Join my New Online Social Network!
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
Join us in Reality 2.0 today!
Hello again everyone.
I know I dont update the blog very much these days as I have been so busy working for my BSc in Information Systems with Management. I have been plugging away at this degree in college for the past five years on a part-time basis and this has somewhat consumed my life!! 
Behind the scenes on JWG is upgraded every summer to ensure there are no security issues, but new content has been sadly lacking for some time, I will admit. 
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as I graduate in July and will hopefully have some more time to spend on JWG after that (until I obtain gainful employment of course!!)
My final piece of coursework is a dissertation or ‘personal research project’ and I have been examining Online Social Networks as part of the new Web 2.0 explosion.
To this end, I have created a brand new ‘online social network’ and wondered if some of my JWG visitors might be interested in coming along and trying it out for themselves?
The purpose for this is twofold, really.
You get somewhere new to hang out and be part of a pioneering venture and I get the opportunity to see at first hand how thesnetworks work in practice looking at areas like:What are the drawbacks?
Do the same problems keep arising - which is basically telling me that something needs changing?
What do people find easiest?What do they like best?
How can I improve the overall experience for users and members?
You also have the added bonus of an admin that is always onsite, which gives you instant attention when you need help or guidance!
So what is this new Online Social Network then?
If you havent yet heard about it, basically it is like a mini myspace really, within a bigger overall network called Ning (which is incidentally, Chinese for peace as in peace and quiet, apparently!).
When you join any network within the overall Ning Network you get a Ning ID…rather like a myspace username and this allows you to join other networks within Ning in much the same way as you can add friends on Myspace.
The difference is that the original small network that you initally joined is in itself like myspace on a smaller scale.
Confused? I am not surprised….:-)
Right: Let us say you join my new ‘network’ (R2) and obviously you create a username and password. This then becomes your Ning ID and you can sign up for any other networks that interest you using this Ning ID.
However, the network that you have joined (R2) is in itself quite self-contained, although it is still under the Ning umbrella.
Within R2 you get your own personal page - just like your myspace page - which you can customise with themes, videos, music, photos, rss feeds and so on.
You can also add friends to your page and join groups.
These groups live in R2 and are not part of the wider Ning network. Groups have their own forums and comment walls within R2.
R2 itself also has a forum and each individual member page has a blog and comment wall.
You can create photo albums in R2 and upload videos and music.
There is also the option to integrate music, video and photos within Facebook as applications, but I havent delved into that one as yet!!
The subject topic of my network is “Reality TV and Leisure Pursuits”.
There are groups within the network covering topics as diverse as:
Big Brother (UK, USA and world-wide)
Football (soccer)
Music
Movies
Motor Sport
Geek Tank
Comedy
Gamers
TV (all types)
Fan Fiction
Dr Who
America’s Finest
and several other Reality TV genres.
Plus a Coffee Bar where we can just chill…
Members are free to create their own groups too, so if you have a hobby or leisure pursuit that isnt already catered for..create a group for it…keep it clean as we have younger members too!!
So…if any of this has whetted your appetite and you would be interested in finding out more or perhaps you are keen to jump in right now and join??
Just use the link above…. 
See you there…the coffee is on and the donuts are freshly baked!! 
xxx
