Ning Expedition

Expedition #33 - Twingr

2008-11-14T05:49:00.001-08:00

Hey Everybody,

Guess what, now if you want to make your own MicrBlogging community you can do so at http://www.twingr.com . It's pretty cool, it's everything you'd expect from microblogging, except since it's so early in it's development you can't edit things like the community logo after you've created the community which is annoying.

The features seem cool, there's plenty that can be done to organize the look and feel, but it's hard to really mess up microblogging, and the link field seperate from the main post is nice as well.

Alex

Expedition #32 - Alex Merced 2 Go with SocialGo.com

2008-08-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Luckily I got my socialgo.com invite and I really like SocialGo.coms features the only thing I find really annoying is that it's only one network per account instead of being able to make multiple networks. I really enjoy the layout and the ability to really edit and customize the feel of every tab.

Check out my SocialGo.com Network

Now this is a real Ning Competitor.

Top 5 Social Network creators as of now

1) Ning.com
2) SocialGo.com
3) Flux.com
4) Kickapps.com
5) Onesite.com

Expedition #31 - SocialGO

2008-08-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Another Social Network creator just entered beta, and if you get into the beta you get free access to premium features till 2009. SocialGo.com is the place, not much else to say since I'm not in the beta quite yet.

- Alex

Expedition #30 - PickUpTara.com

2008-08-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

It's been awhile since we've actually taken a look at a Ning Network, what I love about the ease of being able set one of these things up nowadays is the ability to really create super bizarre niches that VC's wouldn't necessarily feel worth the time. Also for people like Me, it's a great personal branding tool, yet I'm not the only one. The Game, 50 Cent, Natasha Beddingfield, and more have used this to this means. An interesting one I've seen recently is PickUpTara.com which is a network for Tara of VH1's Pick Up Artists.

She does live broadcasting from this network which is one of the biggest differentiators to me, which is a great service to fans. Overall if your fan, it' has great content, I personally never heard of the show since I don't watch much tv outside of Heroes/Chuck/Dexter.

- Alex

Expedition #29 - Wikis & linqia.com

2008-07-30T02:31:00.001-07:00

Can't say there's much new to say about the white label social network world in the last few weeks, although different platforms to create communities are always appearing. First off Mashable did a great list of wiki services to create your own collaborative wiki community.

http://mashable.com/2008/07/29/wiki-solutions/

Also as far promoting your community and finding others, linqia.com has to be one of the coolest sites I've found being a massive human powered social network and community directory.

Sadly, that's all I really got for now other than I purchased some MOO cards that I'm way too excited about.

Expedition #28 - Ping.fm & Ning.com

2008-07-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

I've become addicted to Ping.fm service that allows me to post my status to several networks without much effort. They also added a Custom URL feature to be able to setup scripts to post any network you want and this is what I'd like to see someone do, make a script or webapp for posting to all my Ning networks.

Essentially a new web app where I can enter in all different Ning profiles and info and it gives me a URL for the Custom URL feature which then enables me to post to all my setup ning profiles with ease.

Another thing I'd like to see from PING.fm is functionality for the social networks for Yahoo360, Livespaces, and Orkut cause well if we can use Gtalk, AIM, and YM to update our status I should be able to to at least update their corresponding social networks.

If you not a member of Ping yet, the current betacode is "pingscompany"

Expedition #27 - Odds and Ends

2008-07-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well,

I'm excited to hear that Userplane and Meebo will both be offering solutions to add Facebook chat like features to social networks big and small. I'm even more excited to see if Ning will partner up with one of them to add functionality to their networks or develop their own in house IM feature. In the meantime I added a Meebo Room to the Alex Merced Community.

Another network I admin for the brand, SHANE&SHAWN, has went 100+ members so go check out SHANE&SHAWN Worldwide.

Also I mentioned SlinkSet in my last post so I created Tech Social News site using it called Merced2.0. So go check it out it's already being fed news from some of the best Tech blogs on the net and plus I embedded a Meebo room so you can discuss the news while you vote up and down tech news!!!

So many ways to create communities, and so many more I'm sure there is to come so keep me posted on any news you think would be right for Ning Expedition.

- Alex

Expedition #26 - Slinkset.com

2008-07-15T02:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

We've talked about how Reddit, Mixx, and CoRank have all provided solutions to create your own social news site. A new contender in this field is SlinkSet from the original creatos of reddit. There is not much I can say that isn't already answered by the utterance of the phrase, social news.

http://www.slinkset.com

Sincerely,

Alex Merced

Expedition #25 - Come2play.com

2008-07-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.come2play.com/

This is an interesting twist on the online community platform game, with come2play you create branded game channels for your community to play games in a social environment. I was never the biggest online flash game player but maybe having community scoreboards and prizes might make somthing like this more appealing to myself or other potential players. Check it out, you could even incorporate such a thing into a ning network to make it a more rounded out network.

