In January, I was asked to go back to my alma mater, Colgate University, to speak to students about what it’s like to work in the social media space. Before I dive into the details, I’ll take a step back and say that much like many of the communities built on Ning today, Colgate is a close-knit and hyper-passionate community of people, so the chance to share my story and experiences working at Ning and Glam Media was something I couldn’t pass up.

Sian-Pierre Regis of Swagger New York (left) and Jason Rand, Ning & Glam Media. ©2012 Colgate University / Andrew M. Daddio.

A number of alumni also speaking at Colgate work in the social media and community-building space, and I wanted to hear their perspectives on creating and managing successful communities — something that’s definitely on the minds of Ning Creators and Glam Publishers. Sian-Pierre Regis, a classmate of mine, has created a media empire through his street lifestyle site, Swagger New York. Swagger introduces readers to the people, the music and the trends that are hot in New York. And they’re expanding to cover everything from news to fashion to technology to culture. Coincidentally, Swagger is also a Glam Publisher, meaning that premium brand advertisers can reach Swagger’s trendsetting community in authentic and engaging ways.

I also met with Matt Hames, Colgate’s Manager of Media Communications. His job entails managing Colgate’s digital presence and reaching out to people to showcase Colgate’s offerings as a nationally-renowned learning institute. He’s also an avid competitive curler, and leads a private Ning Network for the sport.

For all intents and purposes, Matt and Sian-Pierre are community managers at the helm of building recognition for a brand. For Matt, it’s Colgate University, and for Sian-Pierre it’s Swagger New York. More generally, they’re focused on bringing people together to share their excitement for something. This is the exact thing we see our Glam Publishers and Ning Creators doing everyday. Given their leadership, I asked Sian-Pierre and Matt to discuss their approach in building successful communities, and the things they’re doing to yield engagement, lively conversation, and valuable and impactful relationships.

How have you gone about building successful online communities?

Sian-Pierre: I have a very strong vision for the brand, and have always maintained that if the brand came off as cool, smart, different and YOUNG that Gen-Y’ers would stick by us. And they have. Through our Facebook channel specifically we have an intimate relationship with over 125k people, writing back to them when they comment, liking their posts and genuinely showing an interest in their personalities, loves, dislikes, etc. We’ve been able to get brand evangelists who have reblogged us or hyped us up with international press outlets, etc. We even used three of our fans in a GILT Man campaign, so our followers feel like they are actually a part of something bigger.

Matt: The first step is to decide what value the product or service can offer in return. It can simply be “getting people who are fans of this” into one place. Or it can be the exchange of ideas. There needs to be a thing that people get out of joining the community.

What was your uh-huh moment that an online community was not only important, but necessary?

Matt: Unlike a marketing campaign designed to get people to think a certain way about a brand, a community can be harnessed to continually learn about fans and members. Part focus group, part evangelists, this is the first time brands can give back to their best customers while giving them a voice.

What advice do you have for community organizers looking to get started?

Sian-Pierre: No one’s watching you when you start. So just start. And then build every day until you’ve got your identity…and then ATTACK.

Matt: Try to learn what your best customers/supporters want or like. They will be the beginning of your community. Learn from them. Also, they self-identify as fans. Try to let them as far inside as possible. Show them the making of TV spots. Give them access to important people.

How are you measuring success?

Sian-Pierre: Up until this point, I measured success in visual quality of the brand, press mentions, all the more superficial stuff. Now, it’s engagement, and website traffic. The fact is, if your fans and members aren’t engaged then your brand isn’t really marketable.

Matt: Good question: we’re setting some initial goals on the Facebook page. One is to attract more current students, so we’ll compare that age group’s growth in stats.

Measurement starts with specific goals. Attract more students to Facebook. Use Google+ to attract more international students. Get people who come to Colgate.edu to engage in social media.

Facebook fans and Twitter followers are important – what’s the next step beyond getting these likes and followers?

Sian-Pierre: Taking them off Facebook and Twitter and having them live on your own site.

