Ustream and Ning – Bringing the Power of Streaming Video to Your Community

[Phil McCluskey]

Today, we’re rolling out a new Ning Extension: Ustream. Ustream lets you record and broadcast video with just about any camera — including one you may already have built-in to your computer. The Ustream integration with Ning is designed to be easy to use so you can be up and running within minutes and play streaming video directly to visitors and members on your Ning social site. This is an excellent tool for Ning Creators who want to harness the power of video, and it’s now available for all Ning Plus and Pro subscribers.

To get started, simply navigate to the Ning Extensions section of your Dashboard and click “Activate” next to the Ustream listing. If you don’t already have a Ustream account, you’ll need to create one, but the process is very easy. Once it's activated, Ustream will live as a pull-out tab on the side of your Ning social site. When your Ustream channel is live, you’ll see a green indicator dot. When it’s dormant, you’ll see a red indicator dot. Your members can click on the tab at any time to watch live or recorded video from your channel in a pop-up window that is easily dismissible. You can even have live chats during videos in the Ustream Extension window, making this an excellent way to get your members engaged in a unique, live event no matter where everyone is located around the world.







Whether you want to use video to run a workshop, talk through a tutorial, or broadcast a live party, you’ll find the Ustream Ning Extension easy to set up and use. If you’re a music artist, what better way to do a live pre-show warm up to get fans around the world pumped for your upcoming concert? If you teach a class remotely (or want to), this could be just about the best thing that could happen to you. Maybe you just want to run a live Q&A session to get closer with your community members. The possibilities are ripe for experimentation. Best of all, it’s free for Ning Plus and Pro.

So how will you use it? Feel free to share your ideas below.

[Lynda Hunter]

Ah thanks Verna, I can see how to do it now!  Many thanks :-)

[Ben Ruben]

Sorry for jumping in so late here, but if someone could give me a simple yes or no it would be greatly appreciated, since the link for the walk through seems to be down. If I enable UStream on my Ning network is there a way that I can either create a "DIY" channel and let users who sign up with us to have the ability to host their own show live and take questions? Or if I cannot create a dedicated channel for this, is there anyway that I can create a way for potential clients to still host their own DIY show and take live questions, and is this available for more than one potential user on our Ning network? Appreciate your time and help

[Eric Suesz]

Hey, Ben. This won't allow all members to start their own broadcasts. It's designed as a way for you the owner of the site to record and offer for playback live video to your members. 

[Troy Marquis]

wish it had a way to keep the video u select off the list on that window instead of taking us to ustream