Managing content on Ning

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Hi members of this network, there is a key of the future of the web in Anthony's reply to my previous message "Forgotten friends" in this group.

Anthony told us :
Ning is great for user interaction but not so great for managing content.

We must make Ning great for managing content. Ning offers more features than many custom websites for doing it, and Ning is free.

My network activity is on a niche (culture viewed through art auction). This is an intellectual game invented by myself. My choice was to play it through a fully open Ning network. Fully open excepted that I do not offer members the capability to create Groups, because I wish a full control of the architecture of the groups.

I strongly recommend my method to fill the content : I endeavour to publish a daily post. Six months mean 180 posts. The content grows to high figures through an effort that is regularly spent throughout the year. Within monthes I will be able to prepare syntheses that will be totally based on my data, and these syntheses will be worth to be presented to professionals.

In the mean time, everything is open to visitors. They can view, link, copy whatever they wish from my content without being commited to join. Those who join are welcomed but I know that some regular readers did not join. So I do not care at all having 10, 100, 1000 or 10000 members. These figures do not mean anything if among them there are 9, 99, 999, 9999 sleeping members.

in my opinion, the prerequisite for managing content on Ning is to have a goal, a plan, and a strategy to apply it. Memberships and friendships are tools, not goals.

If people who have a plan do not use Ning to express it, Ning will be only invaded by sects and by crazy people who wish to change the world by their own hands. Google Orkut is reputed to have nearly died due to such a trend. Ning looks better but the same menace is also there.

Use Ning for spreading your content. One of the futures of the web is possibly to re-enable cultural awakeness and scientific teaching through the networks.

[Area Light Online]

Hi there Pierre,

Thank you for sharing. You know, I was thinking about the value of content you post on networks other than your own. Most networks seem to want this as it reflects active membership and is constructive toward building a community of choice. When you post on another network, you are essentially adding value to that network. I kind of hope that content I do invest my time to produce elsewhere does contribute to the intended network vision of that community, but also represents me well enough to attract interest here. I think I'm fairly good at showing my appreciation for content here, and I make an effort to respond on the subjects posted. However, from my own perspective, I do consider the detraction of time from here and anticipate the challenge of keeping up with engagement elsewhere.

I like the selectivity of your community. I'm wondering if I fit your target niche and desirable activity goals if I were to join. That's a courteous consideration, don't you think? I've had some guests post blindly with no expectation of response and no intention to contribute to the community. I'm tolerant of that because I understand this is part of the challenge of socializing across networks. However, I can't help but wonder if I am being taken advantage of in some cases. I quickly move past this puzzle and reorient to my own intentions. It's hard to be both open and closed like this, but decisions have to be made at some point. I'm glad you've made a decision tom contribute here and it is extremely welcomed. I'm more inclined to return the favor with you.

You covered several points that drew my interest in this post. I will revisit this again if you don't mind.

Best,

Anthony

P.S. I caught a quick blog post from the Ning founders about their original intentions. It's good food for thought given we are undergoing our own considerations for use and social network creation. Flashback

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Hi Anthony

My opinion on Ning is that it is one united platform, not half a million separated networks. What is important is being able to browse anywhere into it, and three tools exist for that : Ning search (poor ; comes into many unmanaged networks), Network Creators (excellent) ; Directory (will be excellent).

Please do not feel commited to join my network if you are not interested by the subject or have no time to it. You are already connected to it since we are friends. Sometimes I mail one of my posts to all my friends when I feel that it may interest everybody, specialist or not in my niche. I don't do it often, but you are connected that way. Moreover I discovered recently that the feature enabling the user to block the messages from a dedicated network works also if you are not a member of this network, so any of my friends can block the messages coming from my network if he wishes. The standard features of Ning are really great.

The content I write here is compliant with the purpose of your network, it is not compliant with mine. Moreover if I have an opportunity to put some text elsewhere, I know that it is here, and I just have to come here, copy and paste. I am sure that at some point of your progress you will feel also useful to participate to groups in other networks for promoting your works and your views, and that you will use your "library" of texts here to start discussions outside.

I send you an invitation to the "Private group" in the Directory. It is a place where there may be some added value to copy and paste content from here.

All the best

Pierre

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

Thanks Pierre, I'll look into the private creator group on Directory. Did you see the solicitation for top 100 come out? Can't blame Jen for trying, but I have no intention of paying my way to the top. It's the activity and work I put into it I want as a distinguisher. Quality over quantity. So the banner tag really turned me off too. All the top 100 will represent are those who were inclined to pay money for the opportunity first. No distinction such as most popular by category or traffic like I thought I saw on Ning's search. I noticed they recently took off number of members on the popular search. Interesting...

