At Ning, we’ve long believed in giving you and your members the flexibility to share and converse with one another in whatever means is optimal for your community – and today we’re launching a major upgrade to one of our most popular features: Chat.

We’ve rebuilt the new Chat from the ground-up, meaning we took a fine-toothed comb at how Chat should work with your 2012 expectations of web technology. The new Chat is made using HTML5, expanding the speed, options and customizations available to you through the feature. HTML5 also means that the new Chat is also now available on iPad and iPhone, Android-powered devices, and many of the newer mobile platforms available today.

Besides the updates we’ve made under the hood, we’ve also improved the readability as you use Chat. We’ve consolidated on white space, meaning you’ll see more of the conversation without the need to scroll through the past. Posts are grouped together, and appear under the same timestamp, name and avatar. After 1 minute of inactivity, we’ll add a new timestamp, so that you’ll know when the conversation left off and picked up again.

We’ve also added more controls and customizations with Chat. Its appearance will match the standard font used on your Ning Network, and Chat also adopts your network’s color scheme. Much in the same way you can use the Language Editor to make tweaks and customize the language across your Ning Network, you can do the same with the new Chat. Appearance customizations are now available for Chat with CSS. You now also have a universal and easy way to toggle Chat’s notification sounds on or off, and even a way to upload your own sound to be used to notify you and members of new Chat activity.

There are 4 new and improved displays for Chat: bar, module, full page and pop-out, giving you and your members the ability to easily show and hide chat messages according to individual preferences. With the updated new Chat bar, we also now support a new and improved pop-out chat, which will allow Chat to be ever-present even as you and your members navigate around your Ning Network and the web.

You no longer have to toggle between the network-wide chat and one-on-one chats. Now, when a one-on-one chat is started, a new private window will open up and you’ll be up and running in a private chat. You can pop-out the private chat or let it stay in the Chat bar.

As the Ning Creator, an admin or a chat moderator, you’ll see an “x” next to any chat post. You’ll be able to delete the post, and temporarily suspend the member from Chat. A member’s suspension from Chat can range from 15 minutes to 24 hours – it’s up to you. You and your members can also choose to ignore chat posts by specific members. This means that you won’t receive private messages and posts by anyone you’ve ignored, even in the Main Room.

Want to know more? Check out our new Ning Help Center articles that explain all the details about the new Chat:

• Introduction to Chat
• Get to Know the Chat Bar
• Control the Display Options for Your Chat Feature
• Moderate Chat on Your Ning Network
• View the Online Members in Chat

We’d like to thank all of the beta-testing Ning Creators who gave the new Chat a whirl and provided us with great feedback as we iterated this new feature. We’ll continue to take feedback from you and would love to know what you think. Feel free to comment below or on this Creators group. Happy chatting!

We’re writing as a company today to express our concerns with a couple legislative bills currently being debated in Congress (the “Protect IP Act” and the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA). Much has been written, many have opposed, but the beat goes on. We think this kind of legislation is a big deal that doesn’t come around often. Here’s why:

As background, these bills would give the US government and private individuals additional enforcement tools to combat websites that may be engaged in copyright infringement or counterfeiting. The goal is clearly well meaning—online infringement is a serious issue that demands serious enforcement. As with many things, however, the devil is in how the goal will be accomplished. In summary, court orders can be sought against any website (wherever located) that is believed to be engaging in online infringement. If an order issues, payment providers and advertising networks can be barred from doing business with the site, search engines must stop returning results for the site and domain name servers would need to blacklist access to the site’s domain name.

Even after Congressional revision last month, the current bills remain extremely broad. Legitimate websites can be put on an “American blacklist” without warning or an opportunity to defend themselves (whether that blacklist would even be effective at stopping traffic to an offending site is a whole other issue). A single complaint could trigger a blacklist, with the burden of proof on that website to get itself unblocked. This could lead to unprecedented monitoring of websites, subject to individual judgment (read: censorship). Here at Ning, we don’t think our Network Creators should be subjected to that kind of policy.

This would be a radical restructuring of Internet law. Oodles of unproductive and time-consuming litigation would arise to challenge and interpret the bills. We think it’s necessary to have a careful, broad-based debate on more targeted and effective measures for combating online IP infringement.

