Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Romanian Society For Preventing Cruelty To Animals on April 18, 2010 at 11:47am

It's such a shame Ning stared begging for money in such a hard way. I personally will not pay anything for keeping my community open. They will destroy 2 years of hard work if i don't pay, nd if they do so, they don't deserve any of my money...I will keep open my Facebook group and fanpage and my Twitter page so i'm sure members will still keep in touch with me. Gud luck to all of u!

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Permalink Reply by Bob Carper on April 18, 2010 at 11:49am

Hi all....Bob Carper here....

Short and sweet....not like me because I get windy, especially on issues.

The decision to make Ning sites a "buy or fly" alternative for the social networkers of the world rivals that of the Japanese decision to launch the Pearl Harbor attack. Although many of us knew the Ning announcement was coming, many of us lounged in our comfort zones. The Ning decision made life miserable for many social networkers. End of comment.

What am I doing about it? Simple...I am building five alternative social networks to replace the five Ning sites I presently "own." When done, I will invite the membership of each of my existing social networks to join one or more of these alternative social networks. I will also be porting over content such as pix, videos, blog posts, etc. I will not be porting over member profiles except my own. I will also be looking to create additional free social networks.

My goal is to be open and honest with any existing or new member that wishes to sign up on my alternative social networks. For further info on what I'm doing, you are invited to call me at 240-477-6033, or e-mail me at bobcarper99@yahoo.com. Please mark the subject "NING Alternative Site Info."

My alternative site URLs will be published very shortly. I am working with several options some of which you have already mentioned in these comments.

Cheers
Bob Carper

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Permalink Reply by Jaap Verduijn on April 18, 2010 at 4:22pm

"(...) The decision to make Ning sites a "buy or fly" alternative for the social networkers of the world rivals that of the Japanese decision to launch the Pearl Harbor attack (...)"

Yes, of course that's just about the same thing. Good comparison, matey: thousands of US Navy personnel being killed or wounded... and a bunch of freeloaders' networks coming down. Yes, these are similar issues indeed.

Go make your funny little statement to those who went down with the Arizona. But do it silently - every now and then a surviving veteran visits his shipmates' watery graves, and such a veteran might take exception to your remarkable view on human values.

Truly amazing, the "emotions" triggered by the possibility of having to pay a few dollars a month.

Jaap Verduijn.

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Permalink Reply by Marco De Veglia on April 18, 2010 at 12:19pm

Any free Internet service can disappear from one day to the other. Ning is no exception. They hoped that they could make it with the ads + the premium services and they didn't. Or maybe they hoped to get critical mass and get bought from a big guy and it didn't happen.

The new CEO does what he is supposed to do: work out a plan to make money out of this thing. It's not easy, because Ning is just one of the platform and while probably the best, it's still not the only one and you can always switch to a Facebook group and get most of the things you get from Ning for free (and the added advantage of enormous potential traffic).

Frankly I cannot simpatize with all the people with free network whining they cannot pay. If they cannot pay, it means it's just a hobby. Even if it's a no-profit group, if it's NOT a hobby you have to find out how to get some money to fund it. In short, if your group is not even making the money to pay for the Ning monthly fees, maybe it's not adding enough value to the world to justify its presence.

Personally I have a small free group of people who are happy to interact on the Ning and talk about the topic of "making money online in Italy". This change in the Ning policy is a good wake up call: I have been thinking for a long time what to do about this group: devoting more effort in order to monetize, let it die or move it to Facebook.

Now I know. I will ask the group members if they want to pay a monthly fee to be in the group and get more services. If they say yes, I have a business and move to Ning paid services. If they say no, then I say "ok goodbye, see you on the Facebook group" and I know I DON'T have a business (it's still a nice hobby).

It's very simple: if this is a business then you shall make some money (even not for profit) and you can pay for the paid service. If it's not a business, it's a hobby then why on earth Ning shall spend its money for your hobby? I don't see why.

