Podcast: Ryan Sholin on getting the most out of Ning

Many journalists and journalism organizations have considered setting up Ning networks to dive into social networking.

Ning allows people to easily set up custom social networks on virtually any topic they want (some “adult” topics are forbidden). Ning can be a great choice for many uses, but it can be overkill for others. Think of Ning as a way to set up a custom Facebook of sorts for your topic of choice.

Ryan Sholin, the co-creator of the popular Ning network Wired Journalists, has insight into what works and what doesn’t work with Ning. Wired Journalists is the third Ning site that Sholin has worked on, and it’s probably the most successful.

Many things are required for a good Ning network, but first things first, a good network needs cultivation.

“If you build it, they won’t necessarily come,” Sholin said.

Sholin recommends not only promoting the site, but also having someone be a cheerleader for the site, working to create content and stir conversations up.

“You need to have some sort of human interaction with a reporter or someone in the newsroom to draw people to it,” he said.

This is especially critical in the early stages of a network. Any Ning network requires users to log onto another site — and a site separate from your core product. This can be a significant barrier to the success of a social network. To get people into the habit of coming to a Ning network (and, more importantly, interacting), it requires having dedicated people around to create new content and to start conversations.

Eventually when a site reaches a certain critical mass like Wired Journalists, this is less important. It takes time and cultivation, however, to reach that critical mass. Wired Journalists has more than 3,000 members and gets hundreds of visitors a day.

In the beginning, Sholin and the other co-creators, Zac Echola and Howard Owens, discussed developing the site in Drupal. They realized that would be much more time consuming than what they wanted to do. Ning allowed them to set up the site within hours.

“If you don’t have a Web development team in your newsroom, and you’re looking for a way to create a site that at least creates and opportunity to interact with users … Ning is a great way to do that,” Sholin said.

Some other topics discussed:

• Would you choose Ning again if you could start over?
• How specific should a topic be for a Ning site to be specific?
• How many users are needed for a quality Ning network?
• How do you get the most out of Ning?
• What tips or tricks do you have for people interested in setting up a network?

Click here to stream the interview. Or download the MP3.