WP7-Ning

Developed by TESOL Technology Advisory Committee (TAC)
 * White Paper on Technology**


 * Topic:** Ning

__URL:__
Ning- http://www.ning.com/

=__Purpose of White Paper__=

Ning is an online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds. Ning is a software program that gives its users the freedom to create their own social networks. The social network is more like a group, and it could be about virtually anything, and it is open for anyone who wants to start his/her own online network. Users begin by choosing a combination of features (videos, blogs, photos, forums, etc.) from a list of options. The look of your social network site can be customized. Social networks can also be made public or private. TESOL logo or IS logo can also be added to give the site its personalized look. People who join a particular network will automatically have a customizable profile page and will be able to post messages right away and know immediately who's who in the network.

Creating a social network in Ning is relatively simple. Choosing a good name that represents your social group is a start. Ning will take you through the rest of the steps. At any point in this set-up process, you can go directly to your new social network by clicking on the "Launch" button at the top of the page. Then come back to it later and customize it!



Ning runs best on Internet Explorer (6 or higher), Firefox 2, and Safari 3. Mac users can browse Ning, but it does not guarantee that all the features will work correctly.

Ning runs ads on the right hand side of every page to support the service. Users can also generate income using your Ning site provided that you purchase the rights for $19.95 per month (see “[|Run ads on your social network]” ). Additional premium services, click this link, http://www.ning.com/about/businesses.html

The following are some of the web 2.0 tools that are powered or supported by Ning.
 * [|About Ning]
 * [|Accounts]
 * [|Banned from a network]
 * [|Blogs]
 * [|Comments]
 * [|Español]
 * [|Events]
 * [|Facebook]
 * [|Favorites]
 * [|Flickr]
 * [|Forum]
 * [|Friends]
 * [|Gadgets (beta)]
 * [|Groups]
 * [|Invitations]
 * [|Known Issues]
 * [|Messages]
 * [|Music Player]
 * [|My Ning Profile]
 * [|My Page]
 * [|Newest Release]
 * [|Ning ID]
 * [|Online Presence]
 * [|Photos]
 * [|Privacy]
 * [|Ratings]
 * [|RSS]
 * [|Sharing]
 * [|Signing up / signing in]
 * [|Tags]
 * [|Text Boxes]
 * [|Videos]
 * [|Widgets]
 * [|YouTube]

__Why you need this information:__

Ning, like Myspace and facebook, is a social network platform. However, unlike the other two, Ning in terms of its size is not overwhelming. Ning also allows developers/programmers to manipulate the codes to achieve that customized look. According to Marc Andreeseen, Ning have already created **71,531 social networks** on a broad range of topics and those networks are being visited by millions of people. This is the kind of access that TESOL needs, not just to gain memberships, but also to be able to bring millions of ESL and EFL teachers worldwide to network with each other. Teachers can create their own profiles and interact with each other via another friend, links, messages, invitations, discussions, videos, or photos.

__Links to example sites:__ Mexico English Teachers' Alliance, http://metamexico.ning.com/ EFL Classrom 2.0, http://eflclassroom.ning.com/ Teaching and Education in Asia: Communities of Hope, http://asiateach.ning.com/ ESL Gateways, http://eslgateways.ning.com/ UK Teachers Online, http://ukteachersonline.ning.com/ British Council-AVEALMEC Seminar November 23rd-27th 2007 Caracas, Venezuela,(Private) [|http://avealmec2007.ning.com] Training EFL Teachers, http://workshopsteflteachers.ning.com/ English Language Learning, http://englisheducation.ning.com/

__How to register: (if relevant) :__ __How to get started:__ Create your own social network, [|http://www.ning.com] Choose a Social Network Name and Pick a Web Address

__Common problems:__ It has been reported that some features don't work very well in Israel. Since it's IE friendly, some features may not work well in other browsers __i.e. MAC__