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Conversation on Twitter with former Mode Media/CEO, Former CEO of Ning

May 18, 2016

For what it's worth, finally "heard" from someone involved with Ning, the former Ning CEO - - and (just found out today, Former of Mode Media/CEO, as well), Samir Arora. It wasn't much, but great to hear he is listening. Does this mean Ning will improve their communication dialogue with Ning Creators? Who knows? But, maybe, just maybe, they will start listening, or at least tell Ning Creators their plans for the future of this platform. Honestly, this is the first time in 2 years I have heard one word from this company, other than support calls, "...working on the issues, updates to come..." AND the announcement: Notice of 2016 Storage Limit and Pricing Plan Changes. I just wanted to share this with you all. If you want to follow on Twitter, click on one of the links, below.

I will continue to design sites on Ning, help maintain existing sites. BUT, I am about to embrace the new version of phpFox! I love what I'm seeing.

@samirarora Great someone involved @Ning listening finally. LOVE #Ning but must have reliable platform/open dialogue https://t.co/QHfZbzdxSD
— JenSocial Directory (@jensocial) May 18, 2016

@Ning @samirarora You set up phone intros with several Ning Site Owners, when @ModeMedia first purchased #Ning. I thought you cared? Show it
— JenSocial Directory (@jensocial) May 13, 2016

@samirarora Thanks! We all feel lost. Had no idea you were no longer #Ning CEO. ZERO communication updates/overall. About to embrace @phpFox
— JenSocial Directory (@jensocial) May 18, 2016

This Blog post started out with sharing a very short Twitter response from the former CEO of Ning and Mode Media. It's turned into an active discussion on Ning alternatives. Join the conversation.

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Comment by ABCD in Action on May 19, 2016 at 12:06pm: I should also mention that there is a community of ex-Ning folks over on the Jamroom forum, which is nice since we are able to help each other with the transition.

Comment by Indie Gospel on May 19, 2016 at 12:05pm: Hi Jen,

I saw this coming years ago and started a dialog with Jamroom. That has eventually evolved into a well documented, tried and true process called Ning to Jamroom.

Basically, I allowed my Ning network to be the "Guinea pig" for an import and now Jamroom has moved many Ning networks over and perfected the process.

We also have someone in the JR forum who used to be with PHPFox who finds the new Jamroom platform superior.

So I just thought you should be aware that PHPFox is not the only game in town. In my opinion, it's not the best option for those looking for an exit path.

At Jamroom, the development team is accessible and responsive. So refreshing, the opposite of Ning. In fact, the support is unbelievable.

The platform is a flexible modular design which easily adapts to the needs of any social network. The skin is template driven, allowing for powerful admin level control and mods.

A sitebuilder makes building new pages easy for non-coders. I was even able to use a tool to construct my own plug-in module and build it out to my own needs (even though I'm not a programmer). Someone with your skill set could do miracles with that tool, and sell modules in the marketplace.

My reborn Ning network is now running on the Jamroom platform. I have automated advertising, member stores with full ecommerce, I can map domains to profiles, and a whole host of things that were impossible on Ning. indiegospel.net

I hope you will give this platform due consideration, I don't work for them and am not an affiliate, just a former (low skill level) Ning creator who's network was saved by their team and who is now a "happy camper".

Comment by JenSocial on May 19, 2016 at 11:58am: ABCD in Action, nice to hear you're having such a great experience with Jamroom! Best of luck with everything. =) Nice to hear from you.

Comment by ABCD in Action on May 19, 2016 at 11:54am: We've switched two of our networks from Ning to Jamroom over the last 8 months (We chose the hosted option, so we get VIP treatment) and are really happy. Lots of features, responsive/helpful support, on-going development and updating, and a staff person who knows Ning well and can assist with the migration. We're going to switch a third site this summer. More complicated for us non-techs folks but easy enough to learn and again great support through forum and tickets.

Comment by JenSocial on May 19, 2016 at 11:50am: Hi Troy,

Thanks for the excellent info. I'm working on getting the software - - thinking I should wait for 4.4. But yeah, would love to go ahead and start playing, if you're absolutely sure you want to share. If I could just look around, that would be great. I have exhausted all I can do online (that's available). I'm reviewing the official manual pages, now.That is very generous and kind. Hopefully, about to start design on the first site for phpFox.

On the Developer list, just makes me happy that at least development can be done. As opposed to Ning, who did everything possible to STOP 3rd party development, nuts if you ask me. Plus the number of Developers being small, just gives us more room to offer some great apps.

I like the Managed hosting for some Clients.

On hosting, I would have never even considered Ning if I had been told the truth from day one. I was told by one of the Founders (will leave it at that - - and still have that email), we would always own our OPEN source, and we would always be able to customize and edit that source. I lost about 30k to investors in my first site, due to this promise. It's such a long long story, will stop there. Bottom line, instead of rolling over and playing dead, I decided to make that money back by embracing Ning and designing sites.

Best,

Jen

Comment by JenSocial on May 19, 2016 at 11:36am: Steve,

I'm sure there will be lots of challenges on phpFox, as any platform. I did reach out to them about the bug report. There are less than 100 left, and very minor stuff from what I read. This is typical of any script based platform. phpFox version 4.4 (in a few months) should fix the remaining outstanding bugs.

Yeah, designed my first Ning site in August of 2006! 100s of those Clients are just for design tweaks here and there. But 100s are for new design, and many I sold them on Ning.

Comment by JenSocial on May 19, 2016 at 11:32am: Friends of DM, whois still reports the Owner as Mode Media. That was the first thing I looked at, when I saw someone mention it was for sale on Sedo.

Comment by Friends of musicians on May 19, 2016 at 10:16am: I asked Sedo, which is taking offers on the domain, to check into it.

Thanks, it will be interesting to know. It does seem bizarre, but I always thought "whois.com" was legit?

Comment by Steve Cyrkin on May 19, 2016 at 10:00am: Friends of the DM, I think that's some sort of a scam. I asked Sedo, which is taking offers on the domain, to check into it.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin on May 19, 2016 at 9:57am: I looked a PHPFox a while back and was quite interested Moving my site, though, is such a huge project with so many downsides that I'm concerned about doing it.