Tuesday, May 04, 2010

New Ning Plans: The Good, The Bad, and the Unknown

As they had promised, today Ning announced a new strategy for their host-your-own social networking service.  The following notes are from my reading of the blog announcement, the similar announcement page, and the new FAQ.  They are not definitive and are subject to possible misreadings; however, I did have a full discussion today with John McDonald from Ning during which he clarified several questions I had about the new plans, and I believe my notes here to be accurate.  Please feel free to comment with clarifications or corrections.

Because I've been at the USDLA conference today and have limited time, I'm not going to give a complete overview of the new plans.  Please refer to the links above for that detail.  I'm going to focus on what the impact of these new plans will be, particularly, for educators and the educational community.

The Good:
  • $2.95 per month for Ning Mini networks is a really good price point.  While it does not allow for Clay Shirky's "failure is free" kind of experimentation, it should make it relatively easy on the pocket to try a network out.  And because there's an easy upgrade path if a network is successful or needs more features, it seems like a really good price point if you have to charge some amount.  
  • Annual payment plans will help.  While still only credit card and PayPal, but with the promise of future alternatives, just having the ability to pay for a year at a time should allow educators to more easily budget for the expense of a network and submit for reimbursement.
  • A simple export feature will provide some peace of mind, both for backing up a network and/or for transferring data to other services.  It will be interesting to see if there are other services which will be able to do the full data import from a Ning network, but if they can it does provide options and a sense of security.
  • Single sign-on / alternative authentication has been a highly desired feature from Ning in the past, and will potentially allow institutions and organizations with existing membership bases to incorporate access to Ning into their existing services.  It seems like there will be a couple of other somewhat intriguing options here as well, including logging in using Facebook or Twitter authentication.  What's not entirely clear in the material--or, according to John, to Ning yet--is if these features will be included as part of the Pro service or an extra fee.  
  • API access to networks will be a plus to organizations really wanting to research the value and use of educational social networking.  Several graduate students have looked closely at my Classroom 2.0 network and this kind of access will make deeper scholarship possible.
  • $19.95 for full branding control.  The marketing message that you will now have more control at a cheaper price with the Plus network fee is, in my case, pretty true.  We'll talk below about videos and bandwidth, but for me I'll be paying less and getting more for most of my networks.
The Bad:
  • No fully-free networks will reduce experimentation, at least on the Ning platform.  The ability to start a network (or many) for free has been, I believe, a big factor in the adoption of Ning and the lack of a completely free option does change things.  What's not stated blatantly here, but which I believe John said at one point and which seems to be true, is that Ning themselves will no longer be doing any ad-serving; this, of course, means that even the base-level network has to have a fee.
  • If you don't pay even the minimal amount, currently your network and all its content will disappear 30 days after the July shift.  While Ning will likely provide some capability to get a network back within some limited period of time, the idea that created content is not "grandfathered in" and retained even in some format feels bad.  I'm not sure how bad it actually is, but I'm hoping they reconsider this in some way and while not allowing those networks be functional, it would be nice to have the content statically available for posterity.  I'm also thinking about all the networks that will be created in the future--the idea that if for some reason you stop paying Ning all of the contributions "disappear forever" will be a mental and real roadblock to using the service.
  • Not having groups in the Mini offering is too bad.  A lot of the vibrancy of networks comes from the ability of network members to be proactive, and creating a group is one of the great ways to encourage that.  
The Unknown:
  • The "major educational company" that has no name could be good or bad.  I'm assured it will be good, but I can imagine more than one large educational company whose providing Ning Mini networks for free would be looked upon with suspicion.  What's also not spelled out is what kind of control that company will have, their ability to market or message to the creators and members of the networks, and if there will be any advertising by that company on the networks.  Again, I've been assure that this will be handled well, but until that time this is an unknown.  And for those who's networks depend on functions that are not included in the Mini package, this won't help.
  • The wording in this same paragraph about the free Mini networks is ambiguous.  It could be read, and in fact seems to read, that networks can be created by educators for student networks in primary and secondary education.  UPDATE:  This is official, straight from John McDonald. The sponsored Mini networks can be used for professional development networks for primary and secondary educators, and can be used for teacher-led student/classroom networks for students 13+ in secondary (high school) institutions.  Ning's terms of service will continue to require that anyone signing up for a Ning network be 13 years of age or older.
  • It's not clear to me what the impact of no chat, pages, apps, and events in Mini networks will be.  I personally won't miss them much.
  • No video uploading for Mini and Plus networks.  This isn't explained as well as it might be, and it actually makes sense to me.  Embedding videos doesn't cost Ning bandwidth, as they get served by the actual originating service, but network-specific videos likely represent a real cost to Ning.  If you are running a student or educator network that depends on the capability of uploading unique video or audio content, you have to go up to the Pro account, and for some of those folks that may really represent to steep a jump.  The jury is out for me on my networks.
  • The extra costs for alternate authentication and bandwidth, which are not spelled out, and which would be in addition to the Pro fees, are an unknown.  John assured me that when there are plans for bandwidth charging, there will be features in place which show your current bandwidth usage and give network creators some controls to manage bandwidth.  
  • The ability to charge network members for being a member.  Not sure I would ever do this in my networks.  I'm interested if anyone has an educational network where that would make sense.
I hope this summary from my perspective is helpful.  Please let me know if I've missed anythings.

