One of my goals while I was online editor for the Spartan Daily a semester ago was to build some form of social networking site in which campus organizations could form groups, post photos, post stories and connect with other groups. At the time I made myspartandaily.ning.com, but I didn’t have time to customize the look and feel of the site and learn how to utilize the features that were available then.

After seeing a handful of newspapers begin to take advantage of ning.com’s services, I thought I would give it another go with spartanlife.ning.com. Much has changed since I first created an account. The interface is extremely easy to use, allowing for flash photo galleries, videos, embeddable widgets, etc.

We have not made it live yet, and I need to talk to the Daily’s executive editor Sara Spivey about if we are going to notify clubs of its existence first and then promote it in the paper or vice versa. Also, currently on the top of the middle column we have published the latest story from the Spartan Daily Gold Fold section, our features section. Should this remain, or perhaps a latest blog post from a featured club/organization rotated on a weekly basis?