Forget MySpace: How to Create Your Own Social Network on Ning for Free

Tired of the restrictive and predatory atmosphere of social networking sites like MySpace? Now you can create your own social network for friends, family or peers, with Ning.

Ning is a free, advertising-based service that lets anyone create their own social networking site. The site comes complete with modules for members, forums, blogs, photos, videos, RSS feeds, or any other fun or useful widgets you want to include.

Anyone can do this. No programming knowledge or HTML experience is required, although it does take time to add extra content.

Ning makes it easy to "design" an interface, and rearrange it using "drag and drop" technology.

How to Create Your Own Free Social Network

1. Sign up: Before you can actually create your own free social network, you need to sign up at Ning (www.ning.com).

2. Name it: Then you need to decide on a name for your social network.
INSIDER TIP: since you cannot change the URL once you have created it, without deleting the account and starting over.

Type in the name and the desired URL (minimum of 6 characters).

3. Fill Out Basic Social Network Details

Next, social network creators need to fill out some basic information about their site.

a. Come up with a catchy tagline that will appear on the front page of the site.
b. Write a description of the site that is 250 characters or less.
INSIDER TIP: Ning does not warn about the length of the description, unless you go over 250 and then editing is needed.

c. Type in keywords that are related to the site.
d. Upload an Icon image to give your site a face.
e. Click "Next."

4. Select Features

The next step is select the features on the social network. All layouts have two columns that you can modify, with the third column reserved for information about you, and ads placed by Ning. Already placed in the design are the site description and a members box, on the left-hand column.

Features that can be included on the social network site: Blog, Forum, Photos, RSS, Text Box and Videos. To add these features, click on one and drag it to the page.