Expedition #24 - Wiki and Collaboration Sites

2008-06-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Since my interest in Ning stems from the ability build effective online communities I have made it my goal to cover other similar platforms since I feel this has been fairly un-emphasized area of this sphere cause of Ning's dominance in this field. (Why mashable hasn't create a list of White Label Network hosts is beyond me, it's actually why I started this blog.

Although creating social networks isn't the only way to build online communities so I though I'd take a moment to point you all to some lists to some other routes, Wikis, Collaboration suites, and Message Boards. Here's Mashable as usual to the reduce with their amazing lists

Mashable List: Wiki Tool Box

Mashable List: Online Collaboration

Mashable List: Forums Guide

Here's an extra one slightly off topic but I though useful nonetheless

Mashable List: Online Blog Communities

Expedition #23 - Grou.ps

2008-06-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

http://grou.ps/

Another one enter the arena and this one presents an interesting idea, while you can create a community web-portal, instead of having all the features built it it leverages the API's from many other popular services as Reddit, Blogger, Picasa, and many more. Well here's another entrant into the world of web community platforms.

Though TechCrunch recently posted a very interesting article speculating about the future growth of Facebook and the significance of Facebooks recently surpassing of Myspace in users and what about facebook makes it important to all webapps. Very good read.

Expedition #22 - Master List of White Label Social Networks

2008-06-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here's links form posts across all my blogs which should cover all White Label Social Network services and other community services I'm aware off

Ning and Other White Label Social Network Hosts

Who loves Blogs, I love Blogs

More White Label Social Network Host Stuff

Expedition #16 - Soceeo

Expedition #17 - Neeetz.com

Expedition #19 - Wackwall.com

Expedition #20 - Mixx and Reddit Communities

If there is anything I'm missing please do leave a comment.

Expedition #21 - Reddit and Mixx Communities

2008-06-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Social Bookmarking/News sites Mixx and Reddit have both released pseudo white label versions of their services which can also be used to build communities. While not as extensive a community as Ning.com . Although these communities put features at your finger tips not available with Ning with the social bookmarking/news which you can also get from corank.com another white label solution in the social news arena.

Hey you can never have too many ways to build a community, right?

For a extensive list of services, here's an old list I made on another blog I have.

Expedition #20 - myarchN

2008-06-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Here at Ning Expedition we've explored many of Nings most interesting networks as well as introduced you to it's alternatives as they arise to throw their hands in the White Label gauntlet. Today I'm covering a network with over 1000 members and plenty of activity for Architecture. I find this particularly interesting as another network I would of never imagined really taking off as the activity on it suggests.

myarchN - a network for people to share their designs and projects and discuss the finer things about architecture and s leek orange/white design and plenty of content and use of RSS feeds makes this a pretty decent portal for information in this industry.

- Alex

Expedition #19 - WackWall.com

2008-06-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

http://wackwall.com/

They've been popping up left and right these last few weeks, new entrants to compete against ning.com. What's cool about wackwall is that it's supposed to give you some extra freedom in editing the layout but I am yet to see any networks that really seems all that unique. If anyone gives this service a try get back to me with what you think.

Expeditions #18 - Hip

2008-06-12T03:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Hip Hop has to be one of the most community oriented genres of music next to Country/Tejano music which can be explained through all sorts of cultural studies babble I'm willing to explain at some later juncture. What I am here to talk about is Ning social networks, and how they are being leveraged to help further hip hops community orientation.

Rawkus - With over 7000 members this community is so popular and well designed it got featured on the main page, a great design with plenty of blogs, videos and music to keep ya busy or promote your own work.

Hip Hop Talk - A Hip Hop Network which seems to be build around an online journalism, nice design and a nice start with over 100 members.

The WordTV - Another network built around hip hop in an online tv sort of approach, with about 500 members, this netowrk is SUPER slick.

Those are some of the best Hip Hop networks I found to put your NingID's to some use. Ning has been rolling out new features consistently as usual which continues to show what an amazing product they have.

- Alex Merced

Expedition #17 - Neeetz.com

2008-06-04T02:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Just yesterday mentioned new entrant to the white label market, Soceeo, funny enough today I find out about Neeetz.com. Another entrant into the market except Neeetz is more direct copy of Ning instead of alternative with different features like other servies like Kickapps, Flux, and Onesite. The layout of a social network on Neeetz.com is very identical to ning... not sure it has any big difference over Nings CORE products, other than it may lack all the bells and whistles Ning added to their platform over the last year.