Matt: Involve them. Most other advertising (for example, Super Bowl TV spots) tries to entertain people. Social media needs to involve people in the inner workings of the brand or organization. Let them see as far under the hood as possible.

How do you weave all the conversations together happening across the web about your brand?

Sian-Pierre: We try and interweave all the conversations together by referencing what’s happening on our other channels and driving people between where we have a presence.

Matt: First listen. Find out where people are and what they are saying and get involved.

How do you reward your community or active individuals contributing?

Matt: People like stuff. But more importantly, they like an inside look at stuff.

How do you keep people engaged and coming back to your community?

Sian-Pierre: Showing up every day, giving them what they tell us they want through their comments, and building the community with their guidance.

Matt: Work at giving them a reason to come back. Content. Think about the goals – who you want to attract and why you want to attract them. If you can answer that, you will have an idea how to engage them.

I like to think about the community in real life. If all those people were standing in a room, what would I tell them? How would I get them talking? How often will I talk?

Then, I do what I can to plan what I’ll say.

We’re writing as a company today to express our concerns with a couple legislative bills currently being debated in Congress (the “Protect IP Act” and the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA). Much has been written, many have opposed, but the beat goes on. We think this kind of legislation is a big deal that doesn’t come around often. Here’s why:

As background, these bills would give the US government and private individuals additional enforcement tools to combat websites that may be engaged in copyright infringement or counterfeiting. The goal is clearly well meaning—online infringement is a serious issue that demands serious enforcement. As with many things, however, the devil is in how the goal will be accomplished. In summary, court orders can be sought against any website (wherever located) that is believed to be engaging in online infringement. If an order issues, payment providers and advertising networks can be barred from doing business with the site, search engines must stop returning results for the site and domain name servers would need to blacklist access to the site’s domain name.

Even after Congressional revision last month, the current bills remain extremely broad. Legitimate websites can be put on an “American blacklist” without warning or an opportunity to defend themselves (whether that blacklist would even be effective at stopping traffic to an offending site is a whole other issue). A single complaint could trigger a blacklist, with the burden of proof on that website to get itself unblocked. This could lead to unprecedented monitoring of websites, subject to individual judgment (read: censorship). Here at Ning, we don’t think our Network Creators should be subjected to that kind of policy.

This would be a radical restructuring of Internet law. Oodles of unproductive and time-consuming litigation would arise to challenge and interpret the bills. We think it’s necessary to have a careful, broad-based debate on more targeted and effective measures for combating online IP infringement.

Here’s what you can do: Learn more, join the fight. Contact your Representative or Senator and tell them to oppose these bills. These bills are being debated again when Congress returns to session in late January. Or just use the power of social media—you can make a difference.

As people in the United States prepare to spend time with their families for Thanksgiving, Mogwee is here to help coordinate the hustle and bustle. Here are a few ways to make good use of Mogwee this week:

• Make a family Hangout to coordinate plans, share shopping lists and post real-time photos with relatives that can’t make it to the feast.
• Picking people up? Make things easier with the “Share a Location” feature.
• Can’t decide what side dishes to serve? Make a quick poll to settle things.
• Get everyone in the spirit by sharing some classic Thanksgiving-themed YouTube videos. Here’s one to get you started.

Mogwee is free, and you can get started in seconds using your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android device or the Web. Have a great holiday!

Movember is a month-long event raising awareness and funds for men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer. Men of all ages are growing out their facial hair to raise awareness. Zaniness aside, donning some scruff in November sparks the conversation and gets people thinking about the health issues affecting millions each year.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, we highlighted the Ning Community, The Pink Daisy Project, which helps and supports women going through breast cancer treatment. We spoke at length with Ning Creator Debbie Cantwell about her experience in building the community, fundraising and helping women afflicted by breast cancer.

This got us thinking… What is the recipe for building and supporting fundraising drives and initiatives by non-profit organizations, do-gooders, and even everyday Joe Schmoes? It’s clear the Internet is now a driving force for causes, initiatives and passion projects, encouraging volunteerism and bettering real-world communities around the globe; How are people using democratized technology like the web to make the world a better place?

