If you’re looking for a good place to find Hurricane Gustav related information online there’s a good repository here: http://gustav08.ning.com. A guy named Andy Carvin used the site Ning to create a social network for all things related to the hurricane.

This is the second example I’ve seen of someone making effective use of Ning.  A few months ago I witnessed a social network being born on Ning that is related to the practice of competitive intelligence (CI).  I used to work with the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals and while they had ample opportunity to build an online network they never got one off the ground, so in the absence of an "official" CI social network a grass roots network was created on Ning and it is by far the most successful online collaboration that the CI sector has seen to date.

When I first heard about Ning I dipped my toe in the water by joining a small business network that quickly devolved into a kind of lame online version of lead sharing networks endemic to coffee shops in every city in America, so I just kind of wrote it off.  Now that I’ve seen Ning used effectively by a few folks I’m beginning to realize the power it places in ordinary folks’ hands.  Honestly any group can use it effectively and it literally takes zero technical knowledge to use, so I have a feeling I’ll see more and more groups using it in the future.