I read a great review of Ning in yesterday’s TechCrunch.  So, today, I thought I’d give it a whirl myself.  Michael Arrington’s review was right on the money… Ning is pretty cool!  It lets you create your own customized social network – complete with RSS feeds, blogs, forums, and more.  Almost everything is customiseable – colors, logos, style, etc.  Check out the Social Media Network I created on Ning to see what I mean, and give it a try yourself!

If I’m being really picky, I’ve only got two complaints about Ning so far:

1. If you pick a username (e.g. “Social Media”) you can’t call your network the same thing.  I joined Ning not knowing that, and so I had to pick an alternate social network name once I’d set up my profile.
2. Once you set it up (which is exceptionally easy), it is difficult to navigate your way around the editing features if you want to change placement or content.  I’m sure this will get easier as I become more familiar with the service, but initially, editing isn’t as intuitive as I expected.