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Guest Post: Lessons from Three Years of Running TuDiabetes

Today’s guest post comes from Manny Hernandez, Network Creator of TuDiabetes and its Spanish language sister site, EsTuDiabates. When Manny recently announced TuDiabetes celebrated its third birthday, we asked him to share some of the lessons he’s learned over the past three years. If you are interested in contributing a guest post on the Ning Blog, let us know in the comment below!

Recently TuDiabetes.org turned three. To those that have stuck around since then and put up with my unending talk about the community (and its Spanish-speaking counterpart, EsTuDiabetes), receive my thanks! To those that stopped being my friends on Facebook, I don’t blame you: I know I have being a pest at times!

As a way to give back, I wanted to share three lessons I have learned about running a nonprofit diabetes social network in the past three years:

Running a social network is not easy

Even having a solid platform like Ning at hand, the real work of running a social network comes where the rubber meats the road, i.e. when conflict arise… and conflict WILL arise. We’ve seen it even in a place that you wouldn’t expect to be conflict-prone: in a social network of people touched by diabetes, WHY would people argue or fight? The answer: throw politics or religion at the most civilized group of individuals and stand back. We may have things in common, but many times we let the things that separate us get in the way.

Running a nonprofit is not easy either

I definitely wish I had known about options like having a Fiscal Sponsor early on (I know tell everyone that asks me for advice and even some people that don’t ask me for it consider Fiscal Sponsorship as an option before you take the 501(c)3 plunge), so that we could have explored that option. We learned a lot in the process of applying for the tax-exempt status at the Diabetes Hands Foundation, but we also learned that it’s not the only way in which you can do good in a nonprofit context.

Helping others is the best thing you can do in your life

You may be wondering, if running a social network (which is at the core of what we do) and running a nonprofit (which is the umbrella under which we live every day) aren’t easy things to do, why do we keep on doing it? Because the joy of seeing people discover they are not alone; the lessons people can take with them to improve their diabetes management, health and life; the result of seeing empowered patients who used to feel isolated before is PRICELESS!

Here is a video that touches on all three things. We posted it on TuDiabetes in 2009, after several weeks of an ongoing internal conflict in connection to type 1 diabetes versus type 2 diabetes. The whole conflict led to this, which is where I stand today in regards to managing community and connecting people touched by diabetes. We can all help each other out more than we can by having each of us stand on our own.

An Update from Ning Chairman & Co-Founder Marc Andreessen

I’d like to update everyone on a change happening in our company today.

My fellow co-founder and Ning CEO Gina Bianchini has decided to step downafter five and a half years of hard and terrific work. I support herwholeheartedly in her decision. Gina is handing the CEO duties over to JasonRosenthal, who has been our Chief Operating Officer (COO) and head of businessoperations for the last year and a half. Nothing else is changing I remainChairman, the current management team remains exactly the same, and the Ning
service continues unchanged.

I’d like to celebrate this moment by enthusiastically congratulating Gina onan amazing series of accomplishments in her time as CEO. Ning today is one ofthe world’s top social networking properties, with more than 2.3 millionuser-created Ning Networks and more than 45 million registered users, and isfar and away the market leading social platform for interests and passions.

Ning Networks span every area of human endeavor, from the arts to business,politics to social activism, and every other field you can think of. Over5,000 new Ning Networks are created every day, and we’re adding a million newregistered users every 12 days. This is all the result of Gina’s incrediblededication, as well as the phenomenal team she has built, since we firststarted the company.

I am also delighted to mention that Gina is becoming an Executive In Residence(EIR) at my new venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz my venturecapital partner Ben Horowitz and I are looking forward to being able tobenefit from her insight and wisdom even more than before.

Gina says: “Now that we have built Ning to its current position in the market,I am ready to hand the reins over to Jason and the team to continue to executeon our vision and strategy. As a founder and large shareholder, I’ll continueto do everything I can to support and cheer on Ning in my new role!”

Let me also give you a thumbnail sketch of Jason Rosenthal, our new CEO. Jasonhas been a friend and colleague of mine for 15 years we first workedtogether at Netscape, where Jason took on a sequence of crucial managementroles from the very early days until we sold the company to America Online in1998. Jason then became the first person my co-founders and I brought onboardwhen we founded Loudcloud in 1999 our internal nickname for him was”critical hire”. Jason and I then worked together there for nearly 10 years,until we sold that company (renamed Opsware) to Hewlett-Packard in 2007.

Since that time, Jason has been immersed in Ning as a senior executive, headof business operations, and COO. Jason is a highly talented executive,manager, and leader, and I can’t think of anyone better to succeed myco-founder Gina as CEO.

Jason says: “Through Ginas vision, leadership, and passion, she has taken thecompany from inception to our position today as the largest social platformfor interests and passions. It’s been my privilege to work with her for thelast 18 months and I look forward to expanding on the outstanding foundationshe has put in place.”

Thank you very much for your time and attention, and we’ll see you on Ning!

