Social networking

A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services. Social networking has created new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. (from Wikipedia) 

Definitions: Social Networking in Plain English by Common Craft.

Communities: WeAreMedia on Social Networking.

Networks: Non-profit Organizations on Myspace; Non-profit Organizations on Facebook; NTEN’s Social Networking Affinity Group (free); Ning for Dummies online network creators group.

Consultants: Beth Kanter’s Social Networking primer; Steve Bridger’s Leveraging social networking to influence change post; Dave McClure’s 7 Steps to Graphing your Facebook Strategy post; Beth Kanter’s Determining Your Social Network Needs post.

Organisations: Northwestern University research on Race, Ethnicity, Parent Education Predict Facebook Use; Network for Good’s Social Networking section.

Blogs: Wild Apricot Blog First Steps in Social Networking for Non-profits post; Brian Satterfield’s What Can Social Networking Do for Your Organization post in TechSoup; Beth Kanter’s NpTech Summary: Social Networking Strategies and Non-profits: Getting Beyond Shiny Object Syndrome and Getting More Precise Practices blog post.

Tools: Facebook; Myspace; Ning; Bebo; LinkedIn; My Charity Page.

Data sources: Jeremiah Owyang’s Social Networks Site Usage: Visitors, Members, Page Views, and Engagement by the Numbers in 2008; Wikipedia List of Social Networking Websites; UK Fundraising As Facebook hits 150m users, Social Networking sites get 1 in 10 UK Christmas Internet visits article.

Publications: People to People Fundraising: Social Networking and Web 2.0 for Charities by Ted Hart, James M. Greenfield, and Sheeraz D. Haji; Social Networking: The Essence of Innovation by Jay Liebowitz;The Stories of Facebook, Youtube and Myspace: The People, the Hype and the Deals Behind the Giants of Web 2.0 by Sarah Lacy; Web 2.0 Building Online Communities Using Social Networking Technologies (e-book) by Tim Rhodus, Victor van Buchem, and Bud Witney; Ning For Dummies by Manny Hernandez.

How to set up a social network on Ning

By Nathalie McDermott; Savvy Chavvy

  1. Firstly, you need to consider the purpose of your network – who will be your members and why will they use this website above others? What need does your network address?
  2. Go to www.ning.com and set up your network, choosing a catchy name and Ning web address. It’s very simple; all you need is an email address and it takes a couple of minutes.
  3. Choose how public or private it is going to be – can everyone on the web see and contribute to your network or will it be closed and private for your members only?
  4. Give your network a tagline and short description – what’s it all about? The tagline should consist of one pithy sentence, E.g. www.savvychavvy.com: ‘A social network for young Gypsies and Travellers in the UK’.
  5. Next, add features to your network. You can drag and drop functions like ‘forum’, ‘chat’, ‘blog’, ‘video’ & ‘photos’ into the front page. You might, for example, place the ‘forum’ function prominently in the middle of the page if having discussions is the main purpose of your network.
  6. Choose a design – Ning will give you lots of templates to choose from and you can customise one with your own choice of images, fonts and colours.
  7. Your network is now ready for content – help to define the network’s identity by starting discussions, posting photos, adding videos etc that are relevant to the purpose of the website.
  8. Invite people to the network – start by inviting relevant people and welcoming them by writing a note on their pages. If you’re trying to attract a certain community don’t send out blanket invites to attract a volume of members – the quality and relevance of your members is what will help it grow and develop into a sustainable space. You can support this by writing your own relevant joining up questions.
  9. Keep the community active and interested – once you have a working network, keep your members engaged by making small changes to the site, adding new content and sending them relevant information (without spamming them with constant messages!).
  10. Ning is free but you can purchase optional services like the removal of ads, the ability to use your own domain name and extra storage.

How to use Schoolofeverything.com

by Andy

  1. Visit http://schoolofeverything.com and sign up. Enter your name and location so the site knows who and where you are.
  2. Tag yourself as learning ‘Social by Social’, and any other subjects you’re interested in learning about.
  3. If you want, browse the ‘Scrapbooks’ and read what other users are saying, including the scrapbook for ‘Social by Social’.
  4. Type the keywords that interest you into the ‘Search’ box and you will get a list of teachers near you.
  5. Click on the teachers near you who look interesting until you find one that you’d like to talk to.
  6. Send them a message explaining what you’d like to know. They will be notified and will reply offering to meet up or sell you lessons.
  7. If there’s no-one who can help you right now, post up what you’re looking for on your scrapbook and hopefully someone will get back to you.