Are Companies Missing Out by Focusing Social Media Efforts Only on LinkedIn, FaceBook and MySpace and not Ning.com?

The more business people I meet the more I'm learning that companies are being dazzled by the large numbers of people on LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace and narrowing their sights as they focus their Social Media efforts; they are overlooking the power of Ning.com social networks. Ning.com is one of those social media that was NOT mentioned in any of the 8 sessions that I attended at the Internet Summit in Chapel Hill last Fall 2008. Some people might say that was because ning.com isn't significant enough. I say differently.

Even if LinkedIn has 26 million members, and Facebook is growing by 600,000 people a day. That doesn't mean that these two networking sites do everything that will be valuable for your business. They don't.

The Ning.com communities might look like the GROUP functions on Facebook or LinkedIn. But they aren't. Whatever the group is defined as - within Ning.com you have full access to all the people in the group. It really is more like being at a cocktail party than LinkedIn or Facebook, to coin the phrase publicized by Jim Tobin. It's different - and you shouldn't overlook this FREE community building resource. Don't overlook it.

I'm not arguing for a second to be off of LinkedIn or Facebook, or MySpace... not for a second. What I am arguing for is the necessity of understanding the brilliant "point by point" networking that builds a web of connections within a community. Ning.com communities facilitate that. They facilitate a distributed network. It's hard to put into words what the difference is exactly, but having been in all four of these networks, there is a difference.

For any business that has a geographic component to it, a local presence, you're going to want local networking capabilities - ones that are contained in the rich way that ning.com contains them.

I've created the North Carolina Massage Therapists ning.com network. No where in the state of North Carolina is there ONE forum for licensed massage therapists. For, by and about this profession. When you join, you have access to a page for each member in the network. You can engage in conversation without first asking to be a friend. If you ask to be a friend, you can send private emails. You can create groups. Events. Add photos. Discussions. It really feels like being in a wonderful cocktail party where you can look around and see everyone else who is part of it and decide who you want to meet, and go do it.

Pat Howlett has created the inSide AreaCodes networks, ning.com communities for each area code in the country - having the vision of seeing that the areacode as a group defining concept is an important level for networking - beyond town and city, beyond zip code, all within the same area code. The inSide919.com group in the Triangle is the first example of what is possible. It's different than LinkedIn or Facebook. It's local. It's not a group within a giant platform. It's its own group, it's own party.

It's hard to really see and "get" the differences between these social media sites. Each one has different qualities and attributes. Each one facilitates networking slightly differently. Each one has a different place in a company's social networking policy.

One thing's for sure, you don't want to be missing out on a social networking capability that offers uniquely competent networking sites.