At www.soEmo.co.uk we have had quite a few related sites running on the
NING platform wanting to exchange links. A recent one promoted me to check out how NING was doing and I discovered some interesting news..
NING are phasing out their
free service to concentrate on enhancing the features and services offered to paying Ning Creators. Network creators will have to either
switch to a paid plan or leave Ning.
Further research on Social Times suggest the reasoning behind this change. "After Ning's CEO Gina Bianchini left the company, she was replaced by COO Jason Rosenthal. Jason has some big plans ahead including cutting the staff by 40 percent and removing the free version of the site.
The reason? While it wasn't stated, we can pretty much guarantee that Facebook Pages now owns the free community market."
NING state, "We recognize that there are many active Ning Networks for teachers, small non-profits, and individuals and it's our goal to have a set of product and pricing options that will make sense for all of them."
Apparently on May 4, 2010, NING will share the details of their new offering.
NING was probably the best known free web community platform hosting 2.3 million social networks. As a result I'm sure many running social networks on their platform will be disappointed and decide against paying.
PCWorld.com states, "It's yet the latest evidence that it's dangerous to assume that free services will be around forever, at least as free services. I wonder how many Ning networks will convert to paid services, how many will move elsewhere, and how many will just go away?"
Simon Duncan, Yorkshire & Humber Regional ICT Champion, explains, "If Ning can't succeed in letting users build free social network sites, it might not be a viable business model for the other guys, either - and you might have to pack your digital bags again in another year or two."
So if you have an emo scene related NING social network consider
directing your members to us. You can even help out on our site if you would like to stay involved with your community members.
I'm glad I have developed soEmo.co.uk myself! Lots more to improve though I know...
Resources:
creators.ning.com/forum/topics/ning-update-rolling-out-full
www.socialtimes.com/2010/04/ning-collapses-no-longer-free/
www.pcworld.com/article/194379/ning_no_more_free_networks.html
techcrunch.com/2010/04/15/nings-bubble-bursts-no-more-free-networks-cuts-40-of-staff/
yhictchampion.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/with-ning-no-longer-free-what-are-the-alternatives/