Now live! Post directly to your Facebook Page

Following fast on the heels of last week’s launch of branded Facebook sharing for your members, we’re happy to announce that Network Creators and administrators can now post directly to a Facebook Page formerly a “Fan Page” from a Ning Network.

The initial Facebook release made it easy for your members to share content from your Ning Network with their Facebook friends, and do it in a way that’s branded with your Ning Network name and logo. However, many Network Creators noted that they have popular Facebook Pages that they want to be able to post to easily, and now you can do just that.

To get started, just click on the “Settings” link on the right side of any page on your Ning Network. Then, click “Connections.” There, if you’re a Network Creator or administrator, you’ll see a brand-new option to “Post to a Facebook Page instead”:

Then, simply select your preferred Facebook Page from the list of all Facebook Pages you administer.

Once you’ve selected the Facebook Page, every time you click on a Facebook link or send your status to Facebook, you will be posting as your selected Facebook Page, instead of your personal profile. It’s easy to switch between the two just head back to the Connections page where you’ll need to choose which account you’d like to like to post to.

After choosing to post to a Facebook Page, just click a Facebook link on a piece of content, just as you did to share content with your Facebook friends.

Click “Publish,” and the story will be posted to your Facebook Page.

Hopefully, this makes it even easier to tap into Facebook to grow your audience and reach more people. Now, while your members share your content with their friends, you can keep your Facebook fans in the loop, too!

Let us know what you think in the comments below or on the Creators discussion.

Sing Your Heart Out with Ning At SXSWi!

Ning is headed to Austin! We’re so excited to be attending SXSW Interactive with three awesome Network Creators (to be named shortly). To help attendees connect with each other, find panels, events and parties, and get excited about heading to Austin, we’ve created a Ning Network especially for other SXSW attendees. More than 2,000 members are RSVPing for parties, finding cheap lodgings and adding photos to help relive last year’s revelry.

You can meet up with Ning every night at SXSWi on the {RV}IP Lounge, as we cruise around Austin. The concept of the {RV}IP is pretty simple; it’s an RV, complete with full karaoke set up that you can hop on and off as you make your way around the various evening events at SXSW. We’ll be there nightly, complete with merch giveaways, fake tattoos, Ning experts and more. Let us know if you’ll be there by joining the RVIP Ning Network and then heading to the Network Creator group.

We’re also working on planning some exclusive Network Creator events, but you’ll need to let us know you’ll be there to get the details. Simply join the Network Creator group on the RVIP Ning Network and we’ll reach out to you with more details.

See you in Austin on the {RV}IP!

Jenny Nielsen is Senior Marketing Manager at Ning, and is working on her rendition of “Ramblin’ Man.”

When Taking to the Open Road in Florida, BikersPost

From Tallahassee to Orlando, bikers in Florida are an active group. Each region has its own favorite rides, stories and hangouts, so it makes sense for each to have its own online presence as well. BikersPost is the home for eight regional Ning Networks for Florida motorcyclists. Like Neighbors for Neighbors, each Ning Network has its own members, topics and regional issues to discuss, but each also is an integral part of the overall BikersPost website.

Each BikersPost Ning Network is linked together by its URL. BikersPost Southwest Florida (pictured above) is at swfl.bikerspost.com, while BikersPost Central East Florida is at cefl.bikerspost.com. Using a subdomain takes only a couple extra steps to set up, and is an easy way to link your Ning Network to your existing website.

In addition to using a subdomain, each is also linked to the others with map widget in the right column. When you mouse over the different regional of the map, you can click through to the BikersPost Ning Network from that region. Since content in the right column shows up on every page, it’s easy for members to quickly navigate from one of the BikersPost Ning Networks to another.

Speaking the World’s Language, Playing the World’s Game

Tomorrow, the Fulham Football Club takes on Tottenham to battle for a place in the FA Cup semifinals. Fans have purchased their tickets, wagered their wagers and are now ready to watch the game. With less than a day before the big match, their heading to Cottage Corner to get their fix of their favorite football club.

Fulham Pats Fan just posted a blog post about the five things the team needs to do to win tomorrow. And he’s not the only one who’s been contributing. Left Back Nicky Shorey recently took some time to answer questions submitted by members.

Of course, not every soccer/futbol/football fan cheers for Fulham. Those who cheer for the Corinthians can join Luoco Por Ti Corinthianos. And Texans can sing up for My Dynamo if they root for the Houston Dynamo in the MLS.

Every four years, however, these team allegiances take a back seat to country ties during the World Cup. A counter on the header of Fan I Am announces that it’s only 97 days until the World Cup starts in South Africa. It’s never too soon to get excited about playing, cheering and watching the world’s favorite game.

Only Two Weeks Left in the Ning Developer Challenge

The Ning Developer Challenge which kicked off at Campus Party 2010 in So Paulo, Brazil is a worldwide OpenSocial development competition focused on applications devoted to public management, environment and entrepreneurship. The winner in each of these three categories will receive a $3,000 (US dollars) award.