46 comments:

  1. Thanks for summarizing it all, Steve. I'm watching it all play out and I'm pleased to see Ning respond positively to educators.

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  2. Thanks Steve for breaking things down into meaningful chunks regarding the new pricing structure for Nings!

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  3. For educators the next few days are the time we'll need to decide we migrate. To where? Not sure - I'm having 'trust issues' with Ning at the moment.

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  4. Thanks for the details. I'm a member of several educational related groups and I'm going to miss that interaction. I'm glad that learncentral.org is still there though.

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  5. Thanks for taking time to summarize in the 3 arenas. It is a good feeling that NING listened and that we do have options.

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  6. l cook6:11 PM

    I'm a college instructor with Ning networks for several classes. First, I'm wondering why community college level educators do not qualify for the same free services that k-12 educators do. Second, does this mean I have to pay for EACH network I create for a class or can I have say 3 networks as long as I don't have over fifty members in each?

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  7. Thank you for your thoughts and information.
    I think Ning makers have done things better if they had better plan changes before saying anything. There is nothing worse than the uncertainty.
    We hope that the educational networks receive favorable treatment.
    Regards!

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  8. While I'm glad to see an effort being made to provide a free option for educators, I'm really disappointed about two limitations: the maximum of 150 members and the loss of the ability to create groups. I created the ISA Internship Ning as a place for students to share experiences and insights from their career-exploration internships. Limiting the number of members means I will have to create a new site for each graduating class. This prevents the kind of cross-grade level sharing and networking that leads to peer mentoring and students serving as role models for their younger classmates.

    Taking away the ability to create groups will also be a great loss to the student-centered nature of the original Ning I created. Rather than merely use the Ning as a content-management system, I have been trying to encourage the kinds of authentic communication and collaboration that happen in out-of-school networks. Students were motivated and invested in contributing to the site because features like photo sharing and student-created groups gave them a sense of ownership in our space. Now we have some important decisions to make . . .

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  9. Unfortunately most of us keeping up with these changes already have networks well over 150 members, the limit for the cheap plan.. Also without groups, it would not be good as you already pointed out. Seems to me that there should be some sort of "grandfathering" incentives to recognize those of us of long-standing record that helped to grow Ning's success. Still seems that early adopters and educatos have been somewhat left out. The ride was good whilebit lasted though. One thing is certain with the Web: other interesting options are abundant or are soon to surface. I am kind of excited now that the bomb has been dropped about where we will go next on this exciting journey.

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  10. Anonymous6:22 PM

    Good summary. But you might want to check out the comments on http://blog.ning.com/2010/05/introducing-ning-pro-ning-plus-and-ning-mini.html.

    Seems that an overwhelming majority (22 out of 24) of educators find that Ning Mini, even free, is inadequate for them. I think they find the lack of features and the restrictions on members to be showstoppers. I agree with them.

