Enjoyed the Pic, Beer Dude
I was surfing Ning sites and came across this guy’s profile page and pic. If I’d have been drinking Coke, it would have come out my nose. (I love that he’s shooting from a little Heineken mini-keg.) He’s a member of Bobalicious in Canada, which is apparently a social network supporting an online online magazine up there.
I didn’t get too deep into social networking in HTDE/Web 2.0 Blog in part because services like Ning weren’t quite in full swing. But the truth is, as these services mature, Ning-like social networks offer a great way to mash up a blog and a forum to get a community of folks focused on getting to know one another better and having a little fun.
You need to have some momentum in terms of readership (three nerdy guys hanging out on a Ning is just about as exciting as three nerdy guys hanging out at one of their mother’s house without a Ning site) and it REALLY helps to have a reason to bring folks together, whether it’s regional or topical. (And if you can get people together IRL based on their social networking, all the better.)
But, that said, Ning is cool, and it can be “blogging” if you want — you can set up a Ning so that it’s very much like your personal blog (or a group blog) except you surround yourself with pictures, events and blog entries by others as well.
Anyway, if you’re reading the book and want to see if thing’s have gotten any further toward the “next big thing,” check out Ning and see if maybe it qualifies.
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