The Genealogy & Family History Social Network

This IS NOT Facebook or MySpace: Adapt and Overcome!

Ning is the platform that GenealogyWise is built on. It is a social networking interface designed to enable someone to create a social network focused on the topic of their choice. While the owner or administrator of the site has numerous options to turn on or off and access to many customizations, they are limited by some restrictions within Ning's platform.

The first thing most users need to get over is that social networks built on Ning are not the same as Facebook or MySpace. Many similarities, but not the same. Get over it, adapt and overcome. That does not mean you cannot submit suggestions or point out flaws. Just be aware that somethings are different, and some things might not be feasible.

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I am not a Ning expert. I'm a tech-head who has worked in IT for over 10 years; and I have some experience on another Ning network. This is not an official statement from the GW staff; just some friendly tips for my fellow GW users. Feel free to message me if you have questions, comments, or suggestions for other topics. ~Johnny

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Permalink Reply by Tina Sabin on July 20, 2009 at 11:51am

Thanks for the info. I'm not a tech-head, but I had no clue to what a Ning was. Now I have some new info I can throw at my grandkids.

Permalink Reply by Johnny on July 20, 2009 at 5:05pm

Excellent! No need to beat the bad habits out of you then.

:P

Permalink Reply by Tina Sabin on July 20, 2009 at 5:14pm

I have been following your group and am learning. I have no idea what I am doing, but this is addictive.

Permalink Reply by Johnny on July 20, 2009 at 5:27pm

Its Gene's group; I'm just the "hired help"...

:P

Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Tina Micheal Ruse on July 22, 2009 at 8:43am

Many, if not most, genealogist are just beginning to dip their toes in the whole "social networking" thing.If this site or any other fails to be user friendly and provide help with how to do and set up or is too complicated many will "get over it" by walking away.It will be the same group of techies here that are already on every site and that will be sad because many of those who are just trying this out have tons of information to share and the premise here is a good one.But if the learning curve is to steep I think the choice will be to use less time consuming applications.Part of it is that we are being overwhelmed with information sharing sites and social networking and there are only so many hours in the day! It really seems they launched this site a bit prematurely, Just my 2 cents worth.

Permalink Reply by Johnny on July 22, 2009 at 9:28am

You're not wrong in wanting it to be user friendly Tina. The Ning platform has little-to-no built-in help, which is why myself and others are trying to get some info together.

For those that are new to social networking, this post isn't aimed so much for them. This post was intended more for the many comments I was seeing from people about how "Facebook can do *bla-bla-bla* why can't GenealogyWise do it?" If you've never been on a social network, and this is your first, although you might struggle with the learning curve, I would say you're ahead of the curve because you aren't jaded.

As for the premature launch, you're partly right; there were some things missing that probably should have been straightened out before launch. On the flip-side though, you can never get it all, and get it perfect. At some point you have to say "here goes" and just jump in. Especially with a social network, you can only build and test so-much before you need the social part, and then see what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for the input; and please don't hesitate to ask if you have any specific questions.

This IS NOT Facebook or MySpace: Adapt and Overcome!

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