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  11. Thank you, Steve, for clarifying and summarizing, and casting your opinions, on the changes. I am still sorting it out myself, as I assume many others are doing. Like you, I see the pros and cons of the changes, and I don't think (at least, not at this initial reading) that is it quite as bad as it could have been for us teachers.
    Kevin

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  12. My concern is what will happen to those people who are members of sites that will remain, but will no longer be site owners... will they still have access to the sites they have become part of, or will they like the content be washed away with the bathwater?

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  13. Chris Walker6:53 PM

    Thanks for the summary Steve. One of the 'bad' features for the Ning networks I'm involved in is the limitation on membership. One of our New Zealand-wide Professional Development Nings is sitting on 148 members and the Ning Mini (which is very reasonably priced I agree) has a limited membership of 150. I guess they can't make the rules to suit everyone, but the jump to the next pricing level is a big one. In all other respects, Ning Mini would suit us fine.

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  14. Steve, I concur with your observations, however, the TRUST factor is gone. I am sensing another BAIT & SWITCH and here is what I mean by that:

    1. For the sake of convenience, shelling out $20 for a full year is not that bad...even though it's a stripped down version.

    What I am concerned about is that may be in a year from now, they may come back and say something to the effect that "due to......we have to raise our rates from $19.95 to $????." Therefore, I am afraid to make any substantial investment into a site that I may have to abandon.

    2. I don't like unknowns...bandwidth charges etc...especially for the PRO and PLUS. All of these things should have been worked out way ahead in advance before coming out with a new price structure.

    3. I placed a reasonable comment on their blog which they moderated out....[no profanity etc..that's not my style]...which left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

    4. I've lost confidence in the management team ... all the suspense, secrecy, etc... leave me with the impression that Andy Griffith has left Mayberry and put Don Knotts in charge.

    I've been in business for 35 years and I can't, for the life of me, understand what the big deal is about every single bit of information that they can't release ... It feels like I am watching a mystery series or soap opera.

    Why not tell people who the educational provider is? If I were that organization I sure would have wanted the publicity without delay.

    I would love to also sponsor the minis for non-profits and educators, however, I am a little leery of dealing with--based on the impression I am getting from Ning--the House of Othello.

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  15. Hi Steve. So your reading confirms, to me, that higher Ed is, indeed, excluded from Ning's educational plan. I'm curious to know if this came up in your conversation with your Ning contact.

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  16. Thanks for your useful information.I've read about new prices in Mashable,as well as how much they plan to win with the changes.We'll see what goes on.Greetings from Argentina

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  17. @Lee: Although my analysis shows positive and negative, I think Ning is working hard to both understand and support educators. It's certainly not all we might want, but I also think it's not as bad as it could have been. And if they are willing to rethink the "complete delete" for non-payment, the sting won't be as bad.

    @Divergent: Thanks for pointing out the 150 member dilemma. I'm going to noodle that one, since it seems like that might be a level of network that is important here but gets ignored in the unnamed company plan. I'd be personally interested in talking to you and anyone else with a network over 150 people who will need help.

    @Michelle: it didn't come up specifically, but I believe it's very safe to conclude there are no specific exceptions for higher ed. I say that because the underlying change here that isn't specifically highlighted is the change to Ning not trading running their ads for having the network be free, and the only exception is this sponsorship by another company of primary and secondary educator and secondary student networks. Like @Divergent, you've opened another interesting door, and that might be to look for an entity that might want to sponsor higher ed Mini networks. That may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.

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  18. The lack of groups on the mini Ning may be a deal-breaker for me. I use them extensively -- if all that happened in my groups ended up in forums, things would just be too uunwieldy. I would love to hear someone's perspective on why offering groups is not something they can do at the lowest price point -- what do they lose by offering them at this level?

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  19. While these Ning "shenanigans" may adversely affect some educators, the value and quality of hosted Open Source applications that are available (and easy to use) should not affect educators too much.

    It was never (and will not become) a "smart" idea to place any quality content or creative work under the control of a company that offers services "free" of charge. Savvy educators always used Ning for link building and free video bandwidth, but never for valuable content. (One Twitter critic of Ning claimed that Ning's Terms of Service gave them ownership of all content that was placed on their network. Of course, this is a violation of law if the works of students (i.e., minors) is involved.

    (And, although far fetched, it a valuable student intellectual property posted on a network that claimed copyright by a teacher as part of a class assignment might result in a parental lawsuit against that teacher.)

