Ning

Ning is a social network site which groups networks by subjects or as it says 'passion'. It is by invitation only so people who have a common interest in say pottery or a sport can have a private social network. There is the option to make your Ning network public. At the moment there is no keyword search function for people to search for networks with similar interests, however that is to be introduced shortly. A drawback to this free site is that you have to accept the advertising which comes with the site so you may have the Temperence League network being bombarded with advertisments for breweries. For a fee however you can have this advertising removed. This is a site site with relevance for libraries which may want to start for example reading groups or other library interest sites for patrons. http://www.ning.com