So, we wanted to dive into the bread-and-butter ways people are using their Ning communities to turn projects and initiatives into positive and tangible realities.

1. Make a personal appeal
In one way or another, you’ve likely been touched by the cause you’re promoting and raising funds to support. Telling your story about why it’s important to you makes it personal and humanizes your mission. Share your personal story with your circle of friends and acquaintances, and make it accessible to everyone. Personal stories strike an accord with people, in turn giving others the strength to share their own stories and how they’ve been affected – soliciting both positive feedback, and a continuous loop to promoting the cause to others through more story telling and sharing.

One way to tell your story is put it in a blog post, or in the main section where you’re promoting your cause through your Ning community. Incorporate text, photos, videos, sound bites and links to news clips or prevalent information. This weaves your story into something that can be consumed by anyone.

2. Make it easy for people to contribute and donate
Whether your goal is generating awareness, fundraising, or something else, you want to make it easy and straightforward for people to engage with your cause. Your Ning community makes it easy for anyone to join, post and share. If you have social-in enabled, people can join and post with their Facebook, Yahoo!, Twitter or Google identities, removing the need to remember another screen name, account or password.

Collecting donations should also be frictionless. To collect donations, you can create a donate page on your Ning Community, or add a direct link to donation and payment services at your disposal, like StayClassy and PayPal. Ning offers an integrated Donate App that lives within your community, and facilitates direct donations to your organization’s PayPal account. Use Ning’s Paid Access add-on feature to solicit donations in exchange for access to special sections or content within your Ning community.

3. Thank your biggest supporters
Everyone likes to be acknowledged or thanked, and doing so can be done in an authentic way, in just a matter of clicks. Post links to stories people have shared with you, or highlight the financial generosity of others by posting a link to the donor or the donating organization, solicit feedback from your community – all within your Ning Network. You can also send community-wide email messages to tip your hat to contributors.

Others will see your shout-outs and thanks to donors and contributors, encouraging them to pay it forward by taking similar actions like contributing to your cause.

4. Partner with like-minded organizations and people
You’re likely not the only person or group supporting the same cause – especially if you’ve built a bustling destination with supporters joining as members! Connecting with allies and partners affords you more opportunities to spread the word about your efforts and further raise awareness.

Through partnerships, you’ll also be helping in the success of others with the same goals as yourself. To achieve this, cross-sharing stories, content, pulling in RSS feeds, events and meet-ups can create multiple touch-points for the cause and allows people to engage with your organization in the ways they’re most comfortable. Casting a larger net from an audience through outside parties and social channels like blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter streams can turn a scattering of likeminded people into a critical mass of social good.

Have you applied the above steps for social good through your Ning community? What’s worked for your cause? Let us know in the comments.

In a new report by SEO firm, BrightEdge, they reveal that having the Twitter share button on a website can help drive up to 7x more exposure via social media channels.

By their very nature, communities on the Ning Platform are social. And to drive social growth and interactions, we’ve long advocated for using social sharing tools baked right into your Ning Network. Most notably, you and your members have the option to use Twitter’s Tweet, Facebook’s Like, and now Google+ buttons to any piece of content appearing on your Plus or Pro Ning Network. With these features, you and your members can post content directly from your Ning Network to their Twitter, Facebook and Google+ streams – sharing with their friends, connections and the world.

To review and update which sharing tools you’re taking advantage of, head to your My Network tab. Under “Settings” select “Features.” Within the “Share Links” sections you’ll see a list of available share buttons and links.

While we’ve made it easy for you and your members to share this content, it’s just as important to have content that’s worth sharing. Do you have any examples of stellar content? We’d love to see your most Tweet-worthy and Likeable content posted by you and your members.

Tweet & Like buttons on My Modern Met:

Content Liked from My Modern Met appearing in a Facebook stream:

As educators and students head back to school, we wanted to highlight a few ways Ning is used in the classroom as an e-learning tool. The goal with any community is to foster and drive conversation and learning, in meaningful and engaging ways, bridging the online conversations with the real world ones happening in the classroom.