    A simple solution for this "quandary" is for educators to form Online Hosting Coops. With the low cost of "Reseller Hosting Accounts," a group of 100 teachers could start out with a real domain, real Web host for about 25 cents a month. And, they would get their own domain.

    Teachers might also get a subdomain from their employer, and a simple redirect, and save the cost of a domain. Currently, the bargain price of a .INFO domain is less than a dollar for the first year.

    There are always bargains in the Web hosting arena because there is so much competition. I created an real account for $2.95 per month to develop some videos, and received a "friends only" link to share that provided for a year of hosting for less than $10.00.

    As far as building backlinks, Ning didn't rate highly. Ranked at number 53 over the past week.

    Much better sites include:

    * Youtube
    * eHow
    * eZineArticles
    * Blogspot
    * Suite 101
    * ArticleBase
    * HubPages
    * Buzzle
    * Facebook
    * Answers
    * AssociatedContent
    * WikiHow
    * Answeres.Yahoo
    * Yelp
    * MetaCafe
    * MySpace
    * Twitter
    * ArticleSnatch
    * Etc.

    So, the loss of Ning is a minor setback, but nothing to anguish over.

    Joseph Chmielewski

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  20. @I cook: my reading might be the same as yours--separate networks. But Ning is listening, so keep talking!

    @Honor: if you decide to stay with Ning, I'd hope you'd be able to find sponsorship for your terrific network.

    @educaster: I'm not sure I understand your question. If you're talking about the networks that will receive sponsorship from the unnamed company, I believe those network creators will remain the creators.

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  21. Thank you very much, Steve, for your insightful analysis.

    It's true that the Mini Ning price is "doable" with an annual license, but I feel the groups limitation and number of RSS & textboxes on main page are a minus.

    As for sponsoring for primary & secondary education, I believe that will be USA based? Anyway, the question of state-funded (non-fee paying)colleges in other countries remains unsettled.

    The opportunity to keep existing Nings frozen (perhaps not as regards videos if that means extra cost) would be appreciated.

    Regards from Argentina.

    Mariel

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  22. @VOMI: insightful comments. 1. With a policy of shutting down and removing all content for a network that doesn't pay, then we're really at the mercy of Ning and they could charge whatever they want. I guess the check+balance on that is our ability to export our content and migrate away, but I'm imagining that will be some amount of work that may diminish the power of doing so. 2. Yes, I think that Ning, too, wishes they had those systems and numbers ready now, but you are right. 3. Most interested in this items. Did you make a copy anywhere? This is worth calling out, as you are not the only one to make this charge against Ning over the years. 4. I think that's understandable. And something Ning needs to address. With regard to naming the company, John indicated that they have to have the final legal agreements in place before they can do so.

    @Susanne: not sure on the groups piece. My guess is that it is not a cost issue (like bandwidth), but an economic decision to charge for features that are less widely used. Personally, I like shopping at Trader Joe's and Costco where (I think I've read) all prices are marked up a straight percentage, so the higher arts of marketing and pricing are outside of my ability to comment on.

    @Joseph: I agree with much of what you have said, but not that the solution you've proposed is "simple." I don't think it would be widely adopted, although we can go into discussions on that front (and Open Source!) for hours. :)

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  23. @Mariel: the information on the Ning pages referenced says that the program for primary and secondary educators will be "global." I don't think there are any current plans for college networks, in the US or otherwise.

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  24. Steve the networks I have joined and the several I have created all use groups. I did not see groups in the Mini Ning plan. That could be a setback for High School teachers who teach several different subjects or the same subject several times a day. A different ning for each class instead of groups is not a good option.

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  25. Anonymous8:27 PM

    Just read this: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/ning-planning-to-remain-free-for-teachers/

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  26. Steve, Thank you for the info. I myself will be lucky enough to be able to stay on Ning for a long time thanks to a generous contribution by Atomic Learning today but personally worry what it will mean for educators. Although their new offerings on the Mini network should surfice the need for many educators, not all will be happy. In the past few days, I have explored the features of www.grou.ps and have found their free offerings to be quite impressive. Although the site does have its bugs, their free offering is comparable to Nings pro offering in many parts but who knows. Check out their offering. I was told a newer release is coming out soon as well. How long will they remain free though is the question. Will they get all of the bugs out. Check out my site. I migrated all of my members from Ning to www.technologyintegrationineducation.com as a test to see if it would be worth staying on Ning. The fear that I would need to migrate all of my content and everything else was daunting but I was willing to do it in order to avoid paying Ning out of my own pocket.