Having said that... Ning shall understand it's a business too. At least 3 things are missing and mandatory in my opinion:

1) A membership fee system (SocialGo has it) so you can manage subscriptions (today you have to do it manually and it's ridiculous)

2) A selective content management service so you show things to free and to paying members (today impossible)

3) An autoresponder system OR easy integration with Aweber or Getrsponse (now there is only the toy broadcast tool)

There are ways to make money with groups and memberships. However, today Ning, with all the bells and twistles, hasn't the building blocks for that. It better add them fast or it will become just an expensive toy for people who want to "have a community" (not a great business model)

Marco

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Permalink Reply by Jesus Christ Is Hope For Nations on April 18, 2010 at 3:02pm

This whole materialistic society is going to bankrupt everyone, the world is so greedy. I never ask for money and we are a ministry.

There are a lot of people out there that really cannot afford the fees for these sites, so they just go to those who try to do just that, keep it free.

Personally I would rather give everything I have to those who have nothing, that have no voice in the world, and are forgotten, abused and taken advantage of, stepped on and who are just trying to survive in the world of the greed.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh Simpson on April 18, 2010 at 2:35pm

Number 1 Ning SUCKS on my Nokia Internet PC mobile unit! Number 2 I guess you have never done Ning on a mobile platform as that stupid Ning seal you have interferes with trying to see what is being typed! Number 3 as a 12 yr vet of Net marketing there is ALWAYS another way to skin a cat like Groupley that announced in TechCrunch they were eagerly waiting to bring the projected 70% of the free and even paid members to their site. So I am not too concerned.

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Permalink Reply by Scary Finds on April 18, 2010 at 2:36pm

I'm floored. What does this really mean? Will there be an increase in premium fees too? My social network is geared towards being a horror community my SITE SCARYFINDS.COM. I was just about to start marketing for Halloween 2010. I would like to keep my background and colors in the same design as my current setup in the event of a switch in networks. Is that possible? I pay for premium services now , but do not want to pay. Now that I am able to pay for marketing, this happens. I suppose I will hold up marketing for now.

I see some of the other suggested sites....are pricing affordable?

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Permalink Reply by JenSocial on April 18, 2010 at 2:41pm

This may help:
Alternative Solutions to Ning

We won't know for sure what constitutes premium, how much, or what - - until Ning makes next announcement on May 4, 2010. Also, see announcement links on our home page, upper left. They will catch you up. BTW, if you're already premium, you probably don't have anything to worry about.

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Permalink Reply by Scary Finds on April 18, 2010 at 3:18pm

thanks for the help and link.

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Permalink Reply by Jesus Christ Is Hope For Nations on April 18, 2010 at 2:51pm

Hello, I am very unhappy about this, as another site I have been usinbg for years is going to start charging and I already pay postage. So I have moved to webs.com it has somewhat of a social network and are adding new things all the time, they are fee, forgot up to what bandwidth, but there is freedom in graphic use great web hosting. So all my mnessages I post there, and also started Social network on at Spruz last night.
They are gearing up to get a lot of new business.

I cannot afford to pay for these things or I will stick to Facebook, I have cut every single expense at home to nothing because I am a senior and because of physical disabilities am not able to work but a couple days a week now, really need to retire.

This is a real hardship, if I have to pay I will have to move the groups elsewhere.
thank you,
shanna

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Permalink Reply by Friends of musicians on April 18, 2010 at 3:08pm

What I find most disconcerting is how NING announced this change, then won't let us know just how much in fees they are going to charge- they are now making us wait TWO AND A HALF WEEKS before telling us whether our NING sites will cost $10 a month or $300 a month! This stinks, as we are sort of paralyzed in the meantime, waiting for this pricing information. >:( I mean, if I have to pay $10/month no big deal, so I don't want to start building my site up elsewhere over that or spending time researching alternatives for NOTHING. But getting my members to cough up a lot of money every month WOULD be a big deal and I'd have to move elsewhere. Thus I could be using this 2 weeks in the meantime.
But we have NO IDEA what the pricing will be and basically have to sit around on our hands ranting for 2 more weeks now until they 'deign' to tell us what their fees will be. WTHeck??? Just another example of not being treated with consideration. It makes me feel like we're all just being jerked around.

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Permalink Reply by Scary Finds on April 18, 2010 at 3:37pm

That's my concern too.
Ning had different pricing for their premium services at one time and anyone who signed up before the price increase would stay at the same pricing without change. I wonder if they would still abide by it.

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