Social Networks for everyone

As synonymous as, an internet search is, with the word Google, social networking is with Facebook, MySpace or Bebo. Businesses have begun to realise the benefits of getting there organisation up on one of these social networks. This can keep you in contact with your members and also keep them up to date of changes and upcoming events. Now a new option exist that does this and a lot more. Have you considered setting up your very own Social Networking Solution? From as little as free, numerous options, both online and offline, are open to you. Here I take a look at three of the top online SNS platforms available, with basic functionality for free.

CollectiveX

Slick looking application, with numerous features very obviously available. Excellent resource enabling people to share information and content within a shared space. CollectiveX has the ability for network members to list personal objectives and to show “key connections” they have with individuals. Its standard site features are free which is supported through advertisements.

Very narrow range of customisation options. Members of a CollectiveX group, for some reason, cannot friend each other. This lacks the basic feature of virtually every social network. It presumes everyone knows each other in a group already. Uploading of files/images is slow and archaic. For $9 per month, network admins can remove advertising. There is no way to run your own advertisements. For additional payments admins can gain more control over their site and increase storage. File storage is limited. With a capacity to 3 gigabytes initially. CollectiveX will “white label” your network, which allows you to drop your own logo or graphic into the head. You can also import members from another social network.

CollectiveX needs a lot of customisation to make it feel like you own it. Its more basic package seems limited. With the growth of the web and the use of external modules and applications, I question whether CollectiveX will provide you with the ability to grow your site and use these new tools. While its a feature rich programme that can probably now immediately meet your needs.

WebJam

Webjam’s site-building tools are initially more intuitive. It is features are endless with the use of WidgetBox and the embedding of customisable HTML. Enabling you to use other technology that is constantly being created. Webjam makes it simple for anything that is on a Webjam-powered site to be replicated with one click. Customisation is straightforward and can be manipulated by anyone.

WebJam can sometimes be slow when embedding external applications. This can be dependent on the provider of the external app. Creating the navigation system can be a bit confusing initially. Perhaps the use of a visual sitemap might benefit users. As blogging tools go, the one WebJam offers is a little basic. For £99 per year you can get Premium services (no adds and full features) and for £499 per month branded services.

WebJam is a small UK based company that is growing fast. WebJam offers full customisation and expansion with the use of embedding widgets and HTML. The Branded Service feature is the strongest benefit over the other SNS platforms. This gives the user the ability to provide a broader network of customisable social networks to its members while linking back to the main social network. My instincts still remain the strongest with WebJam due to the amount of time I have spent working on it. I'm excited by where the company is going.

Ning

The standard Ning package allows affiliates to build at no cost an ad-supported network with all of the features that they offer. Ning is recognised worldwide as the leading online social networking site tool with a vast number of members and social networks already created. Easy creation of a social network in no time at all. External apps can be easily embedded.

Image uploader crashes with different browsers. Customisation can take some time to make your site look individual. Affiliates can disable ads or run their own ads for $20 per month, and they can mask their networks’ URLs for only $5 per month. You will also gain access to Ning’s comprehensive Developer Documentation and an API for when you desire advanced customisation.

My feeling is that Ning is up there with WebJam with its features, although it lacks some of the more useful features you find with CollectiveX. It is straight forward and easy to manage and is constantly being developed. It is adaptable and allows for further customisation. 

Comparison of features:

	CollectiveX	WebJam	Ning	Other
Discussion Forums	☺	☺
Embed Photos	☺	☺	☺
Embed Text	☺	☺	☺
Embed MP3		☺	☺
Calendar	☺	☺	☺
File Storage	☺	☺	☺
Open style & design	☺	☺	☺
Modular settings		☺	☺
Blogging	☺	☺	☺
Embed open HTML	☺	☺
Embed external Widgets	☺	☺	☺
Bulletin Boards	☺	☺
Ezine/ Newsletter	☺	☺
Co-editors		☺
Own URL	☺*	☺*	☺*
Events	☺	☺	☺
RSS Feeds	☺	☺	☺
Domain Statistics	☺	☺
Chat			☺
Site Activity	☺	☺	☺
Cost	Free with ads $108/$499/$2500 per year	Free with ads £10/£499 per month/50-50 share	Free with ads $25/$25/$5/$10 per month

Microblogging - Micro what?