We’ve heard that students and teachers really like the social aspects of services like Facebook, yet want a separation from their Facebook identity when it comes to the classroom and learning. The beauty with a Ning Network is that every student (and teacher) has their own profile page, showing their Latest Activity and content posted, blogs and discussions within the Ning Network. The profile is specific to the community, separate from their online identity elsewhere and is a safe way to share within the comforts of their Ning Network. Ning Creators can add profile questions that students can answer – helping students get to know each other.

Since the layout and features used is totally customizable, posting a course syllabus or weekly assignments on the Main page, which all members see upon signing in, is an easy way to disseminate and share information with students.

As we highlighted in the Ning POV, Forums is our most popular feature, and offers educators a great deal of flexibility in terms of how to structure the conversations for classes, lectures and sections. We’ve seen specific discussions based on readings or assignments, and we’ve seen students create their own discussion topics based on general themes and topics, allowing them to dive into threaded or chronological debates with peers, sharing various points of view, and bringing that conversation along with them into the classroom. Discussion starters and anyone responding can embed media-rich content such as YouTube videos, podcasts, music, images, and links to cited sources across the web.

We recently came across a Ning Network for art classes at Yarmouth High School in Maine. Students are using the community to upload their artwork, turn in assignments and cross-share their work with students in China. The end result is a repository of student work, open discussions, and transnational learning:

We’ve been busy at Ning HQ over the past year! And we’d love to chat at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2012 about what we’ve learned in (re)-building Ning as a product and company, and lend our voice for what’s happening in the ever-changing social ecosystem.

We’ve proposed the following panels:

• Fueling Your Startup on $1 a Day
• Redefining the Social Battleground
• Start Fresh: Destroy the Developer Ecosystem

To see us at SXSW, vote for us! Once you sign in to the SXSW PanelPicker, vote away by September 2 and maybe we’ll see you in Austin in 2012! For a recap of SXSW 2011, check out the Ning social site, The Unofficial SXSW Insider’s Guide. Yeehaw!

This is the second in a two-part series by Ning’s Marketing intern, Nicholas O’Farrell, on teen mobile use. You can check out his earlier post on the basics of mobile in the teenage world.

To understand teen mobile use is to understand the teen mobile market. As a group, the teen sector is unique – while most mobile markets change as technology advances, the teen market depends on and transforms with the ever-changing interests of its teenage consumers. We typically hear about new things to check out from each other, and we’re less likely to sign up for a service or purchase something without having heard about it from a trusted friend. The endorsement of a mobile product by a peer is infinitely more valuable than advertisements on the Internet or TV. This is responsible for the perception that trends in the teen mobile market are so quick to emerge and expire – the transient nature of what is in high school vogue results in a market that is constantly transforming to keep up with its teen consumers.

Switching gears, as we hear talk of a shift to a “Post-PC world” and the mass migration from traditional computers to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones and the cloud, I’ve begun to consider the fact that teens may in part be driving this migration. While still pricey, tablets and smartphones, like the iPad and Android devices, do offer less expensive alternatives to computers and laptops for teens, a group that, as a whole, is not yet financially independent. These devices are more portable and convenient, and oftentimes easier to use than traditional PCs – think back to the teenagers and accessibility concept I highlight in the first part of this post.

As I see it, today’s most advanced mobile devices are so developed that they can serve as practical and realistic substitutes for the conventional computer. I use my iPhone 4 more than any other device – for communication, entertainment, school – anything and everything – and my use is more the norm than the exception. In truth, mobile is the future of consumer technology, and the fact that teenagers are so attracted to mobile’s accessibility, popularity, and connectivity may very well be a driving force behind the migration away from the traditional computer.

Post by Nicholas O’Farrell. Nicholas is a Marketing intern at Ning. Over the summer, he’s worked on a variety of projects with us, spanning from online community building for political organizations to working with Ning’s legal team and blogging for the company. A triplet and citizen of three countries, Nicholas enjoys reading, writing, traveling, skiing, and exploring new cultures and languages.

