Build a social network with Ning

Network administration - Your business can take advantage of social networking features like Facebook for updating bulletin boards in the foyer and email lists for one-way customers. However with Facebook, you will encounter a mess between personal and business information in the company news section and this mess will take time. But instead you can use a social networking platform to create your own site. Many services, including Grou.ps , Ninggo and SocialGO , also offer the same functionality as Facebook; In this tutorial we will introduce you to Ning , which is a service that was established a few years ago and provides the necessary tools that can make your site work in any way. you want.

Inside the company, you can use the Ning social network to maintain a timetable for anything from managing group projects to organizing an office team. Calendar tools, blog-style posts, comments, and other systems to connect people together. Besides, you can post photos and videos for new events.

You can also use Ning to collaborate internally, updating people on the status of the project, making ideas about new goals and keeping the office in sync. Moreover, almost anyone can run the installation process, so you won't have to waste time training and designing resources for relevant employees.

However, Ning is particularly strong in building interactive spaces with customers. Think of service as a companion to the company's web presence. Your Ning social network can exist with its own URL, such as mycompany .ning.com, or you can integrate it as a subdomain in your site, like a community. mycompany .com.

Build a social network

Ning's main functions are completely free, you can create a site with mycompany .ning.com URL in minutes. Such sites are very suitable for situations inside the office. However, for Ning to appear with a custom URL and can remove some ads from the site, you need to pay a monthly fee.

Whether you choose a free basic service or a premium service, the installation process is completely the same. After building a free community site, you can choose premium options. Removing Ning's billboards costs you $ 25 per month (but in return you can replace them with your own ads); the use of a custom domain name, such as a community.Your mycompany .com costs you $ 5 per month. The free account provides 10GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth per month, but if you want to double the number, you have to pay an additional $ 10 per month.

To get started, visit Ning.com and go through the prompts to set up your site. Enter a name for your network and the URL prefix ( mycompany in mycompany .ning.com). Click Create , and a screen will prompt you to log in to an existing Ning account or create a new account.

On the Describe page, enter a concise tag line, description, and keywords. Use these fields, especially keywords, so people can search your network; consider using a product name or common site related items. Use radio buttons to create a public network or private. Click Next .

In the Features page, click V iew all features to see your options. Each module represents a feature for your network, such as blogging, video posts and event calendar. Drag them into the layout and arrange them as you like inside the columns. To remove items, drag them out of the layout, to the left. Click the dot question mark icon to get the description of that function. Click Next .

On the Customize Appearance screen, select the template for your network, then scroll down to make other changes to the design. You can change colors and other fonts; The best way is to make it suitable for your company's website interface. Click All Options to customize other options, and upload your images for use in templates. If you know how to manage CSS, click Advanced to import or change the style sheet, so you can fully control the look and layout for the site. Click Launch when satisfied.

After building a site, you can go back to creating new updates. Visit your site - log in if needed - and click the Manage link. You can adjust site features, layouts and other aspects. For example, click Manage , Network Information to find a prompt for uploading a network logo to override the Ning logo.

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Import addresses and invite attendees

Below we will show you how to invite other users to start from the email list.

Inside your site, click Manage , Invite Friends . If you use an online address book via AOL Mail, Google, Hotmail or Yahoo, then you can enter the user's name and password, and Ning will contact the people in that address list. At this point, you can use the checkboxes to specify who needs email to, instead of sending messages to everyone. Alternatively, you can click Enter Email Addresses Manually to type in the necessary addresses.

However, the best way is to click on the Import From Address Book Application to get the people who need to invite straight from your contact application. Inside Outlook or any other contact manager, choose to export a .csv or .vcf file. Select the item inside, prompt Browse Browse Ning then click Upload .

Connect through your domain

The free Ning service allows you to create networks on the Ning.com domain, but for $ 5 monthly, you can create an optional domain to use Ning's servers. This is how.

Inside your Ning account, click Manage , Premium Services . Click Add under 'Point Your Domain Name to Your Social Network'. Then enter the new domain. The process may vary, depending on where you buy the domain name.

In any case, however, you need to use the CNAME setting in the registration site to map the domain to the Ning server. Ning will display some instructions for different domain registrars.

On the registration page, go to the Advanced DNS or CNAME settings and add a new CNAME. In the domain, enter www . In the target field, enter mycompany .ning.com , replace mycompany with your Ning domain name. You may have to wait a few days for all domain servers to update, so be patient. If it doesn't work after two days, try again or ask the domain registrar for assistance.

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Use Ning apps

Ning's basic functionality will activate immediately when you launch your site, but you can add extensions. Ning calls these tools applications and they can extend the scope of the network in several ways. Just click Manage , Ning Apps from your site to make a selection. Many of them are free, but there are also some fees.

Some Ning applications show some functionality from other sites; For example, the app offers TV shows and videos for your social network. Such applications can be quite interesting, but others can integrate Ning with your business. For example, WordPress and RSS Pages applications display offsite content within the Ning network. Twitter Tracker displays search results directly from Twitter; You can use it to check and display notifications about a problem, such as "Windows 7". Applications for Cartfly Shop, Sellit and other services add a commercial component, allowing you to sell goods within your network. The HuluooVoo app and add video-chat tools. Applications for TokboxBox.net , Google Docs , Huddle Workspaces and Zoho provide file collaboration tools for your network.

Use the search field or browse by typing to find these add-ons for your own social network. Click Add Ning App to make the selection. Most applications have their own configuration settings. Inside your social site, click the application name at the top of the page to make changes; For example, in the RSS Pages application, enter the appropriate details so that it can retrieve content from your website.

Resist spam comments

Spammer is everywhere, including Ning. These people will conduct comments on your site unless you take preventive action in a timely manner. Guaranteed, you can exclude community comments completely, but because these comments are an important part of social networks, you need to put effort into establishing restrictions on spam.

However, your network will not be spammed if only some registered members can see the site, and if you know them in real life. Consider setting this restriction on the intranet. Go to Manage , Network Privacy and choose the option to create privacy for your network. Allow anyone to join the network, but also click the box below to approve new members before they can join.

If you have a public network, you should keep access for everyone. Because Ning does not use its own bots to combat spam, you can prevent people from commenting if they are not members of their network. Go to Manage , Network Privacy and select the settings to set up the public network but ask you to approve the new members.

If your network members post spam messages, you can remove them through Manage , Members . Click and check the box next to the provider name and select Ban from Network . Ning will delete the comment of this person.

Finally, you can choose to mitigate - and approve - each item before it appears on your network. Use this setting with a group that you only partially trust. Go to Manage , Feature Controls . Depending on the features you enable, you can request mitigation for blog posts, photos, calendar events, and .