    Instead now I will be able to remain on Ning at tech-in-ed.ning.com as Technology Integration in Education and my members will be able to remain there for free. Thanks again Atomic Learning

    What I think it will do is limit people from belonging to a ton of PLNs and having to see some of the same things in multiple locations. I look forward to exploring the new Ning but do hope that educators do not give up on this idea of networking and sharing with each others.

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  27. I can't believe Ning has done this, I had like five Ning sites. It is always a mistake to offer things for free and then to make them unfree. Also, the groups feature was one of the best features, IMNSHO.

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  28. What worries me is that tech support on the lowest tier will not be there. Only a month ago I got locked out of all Nings including my own due to a new feature that they installed without adequate beta testing to catch a most obvious flaw to my mind. In the new plan, all owners of the low tier would have would be community member forums. No Ning support. My issue a month ago could not have been fixed by a community member. It required Ning to turn my account back on. What will we do in such a situation in this new structure? Will we have to pay for premium support when we have a problem that Ning itself created?

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  29. Thanks for the summary Steve. The Mini Ning is obviously aimed at retaining as many current users as possible, while offering the bare bones in the hope members will upgrade in the future.

    Let's hope education gets another option.

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  30. Tammie8:18 AM

    Thank you for your summary. I really appreciate all you're doing with Classroom 2.0. Even though I'm not a very active member my biggest concern about this shift was loosing Classroom 2.0.

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  31. @Steve...Thank you for asking me about what comment was moderated. I did keep a copy and have just posted it [with minor cosmetic changes] on my blog in the form of an Open Letter to Jason Rosenthal....at http://www.virtualorganization.net :: Tell me what you think.

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  32. Anonymous5:25 PM

    Thank you for the update!

    It's goodbye, Ning, for me. I don't trust them anymore, and I'm not going to pay them for what I can get elsewhere for free. I have already moved most of my members to other websites, and we have continued on as if nothing has changed.

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  33. Anonymous5:43 PM

    The real problem here is that I don't trust Ning anymore. They have a history of sudden, massive changes (the one prior to this was suddenly booting all the adult groups).

    How do we know they won't panic if their revenue from the new scheme doesn't match their goals, start tacking on additional fees?

    The underlying problem is that they simply don't know how to work the profit end of all this, so they flounder around and make changes that affect tens of thousands of people whenever they hit a financial wall. Though I can understand it from their end, the fact is that they need to regain the trust they have lost after so many blunders, and this latest thing does nothing to help that.

    As another poster indicated, you could do almost everything Ning offers using a hosting reseller account and the tools that usually come with those. For $25 a month (total0 you could put up the content of multiple large metropolitan school districts. You would have complete control of your content (and everything else) that way, without having to pay extra for domain name usage and such.

    To me, the big questions Ning needs to answer are:

    1) How can we trust you not to suddenly change everything a year or two from now?

    2) What do you offer that makes all these fees worth paying, when free resources (or inexpensive reseller accounts) can handle most or all of the benefits Ning offers?

    3) What is your financial situation? If you don't make X number of dollars over the next quarter, are you at risk of shutting down?

    4) What are your 1-year and 5-year business and marketing plans? Do you even have any?

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  34. Anonymous6:25 PM

    Sorry about this!! But I need to say, I really don’t appreciate the modification of Ning Network.
    We need to pay, no problem at all. I totally agree with Steve, $2.95 per month, in my case, for mini Ning network is really a good price point. However, why didn’t we participate in this decision? Isn’t it something like a Social Network? Just some questions, just a questionnaire maybe!! Participation is the first step in a Social Network!! It is just to know our point of view and our problems.

    What was our problem?!! Well, we are a small group, just starting to make our contacts and meeting all the people was a very hard task. The members’ profile is totally distinct and it will be very hard to change our work.

    And then, the most important thing, Ning changes the rules in the middle of the game!!! It isn’t right!!!

