The Latest from TechCrunch: Flux and Ning

The Latest from TechCrunch "Flux, a new social network joint venture between Viacom and SocialProject, had a limited launch in September.

Helge: I know and use Ning, no idea about Flux.

The platform is the cornerstone of Viacom’s social network strategy. Instead of building independent networks for MTV and its hundreds of other brands, they’ve built a distributed platform that shares users, infrastructure and content, but allows for distinct branding and community building around each property. And Flux isn’t just for Viacom - third parties are using it as well.

Helge: Viacome, yes, and...

When Flux launched it had only a few hand picked non-Viacom partners. Today they are opening up the platform for anyone that wants to join. Like Ning, it’s fairly easy to create a Flux social network. The look and feel can be customized via templates or by uploading your own CSS, and the network can be mapped to your domain name.

Helge: I like the feel of Ning. Have some experience, but the full and broad scale usage is still waiting.

Once created any Flux member can join your network with a single click. Since Flux is already gaining users via their launched Viacom and other properties, this gives young communities a deeper pool of users to draw from.

Helge: Social Media made easy...

And the fact that new users do not need to create a new profile, friends list or login credentials gives them a greater incentive to join. User data is exportable, Flux says, if the partner creates a privacy policy stating that.

Helge: I blog this to have the information for future needs.