Ning For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Ning is a cool, free social networking platform, and you can learn how to use Ning quickly and easily with Ning For Dummies. If you have a cause to promote or a passion about a topic, here’s how to explore existing networks and interact with others who share your obsession, as well as how to start one of your own.

Begin by joining other networks and participating in groups. Then you’ll find out how to create your own social network, develop your profile, customize your network’s look and feel, set up privacy controls, oversee participation, and manage all the details.

• Investigate existing networks, see how to join private networks, and manage your profile for privacy
• Add photos, videos, and music files to existing networks
• Discover the comment wall, rate items from members, moderate comments on your blog, and respond to events
• Start a discussion, invite people to an event, or create a group
• Set up your network, decide if it should be public or private, research the competition, and find your niche
• Choose a good Web address and learn to monitor traffic with Google Analytics
• Give your main page character with custom widgets and personalized features

Ning is fun, easy, and free. Ning For Dummies shows you how to plan your network so it stands out from the crowd, manage interaction, include multimedia, and more!

From the Back Cover

Create a social network on Ning and get the gang together — it's free and easy!

Got a passion about a topic or cause to promote? Ning's the thing! Here's how to explore and join existing networks to interact with others who share your obsession, and how to start one of your own. Learn to plan your network so it stands out from the crowd, set up a profile for your members, manage interaction, include multimedia, and more!

• Explore Ning — investigate the many existing networks, see how to join private networks, and manage your profile for privacy

• All about the media — learn how to add photos, videos, and music files to existing networks

• Communicate — discover the comment wall, rate items from members, moderate comments on your blog, and respond to events

• Get something going — start a discussion, invite people to an event, or create a group

• Start networking — set up your network, decide if it should be public or private, research the competition, and find your niche

• Add the cool stuff — give your main page character with custom widgets and personalized features

• You'll manage — a lot of things, including members' profile pages; forums, notes, and chats; groups and events; and multimedia

Open the book and find:

• The author's favorite Ning networks

• How to protect your privacy

• What to decide before you start creating your network

• Tips for choosing a good Web address

• Ideas for promoting your network

• How to monitor traffic with Google Analytics

• Ways to keep members coming back

• How to use tools like the Language Editor and CSS

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (April 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470453176
• ISBN-13: 978-0470453179
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #236,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was a huge help!, May 21, 2009

By	Jason Miletsky "Author of Perspectives on Mar... (Nutley, NJ) - See all my reviews

Timing couldn't be better for this book to come out. Although my agency has been aware of Ning and are part of a few Ning networks, we've never had the need to build a site on there before. Then a few weeks ago, just as this book came out, a client asked us to put a Ning site together for them. Like I said, perfect timing.

The best part was that 'Ning for Dummies' gave us all the help we needed. It's clear, concise, and makes understanding Ning super easy. I'm not going to lie - I've never been a huge fan of the 'Dummies' series - more often than not, the authors come off like their pandering to morons, and seem more focused on cracking a few jokes than teaching anything of value. So it was refreshing to find that this book was quite the opposite. Hernandez has a good writing style, clearly knows his stuff and has put together an ideal guide for anybody who wants to take full advantage of the growing Ning influence.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars community building from basic to advanced, July 8, 2009

By	C. Bair "Chuck B" (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book really covers every aspect of building an online community. It's focused on Ning of course, but in addition to the basics (and advanced options) for using Ning it also gets into methods for promoting and building up your network. Given that it is so easy to set up a community site now, those tips are essential. They come from someone who has built a highly successful community himself.

I also like that the book does not just cover basics, but gets into some of the very advanced things you can do, such as customizing communities via CSS. Again, like the promotional advice, this section has information that is valuable whether or not one is using Ning to build a community.

If you're serious about starting an online community, I suggest you give this a read!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Handy to have in printed form, but little of special value, June 27, 2009

By	C. Stetson (South Orange, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I am not a programmer, but I can make label edits in HTML, PHP, and CSS files okay. So, when I needed a book to pull together what could be done to customize a Ning network, I ordered this one. It turned out to be little more than a combination of the Help documentation that Ning already provides plus some light discussion of other material readily available on the Web. I returned it to Amazon--a first for me. I later learned that the book's weakness may not have been the fault of the author; after initially giving its users the capacities to customize various files, Ning has packaged some of the customizations (a good) but then reduced the capacity for further ad hoc customization. This may have forced the Dummies editors to remove deeper material.