2020 is right ahead, and it’s time to make plans, envision further achievements, and take new challenges. NING is ready to continue what it started back in 2019 - making further improvements to the platform. But first, let’s have a look at the most recent updates that we successfully introduced by the close of the previous year.
New customizable roles
You can now create custom administrative roles to make your network management easier. There are options to assign administrators for individual pages, content items, or features (for example, content moderation or member moderation).
Find more details here.
Higher security for networks with custom domain names
Network security has been significantly improved to prevent threats from possible DDoS attacks on networks that run on custom domain names.
To ensure greater stability and security of your network, please make sure to configure the DNS settings of your domain name as specified in this guide.
Users who purchased their domain name directly from NING do not need to make any changes as their domains are protected by default.
Friends Activity Feed
Previously, your network members could only view the activity of the entire network. However, now they have the opportunity to track the activities of specific members they follow.
To enable this feature, go to Social Site Manager > Site & Pages in your control panel and open the settings of the Activity widget. Then check the "Add friends activity tab" box.
Zapier integration
Thanks to the integration with Zapier, you can now set your network to automatically import content from different social networks and services. For example, when you add a post to your Facebook page, Twitter, or Medium, it will also be automatically posted to your blog.
Advanced search by members
Previously, network creators and administrators could add custom fields to member registration forms by using the Profile Questions feature.
Recently, we have also added the option to search for network members based on their answers to the profile questions. You can also decide what profile information will be displayed on profile cards in the list of members.
For more details, please read this guide.
Search by content
A new search bar has been added to network pages so that users can search for specific types of content (e.g., video, blogs, articles, events, groups).
Following comment walls
Users can now follow the updates on comment walls by receiving corresponding notifications. They will also receive notifications about new comments on their Member page.
That’s it for now. But there is much more to come! In the first quarter of 2020, we are planning to focus on boosting page loading speed and overall performance of networks. So stay tuned!
Your feedback regarding the new features is always welcome! Follow this link and tell us what you think!
Replies
Hi, regarding the Friends Activity Feed, I can't find the settings of the Activity widget under "Social Site Manager > Site & Pages", can you point me where it is?
Hi Vander, you go to the page where you have the activity feed, so if it's on your home page in your site & pages click on the Home page in the left menu of pages, yours is at the top of the list. In the right section you will see what is on the home page so click on the activity to open up it's options
Hope that helps
Bizz :-)
Curious about the future of the chat functionality. Is there a chance that eventually the chat will include focused dedicated chat for Groups inside a community? In other words, could there eventually be the general network wide chat and then chat for specific groups that members belong in?
Hello Justin!
Not in the nearest future, unfortunately :(
Best regards,
The NING Team
Thank you for these updates..... i have a couple of questions:
When someone follows a profile, does that person get a notification that a new person is following them?
I ask because absolutely no person inside my community EVER gets a notification, digest or notice on their content...
Is there any plans for adding a Share to Everyone button like we used to have in Ning 2?
Will there eventually be a method to GZIP or compress the content on our sites for faster page loads?
this seems to be the greatest thing holding back Ning communities in search
Are there any plans to add a place inside the backend of a page to specify an image which shows up on Facebook or Twitter when shared?
As i can see it, if these functions were added I would be the happiest person in 3 states. I can't imagine really needing much else..
Great Job Ning!
Hello Justin!
The person who is being followed is not supposed to get an email notification.
When there is an issue with email delivery, we usually ask for the email address of such members. If it a self-hosted email, we check the status of outgoing emails and make sure we are not blacklisted.
I believe your fourth question is related to the feedback we discussed here. So yes, we will look into it, but not now.
Unfortunately, I cannot answer the 2nd and 3rd questions yet. It will be reported as a feedback to our team, and once we have an update, I will let you know.
Best regards,
The NING Team
Thanks for the updates, all welcome! I have a query about advanced search...
Can the advanced search pick up one word on a string of text? I ask because I have tried to search for members who use the word 'flute' or 'guitar', within their profile. The advanced search does not pick these people, even though they use these words as part of a longer string.
Thanks
Hello again!
We have refreshed a few things on our end and now the search results should display all matches.
Please check it and let us know if everything is ok :)
Best regards,
The NING Team
Perfect, works now, thank you!
Hello Tim!
Advance search should find single words as well. I will send your network to our tech team so they can check the search.
Best regards,
The NING Team
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