- Alex Merced

Expedition #16 - Soceoo

2008-06-03T03:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.soceeo.com

I've documented and mentioned ning competitors before, and here is the newest one throw it's hate in the mix and rest assure it won't be the last one. it seems alright looking, although looking at some of the features I think it has some built it tab managing which can be pretty useful. if anyone is using this please make a comment on your thoughts on this or other Ning Competitors.

I've recently began doing some marketing work for an awesome company called Downtown Babies, they do a lot of childhood development classes using music. I created a Ning network for them, and it's a space for mothers to learn about the newest Downtown Babies products and classes and to meet other mothers, check it out.

Alex Merced

#15 - The Happy Face Inititative

2008-05-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

I've been using Ning for awhile and I like Ning a lot so much that I have this blog for the sole purpose of exploring it's network of networks. Although to be fair I've never tried anymore of their competitors like Kickapps, Onesite, and more. So I created using Flux, The Happy Face Initiative. A social network about a supportive community of optimistic people that also is obsessed with the Happy Face.

The default look of a Flux Network isn't as pretty as a Ning network, although there are a couple of nice features that everything is widgetized to seemlessly integrate into your website which gives you some aesthetic flexibility. Although I've heard you can find this kind of flexibility with Kickapps but you have to pay proportional to usage of Kickapps while on flux it's free so that's something to keep in mind. The other nice feature is that ad revenue is shared so it's free and can be a source of revenue, but unless you plan on integrating into your site with widgets I still thin Ning is a much better looking option and still have more features.

Flux has some potential to give Ning some decent competition but it shares a space with kickapps too, so we'll see how it all goes down. Overall, my loyalty to Ning is still in tact though.

Expedition #14 - Ning.com to Rule Social Networks

2008-05-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

In a post at Mashable.com about facebooks declining application use made me think about when the time come for Myspace and Facebook to hit the decline who will be the major beneficiary. I must say whole heartedly that Ning.com will be the elephant in the room when big boys get older. Of course many of Nings Competitors will see some rise too but Ning.com will by far be dominant in this market unless something quite unforeseen occurs.

The reality is while many still host and make their own networks, unless your making a web app to monetize the network itself your better off using sites like Ning to host your network so you can focus on building your brand and brand community which is the major upside to your social network. The benefits of a network market like Ning is users are more open to separate networks if the sign-up process is less hassle and there isn't a learning curve to every new network someone joins. Ning, Kickapps, Flux, etc. all provide these benefits, but again, Ning dominated.

Below I've embedded an episode of my new favorite show, PopSiren, from Revision3. In this episode you get to actually meet the awesome co-founder of Ning. Note: I have a huge crush on Sarah of PopSiren.

Expedition #13 - Social Cigar

2008-05-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

I know I mentioned my personal feelings about smoking in a previous post but Social Cigar is such an interesting network it had to be covered. A very active network with over +1700 members with Cigar Reviews, Blogs, and photos. The most interesting thing is people posting videos of themselves smoking cigars. I mean you just got to see it to believe.

- Alex

Expedition #12 - Brookly Art Project

2008-04-27T07:39:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

Living in New York, I spend a lot of time in the city, probably the majority of it. I see art of all types surrounding me on all sides and it's great. Apparently now there is an awesome art social network called the Brooklyn Art Project with over 1200 members and plenty of visual candy to make DeviantArt blush. With contests and featured works, plus groups based on medium it really is a community for artists to be well... artists.

- Alex Merced

Expedition #11 - Wii

2008-04-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Xbox 360 has had lots of success with it's console social networking capabilities making it fun to play the worst games for the sole purpose of enhancing your gamer tag. How about the Wii lovers, maybe it does have similar functionality but let's take a look at 3rd party Ning Networks, or if your looking for a gaming network to meet gamers of all types feel free to join 4Gamers, I've added some new videos and songs to 4gamers for your enjoyment.

WiiPlay - A Wii network which is active with over 400 members and a reasonable level of incoming content, plus it has a Nintendo news RSS feed making giving you the ability to update yourself on Nintendo while you meander with all your friends playing with their wii.

Yeah, now that I look at it it's the only active Wii specific community. I found a lot of interesting communities during my search will definetley appear in future expedition into Ning.

