Additionally, as a member of this social network, there are many options available to help you manage your privacy settings and ensure that you’re comfortable with who can view your content. With the tools you can:

• Choose the privacy settings for your profile information and profile page
• Limit who can view your photos, videos and blog posts
• Restrict comments on your photos, videos and blog posts
• Approve comments on your blog posts before they're posted
• Approve comments on your profile page before they're posted
• Control which actions appear in the Latest Activity
• Control who can send you messages
• Block messages from someone

Choose the privacy settings for your profile information and profile page

When you join a network group on Ning, you have full control over how you display your information on Ning and all of the social networks you join. In addition to any profile you create on a social network, you will also have a Ning profile. Your Ning profile allows you to keep track of activity across all of your social networks, including a list of all the social networks you belong to, the latest activity on these social networks and all of your friends across these social networks. By default, any private social network you belong to will only be viewable by you. You can change the privacy level of your Ning profile to be visible to just you, to just your friends, to members of your social networks or to everyone. If you'd like to make your Ning profile private, change your privacy settings to visible to just you. With this setting, you won't be searchable by name or email address, and your profile will not appear anywhere on Ning.com.

Regardless of the privacy settings on your Ning profile, you must be signed into Ning.com in order to view your Ning profile or anyone else's. This prevents search engines, such as Google, from crawling Ning profiles and bringing them up in search results.

When you join now a network you can choose what information about yourself is displayed to other members. You can opt to not display your birthday, age, gender and location on your profile page. You can also change the privacy level of your entire profile at any time. You can set your profile to be visible to just you, to just your friends on that social network, to only members of that social network, or to everyone. If you've changed the privacy of your profile page, visitors who don’t have access to your profile page will only be able to view your name, photo and any basic information you’ve decided to keep public.

To change the privacy setting of your profile page on a social network, click the "Account Settings" link in the upper right corner of the page. Once there, click the "Privacy" link in the left column. Under “Who can view your profile page and friends?” choose the option you feel comfortable with.

To opt to not display your gender, birthday or age on a social network, click on the "Account Settings" link in the upper right corner of the page. On this page, you can select “Don’t display my birthday or age” from the dropdown menu below your birthday and check the “Don’t Display” box next to your gender.

Limit who can view your photos, videos and blog posts

You can change your privacy settings so that only you or your friends can view the photos, videos and blog posts you add to a social network. To do this, click the "Settings" link in the upper right corner of the page. Once there, click the "Privacy" link in the left column. Under “Who can view your photos, videos, and blog posts by default?” choose the option you feel comfortable with.

You can also decide who is able to view your photos, videos and blog posts on a social network when you add the photo, video, or blog post. At the time of upload, you can choose whether the it is viewable to just you, just your friends or to anyone. If you want to change the privacy setting on a specific photo, video or blog post after it has been uploaded, go to the detail page for that photo, video or blog post.

• For photos, click the “Edit Photo” link below the photo.
• For videos, click the “Edit Video” link below the video.
• For blog posts, click the “Edit Post” link in the “Admin Options” box.

Select the new privacy setting you would like and click "Save Changes." By default, when you upload a photo or video or add a blog post, anyone on the social network can view it.

Restrict comments on your photos, videos and blog posts

You can decide who can comment on your photos, videos and blog posts. To change this setting, click the "Settings" link in the right column of the page. Once there, click the "Privacy" link. Below "Who can comment on your photos, videos and blog?" you can choose to allow just you or just your friends comment on your photos, videos and blog posts. By default, any member of the social network can comment on the photos, videos and blog posts you’ve added to the social network.

Approve comments on your blog posts before they're posted

You can decide if you want to approve comments to your blog posts before they’re posted. To do this, click on the “Settings” link and go to the “Privacy” page. Under “Do you want to approve comments before they appear on your blog?” select “Yes – let me approve comments first.” By default, when someone comments on your blog posts, these comments appear immediately.

Approve comments on your profile page before they're posted

You can decide if you want to approve comments to your profile page before they’re posted. To do this, click on the “Settings” link and go to the “Privacy” page. Under “Do you want to approve comments before they appear on your comment wall?” select “Yes – let me approve comments first.” By default, when someone comments on your profile page, these comments appear immediately.

Control which actions will display in Latest Activity

You can control which of your activities appear in a social network’s Latest Activity stream. To do this, click on the “Settings” link and go to the “Privacy” page. Under “Which of your actions should display on Latest Activity?” choose which actions you’re comfortable with appearing in the Latest Activity stream on the main page of the social network. You can also delete any of your actions from Latest Activity Stream immediately on your profile page or on a social network's main page by clicking the "x" next to the activity you'd like to remove. By default, most of your actions on a network will result in a Latest Activity item. This includes new content and comments you add, new friendships you confirm, new updates to your profile, and when you RSVP to events.

Control who can send you a message

When you join a social network on Ning, you can only send and receive messages with specific kinds of people. You can exchange messages with the Network Creator and any Network Administrators, the group creator and administrators of any groups you choose to join, and anyone on the social network you're friends with. To control who can send you messages, be mindful of who you add as a friend on a social network and be aware that anyone you make a friendship with on that social network will be able to contact you across any social network on Ning that you both belong to. If you don’t know someone who has requested to be your friend, your best bet is to ignore their friend request.

Block messages from someone

If you no longer want to receive messages from someone, you can block them from contacting you via private message in a few simple steps. Find a message from the person you want to block in your Inbox and click on it. Above the message, click the "Block messages" link. You can also block messages via a member’s profile page. This way, you can block messages from someone to prevent them from ever sending you a message. Below their profile photo, click the “Block Messages” link.

• Guidelines for Publishing Information Online
• Staying Safe on Social Networking Sites
• Safe social networking
• Safety FAQs by Ning