Build your OWN social network
Okay, you say, I’m not a computer whiz but I want to connect people around a passion I have for … board games. Or chocolate in the shape of animals (forget the bunnies, how about a chocolate alligator?), or literary novels set in Mississippi. After all, I collect / read / savor it, I write about it, and therefore I would like to delve into deep discussions on it. And I just can’t find a forum out there on the topic. What’s a writer to do? Enter Ning.
Unlike Facebook and MySpace, unlike Classmates.com and Reunion.com, Ning lets you define the parameters of your own social network. Yes, your own niche social network. Looking for a place to chat about vintage racecars? To share and compare travel to Cuba? Here you go!
The point of this for the working writer is to help build the buzz around your platform. It’s a tool to bring your audience together and keep in touch with them, too…and the usual time consuming user management is handled by Ning. Yes, like MySpace, ads show up, but you can also pay a premium to make them go away or to use your own ads, to brand yourself, and to use your own domain name. It’s another tool in the Web 2.0 toolbox, and a pretty spiffy one, too.
I'm Sandra Friend, author of more than 20 books on outdoors, nature, and travel subjects. I'm an award-winning member of 