Yes, just when you thought you had got your head around it, they throw another spanner in the Web 2.0 works. Just to make you that little bit more confused. The new buzz word is all centered around - making it small, fast and continuously updated. "Microblogging" seems to be the way forward and especially in the field of education.

You have probably just become used to the concept of blogging and how it works. You try to find the time to compose that Post that is going to make a difference, to other peoples lives. You set aside some time. Something comes up and it gets put on the back boiler. If you don't follow a tight schedule and post regularly you can end up missing those all important posts for your followers. Blogging takes a bit of time you need to put aside, daily or weekly. Microblogging changes that. With web apps like Twitter and Tumblr a new forum for blogging has begun. You might call it blogging on the go. It is all about short, fast posts that you submit to, multiple times throughout the day. Just like sending an IM to a friend, you send an update of your status in the form of a few sentences. You can even post to Twitter through your IM. Many social networking sites, like Bebo and Facebook, had microblogging embeded in them, well before it became a new buzz. A new group of microbloggers has arisen and is taking the web by storm. To further this and extend the limited text posting capabilities a new form of multimedia posting has being created called Tumblelogging. Feeling lost yet? Let me clear this up for you.



So, why do we need this new blogging? Are we not content with blogging? Realising the speed and ease you can provide content, Microblogging is for a certain type of person. Someone that wants to keep their readers updated but without all the overheads of posting full structured posts with a beginning, middle and end. Its more sporadic, random and spontaneous. Blogging has more of a clear purpose. A message so to speak. Its not that Microblogging is going to push Blogging off the highway, more like just creating a new lane for a different type of driver. It is providing a more suitable channel for many budding bloggers who just don't have the time to post those full posts. In many ways it will attune the skills of many into a more ideal tool for their needs. Bloggers will still continue to provide rich meaningful content when the time permits and microbloggers will develop their skills with a method of communication. One that is not to dissimilar to Reality TV. Keeping you up to date as the day progresses. As the project nears to an end. As the journey becomes interesting. Additionally its ideal from your mobile phone through one of the many mobile IM web apps.

The benefits may not be immediately visible in the educational field although one group has taken this to the next step. Youth Twitter has being designed specifically for education -

We're a safe, school-based twitter-like blogging network for students

It is using microblogging and social networking all in one go. It has being designed with concept of self-monitoring at its core. Each teacher that signs up, is an adminstrator with the same priviliges. It uses the WordPress engine and already since its inception in January 08 has become a hive of activity. With class/students post being updated regularly.

Google Docs Goes Offline

The much anticipated Google Docs Offline appeared as an option in my Google Account today. As rumours had suggested Google where looking at how they could provide a way of accessing and using their suite of tools in Google Docs offline. This provides users the ability of accessing their files when there is no internet connection available. You can still use Google Docs, Spreadsheets and Presentation applications offline and make changes to your files. As soon as your computer gets an internet connection, Google Gears, the engine behind this feature, synchronises and updates your offline and online files.

The installation process was fairly seamless. I was initially using Netscape Navigator when I saw the new option Offline NEW in my personal nav bar in Google Docs. The first thing you are asked to do is install Google Gears. This browser extension for Firefox and IE allows online web applications to work offline. It currently works with Google Reader allowing you to read your RSS feeds/News offline. After realising the browser compatibility issues with Netscape I changed over to Firefox. As soon as I logged back into Google Docs you see the option to Enable Offline Access. I was then asked, whether it was okay to place a Desktop Shortcut on my Desktop and that my files were going to be stored on my computer. Within a matter of 2 minutes of confirming this I got a Green tick telling me my documents where now successfully synchronised.

