To Ning or not to Ning

I’m not sure why I joined Ning, but I did.  I joined the following groups:  Classroom 2.0, Library 2.o and the American Library Association.  And then I started to receive friend requests and so now I have lots of friends.  It IS nice to have these new friends and connections who have the same common interests.  I suppose this is one of the differences between blogging and Ning – being connected based on a broad subject rather than just adding someone to my blog aggregator. 

Some have questioned the value of Ning and it has been an interesting conversation to follow.   David Warlick is unsure of the value of social networks, “I must confess that I am a little under-impressed. ”  Steve Hargadon started the one on Classroom 2.0 and responded to David.  Jeff Utecht says, “We don’t get it, we’re not suppose to get it, but we need to learn it.”    I do like the visualization of Ning highlighted by David today.  We’ll see where Ning will lead (or not lead).  I’m sure that when blogging first began, the same questions were asked. 

In the Library 2.0 Ning, David posted a question in the forum about how we would restructure school libraries.  He posted the same question on his blog.  Not many people responded to this post in Ning.  However, there were 14 comments on David’s blog.  I posted my response in Ning.

Hmmm, to Ning or not to Ning, that is the question…and time and people will determine the answer. :-).