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In the midst of the Ning Storm, What’s Your Next Move?

In the midst of the Ning Storm, What’s Your Next Move? We would love to hear from you.

On April 15, 2010, the new CEO (Jason Rosenthal) of Ning Social Networks made a fairly shocking announcement: Ning will start "phasing out free Ning Networks". ...more

In the past 2 years, Ning has become one of the Industry leaders in Social Community platforms - - enabling just about anyone to create a free Social Network of their own - - with members and a full featured Online Community.

This has been a devastating blow for a lot of small networks who can't possibly see their way clear, to pay a monthly service fee. And some of this is not just affordability to a lot of Network Creators who own free sites, but accountability and principle - - doing the right thing. Many of the free sites have been built-up over years, with more passion than one can possibly imagine. There are free sites on just about any topic imaginable - - sites like: family sites, school sports, art, environmental, church, support sites, educational sites, sites for: pets, helping find abducted children, memorial, and tons of grass-roots type causes and non-profit sites. So, it has been a shocking experience for many. And, it's not over yet.

On the other side of the coin, simply stated: for most Ning Network Owners already paying for premium services, this is a relief and great news. Especially in regards to adding more value to their Networks - - the New Ning will possibly mean a true white label, less cross-breeding, and a chance to present Social Networks as their "own", as a real independent business, instead of "just another Ning". There are a lot of Advertisers that will not buy Ad Space from Ning Networks. It's just a fact. But, that should change too.

A lot has happened since the first announcement. For one, following the 2nd announcement on April 16, 2010 - - the much awaited Premium Package/Plans were announced on May 4, 2010. ...more

There have been tons of heated discussions going on, here on the Directory, Ning's Creator site, Spruz sites like the new Ning Refugees, and discussions taking place all over the Internet from TechCrunch to the Times. There has been a lot of screaming, loss of sleep, and even petitions. News headlines have been hopping with news about Ning, both positive and negative. Ning Competitors have been working overtime, making platform plans, changes, press releases etc...trying to offer the free Ning Networks a new home for those who can't stay on Ning.

Network Creators of free Ning Networks have been scrambling, trying to figure out what's next. So, what happens to networks whose owners don’t want to pay, can't pay, or don’t qualify for the educational sponsorship (announced with plans)?...more The Network Owners of these free Ning sites are in the process of trying to figure out an exit plan, looking for alternative platforms, and all within thirty days of the new plans’ arrival in July. Ning CEO, Jason Rosenthal makes promises of a “clear migration path...” But no one knows yet, what will actually be available for export. And most importantly, how will the exported data/content be utilized on other platforms?

What is your next move?

Will you stay with Ning and upgrade to premium?
Will you move to another platform?
Are you still trying to make a decision?
Will you delete your Ning Network, and hope to forget the whole experience?

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Permalink Reply by DrBob on May 6, 2010 at 10:55am

We have all had a free ride so far and helped Ning develop the companie's software. We have all spent hundreds of thousands of hours making Ning what is is today. What we have to remember is that we only volunteered with all of our hard work in our site development to help Ning grow to what it is today. Through our endless work we proved the dream of Ning to be the world's leading site of its kind. We brought viewers from around the world, encouraged them to be active in Ning's dream of being the social network of the future - To day! We all should be proud of what we have done to make Ning so successful! We, the site developers and promoters have done it and should be proud what we accomplished!

Our sites have found hundreds of lost children, help stop child abuse, spread the Holy word, fought against terrorism, been there for grieving people, raised money for disasters, aided people globally.

We all new that when Ning gained the status it has they would hire a money manager. His only job is to make Ning make money for the company. Family sites, school sports, art, environmental, church, support sites, educational sites, helping find abducted children, memorials, and tons of grass-roots type causes and non-profit sites don't make money, they lose money.

Now it is time to move on and put out global talent to work building another social network provider to number one in the world!

We, site developers and promoters of social dreams need to pickup and start again. We are holders of social needs. We have put all of our talent to supporting those needs we hold so highly that we would spend endless hours and talents to use supporting them. We have proven it to ourselves, our clients and to the world ( and to Ning). So lets move on and let's do it again, better next time with a site system that believes what we believe in. We have the proof. . . . We made Ning number one, and I am proud of that.

Robert Elliott PH.D (Dr Bob), Social Psychologist

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Permalink Reply by Spirit Mythos Ascension Hologram on May 6, 2010 at 10:56am

I am moving to WACKWALL as they allow you as many free sites as you wish, whereas you can only have one with Spurz. Also if WACKWALL sends you packing you can take ALL your data with you!

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Permalink Reply by The Celts on May 6, 2010 at 11:57am

I was willing to pay up to ten dollars a month but the 19.95 is not going to work for me. I had a small group but a fun close group of people and I am not going to ask for donations. I have had so many of the sites I belong to start to ask for donations--I suppose it will work for some but I would go broke sending money to all the sites I belong to--and I enjoy many of them. I wonder if it will stop there or will they raise prices in six months or in a year. I decided to go with Spruz and I am happy so far--is it Ning?--well no but that is OK I am learning something new and they are bending over backwards to help and listen to our ideas--Kudos to Spruz--just don't change on us in mid stream. Good luck to all of you Ning stayers and Ning goers! I guess I am a Spruzer now!
Maybe Spruzie--or maybe a Spruzette. lol

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Permalink Reply by JimS on May 6, 2010 at 1:14pm

I'm moving to spruz... I have 4 ning sites and I would stay if they offered a level between the lowest and middle. I need groups...