- Alex Merced

Expedition #10 - Web 2.0

2008-04-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

What would be more appropriate than Social Network about well... Social Media. There a few that started this on Ning, but a truly successful and active network is Social Marketing Central. It's a cool community where Social Media elite blog about the latest in social media. I want to be elite, I'm still only a online c-list celebrity, but if you you can always help a brother out.

- Alex Merced

Expedition #9 - Stop Smoking

2008-04-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

A little background on myself, I am the son of a Respiratory Therapist, so my point of view of smoking is a concerned one. While I believe that you should be able to smoke wherever you want and take up any voice you want, I don't smoke and definetley encourage those close to me to take re-evaluate smoking as part of their lifestyle, cause well I'm too familiar with the effects of it all and don't really see any upside.

So that's why when I found the "Become an Ex" Network on Ning I felt I'd dedicate a whole post to this cause I think it's important that people trying to quit can find who can relate to the struggle of quiting. This has definetley been a successful network with lots of activity and over 1000 members.

I thought I'd set some standards for an active network, so here is the minimums I'll use to consider a network "active":

- at least 100 members

- activity in the feed within the last 7 days

- Alex Merced

Expedition #8 - DUB Magazine

2008-04-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Wow,

That is all I got to say, I personally never heard of DUB magazine but apparently it's a hot brand, as their network has reached over 16,000 members. Lots of car imagery for magazine that deal in hip hop and R&B, but I guess that works cause it looks great and flows very well. This is definetley a network to take a look at to see the power of the Ning platform.

- Alex Merced

P.S. If you join my blog, help me make the Alex Merced Community the next big Ning Network, pwease :)

Expedition #7 - Alex Merced

2008-04-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hello,

As I said I would after seeing the Natasha Beddingfield ning network, Introduce to you the new Alex Merced Community. I spent all night uploading videos, organizing photos into albums, choosing my most interesting content from over the years and the results are pretty awesome. You may not be a fan of mine, but this is an example of super content rich network with a very clear focus.

Expedition #6 - Natasha Beddingfield

2008-04-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

I covered music networks before and how people like Radiohead and 50cent have capitalized on Nings platform, and now I found a community for Natasha Beddingfield which was done super nicely. So I though it was worth sharing. If you don't know who Natasha Beddingfield is, she's a pop singer and here's a delightful little video about her singing in simlish.

Find more videos like this on Natasha Bedingfield - Official Community

The NB Ning Network

This makes me want to make an Alex Merced Network, which will be our next expedition :)

Expedition #5 - Gaming Communities

2008-04-12T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Internet wouldn't be the same thing if it wasn't for two internet favorites, the porn industry, and the gaming industry. Luckily, in this post we'll be talking about the later and online gaming communities. While there has been some interesting Gamin based networks sprouting up, most have been based on console gaming or MMOs. You think Ning would be a hotbed for wow, MMOs but for some reason Spruz.com, one of Nings competitors with it's not so pretty turn-key networks has been mobbed by inactive guild networks of people hoping to sell in game goods for cash.

Although, video games is the entirety of the gaming world. In some interesting history, years ago when I was at the ripe age 20 me and a friend, Spencer Marugg, opened up a hobby store called, The Gamers Lounge. The Gamers Lounge eventually merged The Hero Zone owned by David Baum, Hobby industry veteran. Things went well, but for many reasons me and Spencer left the company and Dave continues to run The Hero Zone in Sandusky, oh. Which is probably the only place you'll find Lan Gaming, Comics, and Collectible games housed under on roof in it's particular portions.

As the story goes I am now blogging as always and about to become a stock broker after graduating, Spencer is now a real estate investor with his friend Clint, and David as I said before is still in gamer heaven in Sandusky. Although me and Dave both have a similar project, Gaming Ning Hosted networks.

4Gamers - This is my network, it's a fun setup, I've proliferated it with content and it just needs some active members to really kickstart. The great thing about a community like this, is if one hobby shop community makes use of it you got constant activity. The most unique feature on this network is the availability of exclusive gaming music from myself which makes for fun soundtrack.

GamerGlobal - my old buddy Dave's forray into the general gaming network world on Ning, is fairly active with it's Sandusky members. Dave seems to really be more focused on hoping other store owners jump in on using google Icals to post their events on their profiles and of cocurse getting their gamer community online to meet gamers all over.

I mean if your a gamers, I would say both communities are diverse enough to entertain you whether you a comic lover, Magic: The gathering fanatic, World of Warcraft nut, or just part of a gaming group that plays risk on saturdays.

