column, it is divided in half, and you have a shaded area. Everything placed in this area will appear on every page. This is a great place to put a text box, and have it carry a message across the entire network.

This is the main page feature, and all you do is click and drag. Have fun and play with features, see what works for you. You can have any type of network you like with these features, and with them you can begin to build yourself a incredible Social Network Hub.