Here’s what you can do: Learn more, join the fight. Contact your Representative or Senator and tell them to oppose these bills. These bills are being debated again when Congress returns to session in late January. Or just use the power of social media—you can make a difference.

I’m excited to announce that we have completed our merger with Glam. As of today, Ning is officially part of the Glam Media family!

We’ve release more than 35 major new features in the last year alone, and we have some major enhancements in the works — including an all-new Chat and continued updates to the popular Activity Feed. We’re hard at work on a bunch of new features that we’ll share with you in an updated product roadmap blog post later this month. If you’re a Network Creator who is interested in becoming part of the Glam Media Network, you can find out more about how to apply for that here. For all of our customers who have been following our progress from milestone to milestone, you can expect your Ning service to continue unchanged — and you can continue to expect us to build out exciting new features to help you get the most out of your Ning Network.

You can read the press release here.

We will be performing maintenance on the Ning Platform this coming Friday, December 2, from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. (midnight) Pacific Time. During this time, all Ning Networks will be unavailable for 2 hours.

We’re proud to have been able to realize a consistently high uptime over the past year. To keep this consistent record high, we need to perform some crucial upgrades to hardware, systems and databases. We want to ensure your Ning Network stays online and speedy for the next year and beyond.

During this time:

• Your Ning Network will display a maintenance page matching your current theme customization to let your members know that your community is temporarily unavailable.
• We will update the Ning Status Blog when this maintenance begins and ends.
• We’ll also provide ongoing updates during this maintenance period on the Ning Status Blog and on our @Ning Twitter account.
• The Creators Network will also be down for maintenance. We will update on Creators when all is complete.

We recommend advising your members of this downtime in advance via a broadcast message and/or other notices on your Main page. We’ve put together some boilerplate language you can use for messaging by simply copying and pasting. Or, tailor it for your community:

• Formal: We will be performing maintenance on [network_name] this Friday, December 2, from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. (midnight) Pacific Time. During this time, [network_name] will be unavailable. We hope this won’t be too much of an inconvenience as we work to perform some necessary upgrades.
• Informal: Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that we need to perform some simple but necessary maintenance on [network_name] this coming Friday, December 2. We’ll need to take the site down from 10-midnight (Pacific). During these 2 hours, we’ll simply show a message asking folks to check back later. Thanks in advance for your patience while we tune up the site!

We know that maintenance like this can be an inconvenience, and we appreciate your patience while we perform it!

As people in the United States prepare to spend time with their families for Thanksgiving, Mogwee is here to help coordinate the hustle and bustle. Here are a few ways to make good use of Mogwee this week:

• Make a family Hangout to coordinate plans, share shopping lists and post real-time photos with relatives that can’t make it to the feast.
• Picking people up? Make things easier with the “Share a Location” feature.
• Can’t decide what side dishes to serve? Make a quick poll to settle things.
• Get everyone in the spirit by sharing some classic Thanksgiving-themed YouTube videos. Here’s one to get you started.

Mogwee is free, and you can get started in seconds using your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android device or the Web. Have a great holiday!

At Ning, we’ve long believed in providing a platform enabling people to create communities for the things most important to them; allowing you to share and connect freely, with anyone. What’s blossomed has been Ning Networks whose topics and foci run the gamut, and as a Ning employee I think it’s been incredibly awesome to see so many communities grow and flourish.

Occupy Cal (Nov 15), photo by Daniel Parks

By now, you’ve probably heard about the Occupy protests happening around the world. The Occupy movement is making the headline news, while student-captured footage of the UC Davis pepper spray incident has had millions of views and shares on YouTube and Facebook (along with many tongue-in-cheek memes). People are sharing their personal stories of economic and career hardship, and governments are being asked to take responsibility and help their people. A longtime muted 99% is now being heard worldwide through these protests and the sharing of information online.

In the past, we’ve highlighted how people discover and find Ning communities in both times of joy and hardship or uncertainty. Given what’s been happening, an Occupy Wall Street YouTube video linking to the Ning Network, Occupy America Social Network, caught our attention. The community is primarily using the Ning Platform to share information through the Blog and Video features, both of which are prominently highlighted on the community’s homepage. Posts and uploads began at the end of September and according to Site Meter, there are now over 140 blog posts and 170 videos relating to the movement from occupiers around the world, attracting about 1,400 visitors to the site daily.

