Social networking has created new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook being the most widely used in North America.

By 2005, MySpace was reportedly getting more page views than Google. In 2006, Facebook opened up to the non US college community to become the largest and fastest growing site in the world, not limited by particular geographical followings.

Ning hopes to compete with large social sites like MySpace and Facebook by appealing to users who want to create networks around specific interests or have limited technical skills. The unique feature of Ning is that anyone can create their own custom social network for a particular topic or need, catering to specific audiences. Ning has been used by educators to conduct a book study on Curriculum Mapping. Many educators are using ning for developing educational resources. Features were customized so that participants could upload pictures and videos of student developed projects as well as links to blogs and Flickr.



7 Things You Should Know About Facebook

7 Things You Should Know About Ning