While individual members of a Ning have settings they can change over their profile and personal page, the Ning administrators have many other options. To access those options, click on the Manage tab in your navigation bar (note, only administrators will see that tab).
There are actually two types of administrators. There are administrators, and then there is the Network Creator (the one who created the Ning in the beginning). The Network Creator is like a super-administrator, and has access to a few things that other administrators do not.
Here is a screenshot of the settings that are available.
I placed asterisks by the most important settings for an administrator to know about:
*Invite Friends - This is the same as the Invite tab in the Navigation Bar. We'll look at inviting participants next.
*Broadcast Message - This is a quick way to email all members of the Ning about an announcement. Participants can turn off whether they receive broadcast message emails if they want to.
Latest Activity - This allows you to select what gets posted in the "Latest Activity" area on the Main Page, such as comments, or profile updates.
Network Information (Network Creator only) - This is overall setting information, like the name of the Ning, its tagline, its timezone, etc., that were set up during the creation steps (step 2)
*Features - On this setting, you can add or delete different features (such as an event pane, a photo pane, etc.) for your Main Page, like you did in the creation steps (step 3). We'll look at this in more detail.
*Appearance - This is where you can change the template and color scheme for your Ning.
Discussion Forum - Here, you can control the format of discussion forums in general. For example, you can change whether they appear flat (replies are shown in chronological order) or threaded (replies are indented below the post or reply they respond to). You can also set up categories for your forums to be sorted into.
*Tab Manager - This is where you can alter the navigation bar. We'll look at this in more detail.
Language Editor - This allows you to customize the translation of features on your page into other languages.
Analytics (Network Creator only) - You can insert Google Analytics code here to track the usage of your social network.
Premium Services (Network Creator only) - There are several premium services you can pay for, such as more space, your own domain name address, or eliminating ads.
Flickr Importing - By setting this up, users will be able to import their Flickr pictures directly into the photo pane.
*Ning Apps - There are dozens of 3rd-party applications out there to make your Ning more functional, and they are free. While individual users can set these up on their personal Ning page, the administrator can set them up for the whole Ning here. We'll look at a few of them when we look at collaborative documents.
Profile Questions - Here, you can adjust the questions that are asked of new members when they join (as well as make them either optional or required)
*Members - This is the setting that allows you to control the permissions of your participants. You can change their role to administrator or member by checking the box next to their name and going under the actions menu down to "Set Role: Administrator" or "Member". Similarly, you can remove them from the social network. You can also export the information of all the participants into a .csv file, which can be viewed in Microsoft Excel.
*Network Privacy - Here is where you can make the entire Ning visible to anyone or to only members, as well as setting it up so that any new member has to request permission to join (and be granted permission by an administrator).
*Feature Controls - This is a catch-all of specific settings, like whether members can change their own personal settings, or if blogs or photos need to be approved before they can be posted.
Create a New Network - A shortcut to setting up a different Ning. They really want you to create as many Nings as possible :).
Help Center - A shortcut to the Ning FAQ help center.
Advanced Options (Network Creator only) - This is where you can set up a Ning so that it isn't searchable in Google.
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Date last modified: October 20, 2009.
Heartland Area Education Agency 11