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Permalink Reply by Happycamers on May 6, 2010 at 1:45pm

I shut my site down last week. My network was not that big to warrant paying a fee. I have not started the site on another host as with past experiences you loose a lot of members. 2 years were put in to my site and a lot of work to make it a great place to be. So thank you ning for nothing.

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Permalink Reply by Transpartisan Alliance on May 6, 2010 at 2:00pm

I'm a social transformation change consultant. My NING experience is related to my work in the Political Transformation field of Transpartisan Politics.... http://network.transpartisan.net/

Now I'm preparing to set up other "nested" E-Community spaces both large and small. I can see that whatever I pick it will come with a small monthly fee for my needs. Thus, NING charging it's fees (no free option) is no big deal to me.

I am joining this conversation in hopes to learn about alternatives to NING and/or why folks think that NING will grow its FEATURES and remain a desirable choice going forward.

I've looked at BigTent, and put in 3 hours of work on a prototype site to get the feel of it. Not bad but a little shy on some features.

In closing I'm interested in analyzing the NING feature set value proposition compared to other services REGARDLESS OF THE NEW PRICING STRUCTURE QUESTION. Looking forward to helpful tips, insights and advice any of you have on who wins the best service/space for the small monthly fee buck. Thanks.

More about me here: http://waltsearch.wordpress.com/

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Permalink Reply by Carny Town on May 6, 2010 at 2:44pm

We will keep our carny town site on Ning. We will also upgrade to Pro which is an excellent value for our network. We have around 3250 targeted members which is pretty much the bulk of our industry. We will migrate another 53 social networks to web pages, wordpress and a few of those to Spruz. The mini plan is not satisfactory and the number of allowable members are way to low. If you are going to spend $20 for the plus plan it would only make sense to go to the $50 plan which allows for 25 text boxes...obviously they will be upgrading the available broadband to allow for this. Yes, are they being devious and acting like corporations. Uh, huh, yes, they are. Did we expect less of them. No. This has been in the wind for months. The big investors are drying up and they must return a profit. Yes, we will be deleting about 53 networks. And I do wonder how they will spin the loss of hundreds of thousands of networks, all at once? But, that is their problem. We will be too busy setting up new homes for people and new ways of communicating. This all would have to happen soon, in any case to adapt to the API standards....just a little sooner than we had planned. And no, we would not want to forget, just learn from the experience and admittedly we will learn a lot more on top of what setting up Ning accounts has taught us.

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Permalink Reply by JenSocial on May 6, 2010 at 2:47pm

Hi Carny Town,
Just to clarify, the Plus and Pro will allow up to 25 text boxes and 25 RSS feeds.

Thank you for your input. Wow, that's awesome on how many members and activity you have on Carny Town!

Best,
Jen

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Permalink Reply by Simply An Inspired Life on May 6, 2010 at 2:50pm

I am guessing that this is the beginning of the end for Ning - between the end of free sites and especially the staff downsizing. Does anyone have any good reasons to believe otherwise?

I have been looking for open-source alternatives - something that can never be taken away by corporate decisions. Of everything I have looked at so far, BuddyPress looks best, but I'm not convinced that it's ready for prime time. Any experience with moving to BuddyPress? Any other good alternatives?

By the way, I believe it is unfair to characterize Ning as "greedy." They are a business - not a charity. Unlike Google and Blogger, Ning has no other source of revenue to support their communities. Unfortunately, their change of business-model is likely to hasten their demise - as everyone loses confidence in their ability to survive.

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Permalink Reply by ladiesofthehat.net on May 6, 2010 at 2:59pm

Well I belonged to a woman's international organization that charged only a portion of their members, those who were the head of regional chapters. Then, the organization decided that ALL had to pay to play and they lost many many members. But, they weren't paying them in the first place. So what did they lose? I am not talking about moral values, etc., I am talking about a business decision. My own site has been funded by me for two years to the tune of $125 a month when you add in all the scripts I pay for...and I have never charged a member. And of course I won't even go into the countless hours of hard work developing a network of 1800 members and this network is PRIVATE by invitation only. So, now I am going to charge starting in 2011 or whenever NING creates that script to charge them. I will lose some members...but what have I lost? They didn't pay in the first place. I may not have enough paying members to foot the bills, but something is better than nothing. So I get it. I really get it. And I truly hope it is not the demise of NING. I suspect I will fold long before NING.

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Permalink Reply by ABCD in Action on May 6, 2010 at 3:04pm

You make some great points... If I'm really doing some of value, then I would hope that people would value it enough to pay for it... And if they don't, I'm not "losing" money if they leave since they didn't contribute money in the first place.

I'm guessing that this will vary depending on the site/group involved...