Go to the main page at Ning.com, and you will see a search box at the bottom of the page. Enter keywords for activities of interest to you. If you enter the search term “library,” for example, you’ll see the ALA network about halfway down the results page. Some networks require you to sign in to view content. ALA’s doesn’t. Ideally, on whatever network you choose, you’ll at least be able to view a list of members, see photos and videos, and read forum and blog posts.
Righty-o, tried that, got nowhere. I would cut and paste screenshots, but I'm too lazy to figure out how to do that. I infer from my various attempts that non-member searching has been disabled. Kept returning "no results" for keywords like Libraries, ALA, Libertarian, Objectivist, Socialism, Librarian, etc. Yeah, right.
So I decided to browse the Ning blog instead.
My instant impression is that it looks like it's heavily dominated by commercial interests, even more so than either MySpace or Facebook, aimed at the Yuppie demographic. I guess the only way to explore further is to take the plunge. No doubt other library "movers and shakers" already have. If I recall correctly, at TLA 2009, The Librarian In Black was less than impressed with Ning, or didn't exactly sing its praises at any rate.
I'll mull over it some more; I may eventually join just to see "what up?", but really, how many "social networks" need one join, really? There's even an entity out there that describes itself as a kind of "Facebook for Atheists" and I'm like WTF?! Meetup.com not good 'nuff for ya? Not a regular commentator on Pharyngula or GiFS? Maybe it's cool and all but the exponential explosion of all these myriad networks...ugh, you can't belong to ALL of them.
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