Expedition #4 - Baseball

2008-04-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

With everyone sad about it being the last season for Shea stadium, I though I would explore the world of Baseball Ning Networks so that way you baseball fans can commiserate together.

isourceit Baseball - A pretty nice looking and active network for baseball fans of all types. Cool 3d guy gives you an introduction of the site, lol.

The BaseBall Network - not as active but still cool looking, very clever use of featuring photos on the mainpage.

MoreBaseball.com - Very basic looking, but good content

If during any of these expeditions you have netowrks you think belong, definetley post it in a comment!

- Alex Merced

Expedition #3 - Politics

2008-04-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Some of you guys might already be familiar with my Libertarian/Paleo-Conservative leaning Ning Network, Liberty Independence Alliance. Strangely, that's really the only Libertarian or Paleo-Conservative leaning network on all of Ning that isn't solely a Ron Paul network (who I voted for proudly by the way). Here some of Political Networks of interest I saw.

NOTE: Barack Obama has a ridiculous amount of super niche networks that have no activity, while Hillary has not even one Ning network. I'm not sure if Ning is a political indicator, take it for what you will.

Elections 08 Related networks:

Ron Paul for President - with over 100 members it's a healthy network, but since most Paulites tend congregate at RonPaulforums.com activity is kinda dead.

Barack Brigade - with over 800 members this is a very healthy and active Ning network for you Obamans to well... promote obama.

John Mccain 2008 - One group for ol' Mccain, still one more than Hillary. Active despite only having over 30 members. I guess the Mccain crowd ain't the most web savvy...

Mary Ruwart 2008 - A network dedicated to the campaign for Mary Ruwart to run for the Libertarian nomination, she's the only candidate with a network. Yep, no networks for Mike Gravel or Bob Barr.

General Politics:

Save the Republicans - Very well developed and designed network for republicans, sadly not many members yet it seems those who are there are active.

Democracy Live - This is an awesome use of Ning for politicians to post video and create channels to communicate with the public, this is a great idea.

Lean left Network - a very cool looking and fresh network for those on the left

Most of the better networks I found were small local communities for local political groups around the world. Shocked to so few networks for the 2008 candidates and no general network for democrats (I guess the Lean Left Network kinda counts). Well I found at least one network for ya if your a Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian. If your a Constitutionalist, Green, or other maybe it's time you start your ning community.

- Alex Merced

Expedition #2 - Musicians 2.0

2008-04-09T06:23:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

As we begin to get deeper into jungle that is Ning Networks let's start with a demographic that's really taken advantage of the web 2.0 apps, musicians. Mostly known for infesting Myspace, Purevolume, and ReverbNation battling for users ears now some of them are creating whole networks for themselves.

The two biggest Ning hosted ones are probably:

Thisis50cent.com - With over 10,000 members this is a social network for famed Rapper 50 cent to promote anything... and he does. Very Very active and content rich.

Waste-Central.com - Radiohead who've been leading the pack into the next generation of music distribution and monetization have created their own awkward looking but active ning network. Since there is no event feature in Ning, they have cleverly turned the groups feature into a way to list their concerts by creating groups around each tour date. Clever work around.

Sometimes a whole network from one music act isn't called for, so even record labels are starting their own social networks.

Aqua-Records - Record Label out of Japan really well done network but sadly I took japanese 4 years ago and don't remember almost anything.

Volume I Records - This is a record label out of brazil with some fun acts that has a newer but good looking network.

That's the run down on a small taste of the variety of web 2.0 experiences you can have in the Ningverse!!!

- Alex Merced

Expedition #1 - My Ning Networks

2008-04-08T06:17:00.001-07:00

Hello All,

Welcome to Ning Expedition! This is my new blog where I will be exploring the jungle of Ning networks and reporting to you some of the best communities I can locate in the pantheon communities hosted by the White label giant.

Today I though I'd get all the self-serving blather out of the way and address my own Ning Social networks. I maintain all 4 of them actively and am always adding new content which is a key factor to having a good Social Network so here they are.

Fashionably Numb World - This network is more general hub for artsy types and other people who float in my social circles, though if you want i'd love to have you as a member.

4Gamers - A Gaming community I made, hasn't quite picked up yet, but I filled it up with plenty of content that if your gamer you should join and invite your local gaming buddies.

Liberty Independence Alliance - A social network for Ron Paul approving Libertarian/Paleo-Conservative types such as myself.

Shane&Shawn Worldwide - As an intern for Shane&Shawn footwear, I have created this network which has become the most content rich of my Ning Networks. Plenty to see and do.

So we'll Start off by letting you check those out, and I'll come back again with more networks to review and more networking to commence.

- Alex Merced