New! Invite members from additional services like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Windows Live

[Eric Suesz]

We're happy to report that one of our Product Roadmap projects is now ready to go: improvements to the invitation system. Some of the goals of this project were to make it look nicer — and it does look nicer! But there were other details that may be less apparent that we think will massively improve the usability of invitations and encourage members to invite more people. So, what's new?

New services!

First and foremost, we added a bunch of new services. The big ones: You and your members now have the ability to invite your Facebook and LinkedIn contacts. These are huge services, and they will surely lead to an increase in the number of invitations and members. They also work great for almost all NCs, whether your network is focused on shout-outs and silliness or serious business networking. Hotmail has gone away, but it has been replaced by Windows Live, the much more widely used umbrella service from Microsoft (used quite a bit internationally, in particular). We've removed AOL from the list of services supported. It was rarely used, and it was the most likely candidate for removal.

More friendly interface

You'll notice that the interface for this is now a lot more friendly. Even better, you'll notice that you can now drag and drop the services and even reorder them into the order you prefer on a straightforward, tabbed interface. Want to find a particular friend? The friends list shows up automatically for each servie that is enabled. Start typing and the live search will look them up. No endless scrolling to find them. Need the invite link? Click on it, and we'll paste it directly onto your clipboard. All in all, it's much easier to use.

Invitation settings

Everything related to invites is now in one spot, including invite sharing permissions and links you can share and recreate for invitation purposes. You'll see these settings as an "Options" drop-down menu when you're on an Invite page. Or, find them on your dashboard under Settings > Invitation.

More control

You now have more control over invitations. For example, don't like Yahoo for invitations? You can drag that one out of the mix. We expect most of you will want to add most or all of the supported services, but if there are some that don't work for you, some of them can be completely removed.

Integrated with Events

The new interface replaces the old one and is already enabled for you with the exception of Facebook and LinkedIn invites. Head to the new Settings > Invitation area of your dashboard and drag these new services to the active area. If you've already set up a Facebook Sharing App, this will work automatically. For a LinkedIn App, you'll be prompted to add a snippet of code. If you've never set up either of these types of apps, you'll be prompted to set them up.

How to turn things on

Head to the new Settings > Invitation area of your dashboard and drag the new services you want to use into the active area. If you've already set up a Facebook Sharing App, this will work automatically. For a LinkedIn App, you'll be prompted to add a snippet of code. If you've never set up either of these types of apps, you'll be prompted to set them up. Need some guidance? Check out our Help Center for more info about how to Invite People to Your Network.

The only caveat to be aware of with these improvements is that there is one limitation imposed by Facebook and one by LinkedIn when it comes to invites. Facebook requires that invitations be sent individually, so you won't be able to select all of your Facebook friends en masse. LinkedIn has a limit of 10 invites per day. Other than that, you should find that these invitation improvements are sure to be another way to grow your membership, so feel free to turn them on and encourage your members to invite more people whenever you're ready.

[Eric Suesz]

It sounds like some detail of your Facebook app isn't set up correctly like the URL. Can you work with our team via a ticket, Lisa?

[Lisa B]

Hey Eric...was doing so last night..still not working though this side.

Deleted every app and restarted but no cigar :P

Waiting for the next reply from my ticket.

[dave]

Nice work Eric, looks great :-)

But i also receive the following error 

API Error Code: 191
API Error Description: The specified URL is not owned by the application
Error Message: Invalid redirect_uri: Given URL is not allowed by the Application configuration.

[dave]

I should also add this is when i try and sign in using FB, i'm not sure whats going on. :(

[Monica Diaz]

Hi Dave,

This may be due to something in your Facebook Sign In app's settings. It looks like you're using the same app for both your Facebook Sign In function and your Facebook Sharing function. Have you checked out our Facebook Sign In troubleshooting guide at http://www.ning.com/help/?p=8523? I think that'll help!

Otherwise, submitting a ticket like Eric suggests is definitely the next best route to take.

[Eric Suesz]

That's definitely not an error message I have seen, dave. If you can shoot our team a message from your Support link, we'd like to take a closer look. 

[John Valentine]

This would be amazing if Linkedin didn't limit us to 10 friends per day, it will take me 100 days to invite all my linkedin connections. Not nings fault obviously, and I like the new interface, thanks. I love the way the network keeps evolving, makes it an exciting place.

[John Valentine]

Tried it for linkedin and got 'Sorry, processing failed. Please try again later.' - any ideas why?

[Trieu Thanh Tuan]

I have over 1000 friends on Facebook, so I have to click 1000 times to invite. LOL. Hope Ning will make a check box like Google and Yahoo.

[dave]

Actually, you don't, Just invite one,   Click find friends..Click one to invite, Click send message and then you can enter them manually when the face box appears it's easy and quick.

[Armani Rouse]

im having issues with my facebook button dave, it opens no pop up window for me to sign in, any help?

[dave]

Hi Armani, The pop up window i was talking about is in the invites area,  The sign in issue i am also having a problem, it's bringing up error ? I have not bothered to redo api as this does not seem to have any effect, if you here any news i'm all ears :-) I would like to no what the problem might be , as i have a lot of people that like to sign in with fb.