I am very pleased with the performance of the Ning Platform for collaboration and networking purposes. So much so, I am recommending this networking software platform for a number of groups I’m working with in York Region. It is a very useful tool for organizations and practitioners wanting to communicate with each other about important issues in their sector. The Ning platform is easy to set up, it’s free, very customizable, easy to administrate and helps create a sense of community among members.

In the youth work, poverty and community development sector, which I’m most familiar with, the Ning Platform can serve as an off the shelf “practitioner help centre” enabling youth workers to post solutions or strategies to challenges posted by other workers. In York Region, we have major challenges related to distance, transportation and isolation. These challenges not only affects consumers of social services but the workers who struggle year to year with limited budgets and little or no professional development resources. The Ning platform is a wonderful tool that can go a long way toward addressing these challenges. To give you a sense how other non profit umbrella or networking groups are using Ning, have a look at the UK Youth Work Online network, which I joined a few weeks ago. Here is an article from USA Today that is titled “Social Networking Sites Boost Productivity”. This article explains how businesses are using Ning to save on  transportation and professional development costs.

Brent Business, Learning Community, networks