Topicality aside, the Occupy America Social Network gets at what we’re all about – it’s a prime example of how easily the Ning Platform can be used as a “pop-up shop” of sorts for quickly organizing people through online community. Given a passionate base of supporters, we can’t wait to see where the Occupy America Social Network goes from here.

What is your community standing up for, and how is the Ning Platform giving you a voice? Let us know in the comments.

Last week, Ning was mentioned in Marty Weintraub’s Search Engine Land article, Content Marketing Essentials: Tactical Advice From A To Z. His post highlights ways marketers and businesses can develop a strategy through crafting quality written and creative content for their presence online, further building their brand. Interestingly, many of the steps Marty highlights appeal to the greater audience of Ning’s community organizers and those looking to weave social conversations in their content and inspire action online.

While Marty buckets Ning alongside blogging services like WordPress, he differentiates Ning as a platform underpinning the social endeavors many businesses, organizations and people aspire to establish and support within their website.

The Ning Platform enables communities to easily form and blossom online, allowing the conversation to grow organically by attracting people to the things they care most about; we see many examples underlining the various conversations and connections happening through Ning. For instance, seeking advice about how to cope with a diabetes diagnosis? The Ning Network TuDiabetes provides the outlet and a safe place to share your story and learn from others. Conversely, teeming with excitement over the movie premier of Twilight Breaking Dawn and looking for exclusive interviews with Twilight cast members? The Twilight Saga is the Ning community to hear the latest gossip or post your predictions for the final movie.

What’s happening on your Ning Network or how you are contributing to communities you’ve joined?

At Ning, we’re all about community. If you’re a current Ning Creator, you’ve probably picked up on this little point of pride; if you’re checking us out for the first time, we’re glad you’re here to learn more!

The Ning Platform is only as interesting and impactful as the 100,000 communities and millions of community members using the service daily. To this point, we see communities ranging a multitude of businesses interests, professions, geographies, expertise, hobbies, life-long connections, lifestyles… you name it – and this is exactly what we love to see happening with Ning.

In honor of Veterans Day and the millions of men and women serving our country, we wanted to bring to light a few veteran Ning communities. Two years ago, we first highlighted IAVA’s Community of Veterans, a private Ning community focused on serving Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Last year, we invited IAVA’s Community Manager, Jason Hasman, to Ning HQ. Jason, an Iraq veteran, is responsible for maintaining and growing Community of Veterans and we asked him how IAVA has turned into such a special and impactful community for veterans back from deployment:

While Veterans all have one thing in common through protecting and serving their country, we see Ning communities bubbling up to support and bring together segments of veteran populations. It’s been quite the year for the US military, with one issue being especially top of mind: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Though the policy has been repealed, burgeoning support and pride for LGBT civil servants and veterans is the focus for the Ning Network DOD Federal Globe.

Though Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell made national news, camaraderie and bonds formed by veterans leaning on the support of their peers extends beyond this deeply debated topic. For UW Vets for Vets, the Ning community forms the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chapter of the national organization, Student Veterans of America. Vets for Vets is a place for student veterans attending UW-Wisconsin to come together, learn about their benefits and support activities, and raise awareness amongst the greater UW-Wisconsin student population about student veterans’ experiences. The Ning community is open to all UW-Madison students, facilitating a place to open the lines of communication between active duty veterans, veterans and student-civilians.

Veterans and their families may face many challenges while reintegrating back into civilian life. The good news is that there are many services and communities to help soften this landing. Military to Medicine is a Ning community dedicated to bringing healthcare training and career opportunities to military families. The organization supports veterans, wounded veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, other service members and military spouses. The community includes new job openings and resources for veterans looking for guidance and support during their adjustment.

In the same vein, Lone Star Veterans Association is a community dedicated to supporting post 9/11 veterans and their families through “direction communications, advocacy, employment assistance, mentoring, service and social programming.” As the mentoring and networking arm of Houston’s Returning Veteran Initiative, the Ning community “provides the open support system and social outlets for service members transitioning back into civilian life through programs, events and peer mentoring.”