They have also provided an Offline Help link that tells you some basic tips and instructions on using the new service. To say I was excited when I saw the new link is a bit of an understatement. I think I let out a little yelp of happiness in the office. One of the main features I felt that was missing was offline access, especially from an educational point of view. Working with schools and colleges I see varying standards. Availability of access and resources can be very limited. When promoting the use of Google Tools for schools I know I will be asked, "What if the internet is down?", now I can answer confidently that it is being rolled out and I've tested it.

Another pat on the back for the Google family. Keep up the good work. I will report back when I have fully tested it for bugs and the sort. I am really delighted about the timing for this as I am about to embark on a 12 month journey around the world and have become so dependent on web apps.

Wow, Web 2.0 amazes me daily!

Okay, perhaps I need to accept my nerdom. Although if you like IT in anyway you are going to really love some of the Web 2.0 tools I found while online today. The first one in particular gets a WOW 9.0 factor from me.

Stixy.com is a new online collaborative workspace/ whiteboard that you can pretty much throw anything you want, onto an interactive space. This can include files, images/photos, messages and reminders. The items are not locked to any grid and exist in a free form environment where you can move them around your area and increase or decrease them in physical size. You can have the items appear layered on top of each other and notes can even have the opacity altered so you can see what is behind them.

The true power behind this little web app is when you take it to the next level. If you wish you can invite someone by email to this shared online space and they have full control over adding there own content and moving/editing the content that is already there. I can real see the multiple benefits of a tools like this within both education and project management. I even see it as the perfect tool if you where creating an idea board for designing a home interior, website or brochure.

Next up, is high on my list of favourites, coming in on a close second at a Wow 8.5 is the sweet free tool called Odiogo. This amazing little tool converts any RSS Feed/Blog into a very listenable downloadable MP3 podcast. With ease, once you submit a Feed URL to Odiogo it sends you an email with a link to an audio version of your feed, they call this audiocasting. You can then choose to download the MP3, or add the audio version feed to your Feed Reader. When you update your blog/feed it will update the audio feed. You can even embed a Listen button on your blog and allow readers to hear an audio version of your own blog. Odiogo keep the MP3s of your blog on their servers as part of the service. The benefits of this are endless. Some of my first thoughts are for accessibility, education and downloadable podcasts. What else do you think? Let us know.

I was struggling between two more companies and products although I've decided to leave 37signals to another day. I feel they deserve a post all for themselves. So, I have a Web 2.0 tool called Yakkle. Okay, as our mothers use to say, don't judge a book by its cover. Yakkle is an ingenious little tool that allows you to use your IM contacts, currently only from GTalk and Yahoo IM, and to open an online channel for communicating by voice and a facility for sharing your desktop. The second part is really the powerful part of this. You add people from your IM and then select an area or all of your desktop that you want them to see or have control of. They additionally can allow you to see or control there desktops. The users can have levels of access chosen by you.

The Mill - Why The Name?

What is a landmark?

According to Wikipedia:

Originally, a landmark literally meant a geographic feature used by explorers and others to find their way back or through an area.

For anyone that works, lives or has visited Thomas Street they will have seen a rather strong and powerfull landmark. The Guiness Windmill has become synonmous as an icon for many who work within the environs of The Digital Hub. In the long arduous process of deciding on a new brand image and name for the Digital Hub Learning Initiative (now Elevate) we continuously returned to the image and symbolism of the Windmill. It represents many of the underlying principles of what our aim is. A pillar. A support. A pinacle. A tower. An elevation. A centre point. A hub. A focal point. The spire. The list goes on and on.

So in honour of this inspirational 250 year old building with it rather funky copper roof, The Mill blog will take on a new mission to inspire others and act as a landmark for many, not just within the local area, although far and wide, hopefully across the globe. Bringing the latest news and tips for technology in education. We hope you enjoy and return and tell others as our journey begins.