Free Lunches - possible food poisoning

Social networking needs no explanation in this day and age, however it is interesting to discover that it's not all twitter, facebook, myspace and other fellow heavyweights that are the be all and end all.  The Ning option is one I admit to knowing nothing about until recently.  It is essentially a site where you can created your own customised social network...yes you read correct, you can create your own facebook!

Of course the trick behind Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's success is not as simple as creating a social network and then just sitting back and waiting for the dump trucks full of money to show up, there is also the minor issue of having millions of people sign up and become addicted!  Although that said there are more direct ways to generate income from your social network, you can set up storefronts where you add your design to generic products (t-shirts etc.) and you get a cut of any sales.  There is also a donation app should a random billionaire drop by and feel generous!

The base purpose of Ning though lies more in the realm of niche markets and company use.  If a business wants to go to this much effort to create an online community for its fans/customers, it wants to stand out, it wants customisation.  The ability to customise your network to a near total state is very appealing compared with the cookie-cutter nature of Facebook.  It also soothes the inner hipster in us all to have something different and not be part of the crowd, although that said, Ning does also offer facebook integration so you're not left out of the horde in your own cult altogether!

I would recommend the following blog for another solid explanation on the joys on Ning:

Social Networking – Ning vs. Facebook/MySpace

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There are a few constants in our lives, they range from little things to huge complex issues.  The issue of privacy is a big one on the internet, and these days more so in social networking.  The idea of some random unknown person looking at your profile is a little freaky to some, however there tends to be sufficient security settings to take care of this.

The terms of Service and Privacy policy on Facebook are vast, as with most 'terms' on a product or service.  After taking a week off work to read through all this thoroughly, I am happy enough with their efforts in this area, I trust their security setup and am content with my details being as private as they can be (discounting the possibility of the Anonymous group deciding to target their hacking efforts on my profile page because they just have to have the photos of me from St Patricks day downing Guinness after glorious Guinness!).

The only data that remains public is some basic details to give my profile some shape and personality (name, gender, picture etc.).  The main use of my information for them is in regard to advertising, they will use my details to tailor ads to my likes and interests as best they can.  This is not a bad thing in my opinion as I am highly unlikely to ever buy something off a Facebook add anyway, plus it stops me from enduring totally irrelevant ads (eg. female targeted, products/services only available overseas).

Breach response is dealt with reactively obviously, and they don't make too manner guarantees in this area.  I don't have an issue with this as it is such a large, well-used service that policing it would be extremely difficult.  I like to think I am smart enough not to put anything up there that is too personal or damaging so if I ever was hacked it wouldn't be the end of the world.

I would say that best way to summarise social networks such as Facebook is this;  There's no such thing as a free lunch.  You're getting a very popular, useful platform to do many things for free.  In return you can't expect the world in terms of security and accountability, so be smart!  Also they are more than entitled to monetise your user experience a little so unless you want to pay a subscription, get used to ads!