On the lighter side of things, military Ning communities also form around civilian interests. Military Sea Hawkers serves as the military chapter of the official booster club of the Seattle Seahawks, giving active service members and veterans a place to celebrate their favorite football team and root on the Sea Hawks with their comrades.

We’re truly glad to see these wonderful bonds and communities coming to fruition through Ning; thank you to all active service men and women and veterans for showing us how your camaraderie creates community.

We’re excited to announce a series of feature updates and improvements to Mogwee, Ning’s free mobile communication and collaboration service available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android and Web. Mogwee is a fun way to easily create “Hangouts” and stay connected with friends, family, co-workers, study groups and more, no matter where you are.

Join in seconds, easily invite friends, express yourself with a custom theme, then start enjoying our features. Some highlights:

Joining and Inviting

• Join Mogwee effortlessly using your Facebook account
• Easily invite lots of friends at once using Facebook, SMS or email

Interface

• Enjoy an improved interface, including the ability to choose custom themes
• Follow conversations more easily with threaded replies (just tap on a message to reply directly)
• On an iPad? Enjoy an updated iPad-specific interface

Features

• Share real-time photos from events
• Share your location (or any location) with a Hangout (iOS and Android)
• Get Hangout feedback on any topic with easy-to-create polls
• Browse and search YouTube directly within Mogwee to share videos with the Hangout (iOS and Android)
• Send fun animated gifts and actions, including sharks, crickets and Kung Fu squirrels
• Find out the answer to an all-important question: who is the Hangout’s Sheep Tennis champion?

Get started by downloading Mogwee for iOS or Mogwee for Android. Don’t have one of those devices, or want to use Mogwee on your computer? Hit up Mogwee for Web.

Enjoy, and please feel free to visit the Mogwee Blog for more information, or find us on Twitter and Facebook.

Every year, the Tuesday after the first Monday of November is America’s Election Day. Today, millions will exercise their civic duties by voting for elected officials and weighing in on local and state propositions.

As people head to the polls, we wanted to highlight a few current and past Ning political communities for individuals running for elected positions, and offer a few best practice tips for community managers and online political engagement. More generally, the below can be applied as you appeal to your constituency or intended audience, discuss what you’re all about, and tell your story in an authentic and meaningful way – all-the-while building a base of supporters and a community standing behind you:

Think Local
What matters most to your constituency and how will you effectively communicate your stance on particular issues? What’s on the minds of your supporters, and how do you intend to affect things on a local level? Let supporters (and skeptics) know where you stand, and how their voting for you and your win will positively affect things locally.

Have a first-hand approach
Welcome your supporters by writing first-hand accounts as you campaign via blog posts or quick status updates. If you use services like Twitter or Facebook to send updates, embed your streams front and center on your community. This not only gives people an up-to-date sense of what you’re focusing on, it gives them lightweight options to stay informed, and lets them know about upcoming speaking engagements and public appearances where they can meet you.

Make your online presence shine
Not every politician has a six-plus figure budget to work with for his or her campaign. The beauty of the Internet is that it has opened the doors to sharing information globally, letting you affordably tell your story and positions to anyone. As more and more people of all ages turn to the Web for their news and information, consider what’s top-of-mind for voters, and what they’re likely searching for and typing in Google and other search engines. Ensuring you includes terms, words and phrases important to voters will help you get the word out about your campaign when they search the Web. This practice, known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), can improve the volume and quality of traffic from visitors coming to your community.

If you create a campaign video, be sure to upload it to your Ning community, as well as third-party video sharing services like YouTube and Vimeo. Embed the video in your community or on blog posts and pages you create, and add a URL link back to your Ning community if you upload the video to third-party services.

Encourage your supporters to share your stance
Leveraging the social circles of your biggest supporters can lead to virality, spreading the word about your campaign faster. Adding to this, people trust brand recommendations made by friends, family and acquaintances – for many, the influences made by personal recommendations and support during elections is no different. Interesting and thought-provoking content you create and post is likely something people will want to share, and by enabling social sharing through services like Google+, Facebook and Twitter, you make it very easy for your supporters to let their friends and family learn more about you.