Interested in working at Ning? Learn more at join.ning.com!

This is the first in a two-part series by Ning’s Marketing intern, Nicholas O’Farrell, on teenage mobile use. Stay tuned for his Friday post about the teen mobile market and their role in the migration to mobile.

In many ways, “mobile” is a teenage concept. From its beginnings in the 1970s to the 3G and 4G networks used today by the likes of Verizon, AT&T, Vodafone, Vivo, Orange and T-Mobile, it has experienced much of the same physical and conceptual growth that teenagers undergo to become adults. In fact, mobile’s foundation was laid with the introduction of earlier mobile technology in 1991 – coincidentally the year today’s oldest teenagers, now 19, were born – and the technology has boomed ever since. Growing alongside today’s teens, mobile has become one of the defining technologies of Generation Z (people born between 1991-2010), so much so that the generation – my generation – might be more aptly named Generation Mobile.

While teen mobile use appears complex, it boils down to 3 vital characteristics. A service that incorporates all 3 of these attributes into its mobile product is more likely to have a large teen base:

1. Accessibility: If it’s not easy and fast to use, teenagers will not use it.

The most important motivation for teens to use and continue using a mobile service is ease of use. It’s one of the reasons for the massive popularity among teenagers of Facebook’s mobile app and texting – communication services like these are quick to learn, easy to use, and offer instant gratification.

2. Popularity: If it’s not popular, there will be a limited teenage use base.

It’s no surprise that the percentage of teens owning cell phones increased 15 times between 2000 and 2010 (from 5% of the teenage population owning in 2000 to 75% of teens owning in 2010. Mobile use amongst teens, like many other things in middle and high school, is driven by the notion that “if everybody else has it, you have to have it too.” No, it’s not traditional peer pressure – it’s the feeling that if you don’t have something, you’re missing out!

3. Connectivity: If it can build on established online connections, it’s even more appealing.

Having come of age during the era of social networking and online sharing, many of us now look for mobile services integrating with the many accounts we already use, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Zynga. We want mobile apps that allow us to chat with our Facebook friends, our AIM buddies, and friends still tied to SMS. Mogwee takes this idea and merges its interactive social tools to create a fun and quirky multi-platform group communication mobile service. Now I can use one app to interact and connect with my friends, all from the palm of my hand — it’s this all-in-one mobile connectivity that teenagers crave.

Check the Ning Blog on Friday for the second half as Nicholas discusses the teen mobile market and teens’ role in the migration to mobile.

Post by Nicholas O’Farrell. Nicholas is a Marketing intern at Ning. Over the summer, he’s worked on a variety of projects with us, spanning from online community building for political organizations to working with Ning’s legal team and blogging for the company. A triplet and citizen of three countries, Nicholas enjoys reading, writing, traveling, skiing, and exploring new cultures and languages.

Interested in working at Ning? Learn more at join.ning.com!

The July 4th holiday weekend here in the United States often involves a lot of outdoor activity, runs to the grocery store, impromptu meetups and great photo opportunities. To help keep your friends and family close this weekend, we humbly suggest that you give Mogwee a try.

If you’re not familiar with Mogwee, it’s a new product we launched at the end of February, and it’s designed to let you chat, plan, play and share with your friends and family no matter where you are. No existing accounts are required, and you can start using it on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Android phone in seconds. We even offer a web version for people that want to follow along from their computers.

Check out our video:

Since we launched, we’ve been adding all sorts of new features and improvements, with many more on deck in the coming weeks. Here are a few suggestions on how to use Mogwee for the 4th:

• Create a Hangout for the people you’ll be spending time with over the weekend. Coordinate meetup spots, grocery pickup lists and more.
• Create another Hangout for people you won’t see in person (your extended family, for example). Share real-time photos of the action.
• Post YouTube videos of classic fireworks shows and other patriotic material. May we suggest this gem?
• Celebrate America’s independence by sending a zombie sheep to your best friend. Let’s be honest, it’s what the founding fathers would want.

Team Mogwee wishes everyone a fun (and safe) holiday weekend!