For those who don’t know what Ning is; it is an online service that allows you to create, manage and join social networks for free. I think Ning is a great service, especially since it’s free and you can basically set up your own social network in 5 minutes. That’s pretty impressive. Ning also offers a ton of features within the social networks; video and photo sharing, the ability to post mp3 files and create and join groups within the social network. Many of the features are much like those of Facebook (without all the 3rd party games), but Ning offers greater flexibility, including the option to have your social network page branded (I believe there is a fee for branding).

Here’s the one thing that I really hate about Ning because it’s so darn annoying. Each time you join a social network, you are given a new profile page. So, I belong to four social networks and for each one a new profile page was created for me. This is a total pain in the butt. It’s a total duplication of effort. You’re essentially regurgitating the same information on each profile page.

It would be so much easier (from a page management standpoint) if I had one profile with my associated groups and networks within it. Aside from that one totally annoying factor,I think Ning is great service.