So I agree, we are connected by being friends. Of course I'm going to look into your site. I'm interested in what you're doing and I like what I've learned about you from our interactions thus far. I also get your point of viewing Ning as one large network. Ning has made some decisions on this though. You know you can pay to have the Ning references taken off the sites. I actually view it as a value add because I want to promote Ning to everyone. Gives me an excuse to network and outreach- and I think especially new users will be impressed. I also think established users might be surprised to learn they can even create their own so easily and free. I was checking out a geographic network based out of New Zealand last week as part of my outreach on Area Light Explorer here. I had a conversation with the creator there and she explained she was paying for the premium services and wanted the site to be as professional as possible. So any public mention of Ning or other networks was out of the question. Good thing I asked first! I think what we are likely to find are self-organizing directories...also kind of being touched on my group Holonic Organization. I am sure I'll find people with similar preferences. interests, and standards. Those people will be my resource for a wealth of references, resources, and links. They will also hopefully become friends and you'll see them represented here in one way or another. The question will become whether people are in the loop for what they want or not. There will be currents...you can be in dead water going nowhere, sucked into a riptide dragging you out to deep waters, or be right in the flow where everything is just right.

Anyhow to your points: I loved how you mentioned "intellectual game". Me too! Once I learned I could create my own network, part of the excitement was considering just how to play with it. You've got a great tool box, plenty of high grade real estate, and the peices all fit together in a way where you basically have to try hard to go wrong. I like pushing the envelope with my creativity. I'm just getting started, but I do think some people might actually be entertained intellectually by checking out my work. Additionally, many of the groups and projects I am working on are challenging in their own right. to me that is fun. I actually see people out there just going through the motions or trying to sell stuff that is essentially free and non-spectacular. That doesn't impress me very much. Now people getting creative and not cheapening it with desperate attempts to make a buck- now that is a source of stimulation I'm attracted to.

Did you have fun with your intellectual game? Are you still having fun with it? No worries either way. You've met another player!

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Hi Anthony !

On Jen's top 100, I also agree with you. I mailed Jen that I shall not join because I am looking for structured directories (and Top 100 is not).

Concerning art related networks :
My directory on Network Creators has 30 members. Four of them are really willing to co-operate together, and they started opening "friends groups" (looking like network fan clubs !) each one in the networks created by the others. They invite their friends to join all these networks. Some of them have possibly met at first through the directory. They are all around the world : India, Hungary, Germany, Chile. Strangely none of them tries to explain why and how his/her network(s) is(are) different from the others. The users select some of them ... or join all.
It is an interesting experience of open networking.
Some of their badges are on my page. Have a visit to their links!

All the best

Pierre

[Nascent Dynamics ( )]

That's absolutely interesting, Pierre.

Of the phenomena that carries more weight to learn from, I think getting into the minds of creator intentions- but also observing the naturally occuring phenomena of self-organizing behaviors. Somewhere in there I bet there is a science to be found to influence such outcomes more or less satisfactorily. I want you to know that I personally have the intention of following through on your suggestions. You might not otherwise know I appreciate the idea on its merits and you've influenced a behavior. I just am not sure when and how I will go about it yet! Probably through Area Light Explorer.

Regarding managing content again...I've noticed one network creator leaving comments on member topics and questions pointing to their search feature. The comments were "I entered the search term 'Home-Based Business Opportunities" and here is a link to the results" with a brief summary pointing relevance. In my research for developing content management strategies, I keep reflecting on your system of duplicatable distribution. I like the idea of generating content localized to my home environment- then either copy/pasting it elsewhere or linking it in to conversations that may arise. As they say, beauty in the eye of the beholder. Content has a similar value and is a service in itself. As creators, we can be creative in our intentions for content production and deployment means as a service to others.

Conversely, it's interesting to see how people both manage and find content they want. It's a hot process subject in the world of SEO and intelligent search today. Ning was criticised for failing to reflect site descriptions/ metatags in search results. When I first started, if you were to find Area Light on Google, you would see essentially a pointer message to Ning and it wasn't even very attractive. Actually, I mentioned Area Light on another business related social network that gets a lot of traffic and drives out their SEO. It was amazing to see how easy I could jump to the front of search results. Maybe I will devise a system to distribute my content here there, and people who like what they find will find their way here. If Ning improves the SEO transparency for user generated content, then we could really see some impressive utility- especially if you consider the value of content distribution and cross-linking between networks. The promise in Ning though is substantially greater for for user served intelligent content search and distribution. If someone brings up an interest in Ning social networking, managing content, or art- then I bet I can easily point them in the right direction for a terrifically satisfying and time saving experience.

Then, they get a value in the content they find, but also have more time to act on it with others. I expect the outcomes will be far more dynamic than traditional static content promulgation.