Ning to mixxt member import
We have just released a Ning member import that does all that and more. You even get to choose which profile questions are imported and what type of profile question it should be. The Ning-Import to mixxt lets you do some nifty stuff:

1. Upload the memberdata.csv file
2. Review the memberlist that is going to be imported (user data view of all records)
3. Review the profile questions, set question types
4. Automatically detect multiple choice answer options (you must select “multiple choice” for the detection to work)
5. Add further questions and multiple choice answers on-the-fly
6. Sort, rearrange and rename the profile questions
7. Automatically join the imported members into your network
8. Imported members automatically receive an activation email with a direct link to the activation system
9. Soon: custom messages for the activation emails

Member data review

Profile answers import

Your members will be able to login with their email address and choose a new password. Please keep in mind that you might run into legal issues if you import the member data to another service and don’t ask them for confirmation of the Terms of Service as well as the Privacy Policies. This is why the importer will not automatically activate the member accounts, they will have to activate their account themselves with one click. This keeps you on the safe side and respects the privacy of your members without impeding your networking goals.

Give it a try and create your own social network with mixxt! You can learn more about mixxt here: Welcome to a new social networking experience and a reliable Ning-Importer

Importing Ning content
Now this is a different topic altogether. Ning does not offer any content export at the moment. Grabbing content via the RSS feeds is not possible, as most feeds neither contain the full content nor the older posts. This leaves creators in a bit of a pickle. We have tried various options, but Ning will have to follow up on its promise to help creators export their content so we can provide a reliable content import. This leaves us with one major question most social networking alternatives will be asking themselves: What content do Ning network creators want to migrate? Are Ning creators interested in migrating blog posts, events, images or something else?

Ning content importing survey
Many services and developers are wondering what kind of content Ning network creators want to migrate to other solutions. We have come up with a small survey to help developers and services all over the world in providing content import features. Most of all the survey should help the Ning network creators themselves, as they will have a better chance of getting more options to migrate to. The results of the survey will be published (anonymized), so please invest two minutes of your time to tell us about your requirements: The Ning content importing survey

Premium migration service for selected networks
mixxt will help 20 selected networks to migrate to mixxt. The only thing you have to do to apply for this migration is to enter the survey about Ning content importing.

Ning exports and Backup options
Apart from the member data export in the Admin area of your Ning network, you can get a full data backup of your Ning by signing a release form and sending it to Ning via fax/mail: http://help.ning.com/?faq=3772 Your network will be deleted 30 days after requesting the data release, so you will have to close the network. Should you “only” want a backup for security reasons, the options slim down even further. You could automatically crawl and download all pages of your network by using a website archiving system (Windows: HTTrack Mac: SiteCrawler). This will not help you import your content to an alternative service, but it will at least save everything to your hard drive.

We believe mixxt is one of the best services when it comes to micro social networking, collaboration and the organization of content, events and groups. But more important than that is the necessity of free choice. We want you to have choices, one of them being mixxt.

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Since last week’s update, the new “Lifestream Administration” allows all admins who have created their own community with mixxt for free to determine what content (selected by content modules) and how many entries and/or days should be displayed. The “Lifestream” entry in the community administration leads to the following view:

Shoutbox

In addition to this configuration, we have added a feature which virtually revolutionizes our lifestream: We set up a “Shoutbox” for the administrator, who is now able to post urgent news, comments or instructions straight into the lifestream. This gives the community manager the chance to distribute targeted information to all members in a comfortable but unobtrusive way.

The shoutbox uses a WYSIWYG editor which includes the usual formatting options and even allows adding links, tables and images:

Delete entries

Another highlight: Via the new lifestream admin, individual activities can now be deleted from the lifestream. On one hand, this is useful to clean the lifestream from outdated shoutbox entries, but on the other hand it enables the administrator to influence the design and attractiveness of the main page in a new way.

Enjoy the optimisation of the main page in your community! And as always, the whole mixxt team highly appreciates our customers’ and users’ comments and feedback.

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Profile Settings
In the profile settings you can determine if and how your profile or your activities should be visible to others. Different privacy nuances are available: May anybody see your profile data? Should only members of the respective network be able to read your forum discussions? Would you like to permit only your friends to write on your pinboard? Is it OK if others see who you are friends with? In addition you can decide whether your profile might be indexed by search engines like Google or Yahoo.

Messages
mixxt lets you decide who may write messages to you: Anybody, nobody, only friends or only members of networks you belong to as well. In doing so you should carefully consider that the intention of some networks primary is to get in touch with new people.

Activity
If you are logged in to a network, a small green spot appears on your profile photo (in the member overview or on your MyPage) which lets others see whether your are online and available. Of course you can select who may see this online status and who may not.
If you look at other member’s profile pages, you leave so-called “footprints”. Would you like to leave these footprints or rather not? Here you should likewise have in mind that interaction and exchange are important for vital networks. However, if you like to look secretly at the profile of someone else, you can adjust that here. In return, you then do not see the footprints which others leave on your side. So please consider carefully ;)

Miscellaneous
This topic is expandable, of course, for now there’s only one setting: The question whether you want your profile being shown on the mixxt start page or outside mixxt in widgets. There will be a separate announcement about the widgets, so watch out, they’re really cool!

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But the name is surely not the only exciting part of our new mixxt-version. As wished by many users, we finally launched “the global settings” or (as techies would call it) “the global layer”. Within these settings users can administer their accounts including their profile and privacy-settings as well as their membership in the different networks. You can enter this top level of all your networks by clicking the “mixxt settings” in the upper green bar.

Personal Data and Profile Image
Under personal data you can maintain and update a few personal data as well as your e-mail address. It’s simple! The second menu option on one hand provides an overview of all profile pictures, which you use in the different networks. On the other hand you can determine a standard profile picture, which will automatically be set as your profile picture when you join a real name network. Also very simply!

Profiles and Mashups
In your profile mashups you can save and manage your personal web identity. You can select from many internet services (like twitter, last.fm, jabber, aka-aki or MySpace) and refer to your respective profile, your activities or your contents.

Network Settings
Here you get an overview of all the networks you are a member of. That’s where you can administer your profiles and directly enter the starting or profile pages of the networks. In addition you can decide whether the membership in a network should be displayed in your future (not yet implemented) global profile, or whether you would like to remain undercover.

User Account and Privacy
In your user account you can view your mixxt-ID (mixxt user account) and edit your password. Very important topic, a safe password is one condition for the safe work with mixxt. For the privacy settings we will publish an extra blogpost, since this feature really matters to you and to us.

Notifications
Notifications allow you to set up if and how you want to be notified about activities on mixxt. Private messages are mixxt mails, which you receive from other users. Other messages are e.g. system messages, like friendship requests. You can not only activate a notification via sms but also receive direct messages from mixxt in your twitter account.

Language Settings
Last but not least the language settings: mixxt is available in different languages (English and German at the moment) and offers to select your screen and search results’ language.

We hope that you could get an insight in our new global settings, now give it a try and check out our features! We will continue to describe further functions and innovations, which our “misiu” has brought along for you. We are always happy to answer your questions and to receive your feedback. Have fun with mixxt! :)

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