Entries are due by March 19th, 2010. Read more about the challenge here. Good luck!

Social Sharing: Getting Your Ning Network Dugg so People Can StumbleUpon It

If you’ve been reading along, you know we’re pretty excited about the ways we’ve integrated with Twitter and Facebook. Both services provide tremendous audiences for sharing and syndicating content from your Ning Network, but we also know they aren’t the only game in town, at least when it comes to social sharing.

For a while now, there’s been an issue with how Ning Networks framebust, making it difficult to use various services for sharing content across the Internet. While it isn’t possible to remove the framebust entirely, we put in a fix this week so that content opened within a frame will framebust to the correct page, not to the main page of your Ning Network as it previously did. This fix will make sharing content through these services and driving traffic back to specific pages on your Ning Network much more effective.

With this fix in mind, we asked a couple of Network Creators to share some of their favorite social sharing services they recommend you get started using.

Jen, from the Ning Directory and PetBrags, likes using StumbleUpon:

StumbleUpon is a free service from where internet surfers can find (stumble-upon) new sites according to their interests. For Ning Network Creators, its a great way to submit interesting content or stories from your Ning site, for others to stumble it. What I really like about StumbleUpon, this service gives anyone the opportunity to share content. Also keep in mind, even if your story isnt noticed the first time around, its likely to get indexed by Google. This will bring you traffic in the future.

Alice, from My Modern Met, shares content with Digg and Reddit:

Though Digg has more visitors [than Reddit], both sites are equally good in helping a website gain traffic. Due to their size and popularity, a website can gain a good amount of exposure if their content lands on one of these sites. You can also expect a lot of links back to your site if it’s found on Digg or Reddit. These sites usually trigger other bookmarking sites and blogs to see you as more of a source or content provider

For both StumbleUpon and Digg, you can share content directly from your Ning Network. Click on the “share” icon on any piece of content, and choose the service you’d like to send content to.

What services do you like using to share and syndicate content?

Ning Network Creators: 10,000 Strong Contest

When we announced the launch of Ning Network Creators in November, we knew we’d be successful. We knew that many thousands of creative and helpful NCs would sign up to share advice and tips with other NCs, but whenever you launch something new, it’s hard to know how quickly it will grow and be adopted. Creators is four months old today, and we’ll soon be welcoming our 10,000th member. We’re delighted that Creators has been so warmly received and useful to everyone who’s joined.

To celebrate, were running another contest! We thought it would be fun to reward our 10,000th with a stylish Ning Timbuk2 bag and 10,000 Gift credits. Plus, if you’re a member of Creators and the winner mentions you or your Ning Network when they sign up for Creators, well give you an identical prize. Read all about our 10,000 Strong Contest right here.

If you’ve created a Ning Network and you’re not yet a member of Creators, join us! It’s a great way to share tips and get advice from fellow Network Creators, and who knows? With our membership growing every day, you could be the lucky 10,000th winner.

A Focus on Diabetes on World Kidney Day

Today is World Kidney Day, an annual day dedicated to raising awareness of both the importance of healthy kidneys, and the impact of kidney-related diseases. This year, the specific focus is on diabetes prevention.

Getting involved can be as simple as joining with the 1,200 members of the World Kidney Day Ning Network to hold and attend a local event. Each event that’s being held is also added to a Google Map; across the globe, people are stepping up to promote healthy kidneys.

It isn’t just about getting people to promote WKD in public. It’s equally important that each member also know their risk for kidney disease. An easy 12-question quiz helps members determine what they know about this important organ, and if they could be at risk.

And we’re back!

All Ning Networks are rolling along nicely. If anything comes up please go to http://help.ning.com/ and let us know.

All systems go!

Things are humming along nicely. All Ning Networks are running smoothly.

Update: Errors on some Ning Networks

Our engineers have determined the errors are limited to a select group of Ning Networks. They’re continuing to investigate and fix. Next update at 11:00 am Pacific.

Errors on some Ning Networks

We are seeing errors on some Ning Networks. Our engineers are investigating. We will update here at 6:30 pm Pacific.

Update: Errors on some Ning Networks

Our engineers have found the root cause and are cleaning it out. Errors should start to clear shortly. We’ll update by 11:30 am Pacific.

And we’re back!

Our engineers investigated and quickly fixed the issue related to errors on some Ning Networks. Things are looking good!

All systems go!

Things are humming along nicely. All Ning Networks are running smoothly.

And we’re back!

All Ning Networks and www.ning.com are rolling along nicely. If anything comes up please go to http://help.ning.com/ and let us know.

Update: Errors on some Ning Networks

The errors have been isolated to a select group of Ning Networks and www.ning.com. Our engineers are working furiously to resolve the issue. Next update by 4:45 pm Pacific.

Errors on some Ning Networks

We are seeing errors on some Ning Networks. Our engineers are investigating. We will update here at 4:00 pm Pacific.