    After all this though, I have no choice and I need to accept the modification and keep trying to do my best!!

    Thanks for spend your time thinking about my words.

    Luiz Augusto

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  35. Anonymous6:25 PM

    Sorry about this!! But I need to say, I really don’t appreciate the modification of Ning Network.
    We need to pay, no problem at all. I totally agree with Steve, $2.95 per month, in my case, for mini Ning network is really a good price point. However, why didn’t we participate in this decision? Isn’t it something like a Social Network? Just some questions, just a questionnaire maybe!! Participation is the first step in a Social Network!! It is just to know our point of view and our problems.

    What was our problem?!! Well, we are a small group, just starting to make our contacts and meeting all the people was a very hard task. The members’ profile is totally distinct and it will be very hard to change our work.

    And then, the most important thing, Ning changes the rules in the middle of the game!!! It isn’t right!!!

    After all this though, I have no choice and I need to accept the modification and keep trying to do my best!!

    Thanks for spend your time thinking about my words.

    Luiz Augusto

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  36. Free services on the web are good for many things. The Ning debacle points out with clarity one thing Free isn't good for: Creating content, curriculum, community and goodwill that depends on your Free provider not changing the rules. There are costs associated with any web service and the Free users are there at the forbearance and expense of the paying ones. Our service isn't free, but in the long run it just might wind up costing you less.

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  37. This shift will bring quality to many ning network.

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  38. Anonymous2:31 PM

    >There are costs associated
    >with any web service and
    >the Free users are there
    >at the forbearance and
    >expense of the paying ones.
    >Our service isn't free, but
    >in the long run it just
    >might wind up costing you less.

    The question, though, is why pay Ning those prices when you can get something much, much better for the same (or less) cost?

    With a reseller account that comes with CPanel and Fantastico, you can do everything that the $19.95 Ning plan does, and much more (including hosting as many domain names and websites as you like). That type of reseller account is usually around $20-25 a month, and you retain full control of all your content and data. You could easily host dozens of mid-sized communities on it - if all contributed to the cost, it would drop it down to a dollar or two per community per month.

    Ning was unable to support itself with advertising. That kind of model only stands a chance of working if you have very large numbers of people visiting the communities, gear the advertising toward their particular interests, an advertise Ning itself VERY aggressively through multiple channels (which it doesn't - most people I know have never heard of it).

    I very, very strongly suspect that this paid model will not work for Ning in the long run. Though there will be people who are willing to pay to keep their communities going, my bet is that most people will walk in the next year or two. I suspect that many folks who might be willing to pay will leave, too, since Ning has proven it can't be trusted to treat it's users with respect. There will be more who will leave once they realize that they can get a lot more bang for their buck elsewhere.

    Ultimately, the market will decide Ning's future, particularly since Ning has racked up yet another massive amount of bad press and ill will.

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  39. Thanks Steve for the thorough explanation of Ning's new pricing policy. I am experimenting with Grou.ps for one of the Nings I currently administer. I feel like many of the people who have commented here about the trustworthiness of Ning. All of the cloak and dagger stuff is not leaving me with a good feeling about this platform. Hopefully Ning will listen to the educational community and reestablish our faith in them.

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  40. Actually, it is really sad to know how things have changed. I have used NING for some years now and I used to be a strong advocate. I even trained some teachers in my country and wrote an article for a European educational magazine. I was able to create excellent educational networks that proved useful for my students in Colombia. Now it seems I have to go back to Moodle until I find a better option.

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  41. A Ning Mini plan doesn't touch the applications and features that I find most beneficial in educating my students. I need groups. I need students to make and upload the videos they create. Now, if Ning Pro features are being considered for educators, that is another story. Anything short of that will not cut it in my classes. When will they release the specifics of the "free to educators" plan?

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  42. John Cleveland5:12 AM

    I agree with the others that the 150 user limit is the biggest issue with Ning Mini. This is a show stopper (while not having groups is merely annoying for me).

    There really is a gap in the $5-10/month option for a Ning site with support for more members (500?) and maybe groups too. I see these as low cost additions for Ning as they don't add to bandwidth significantly unlike features such as video.

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  43. John:

    I agree. I think the groups issue is not bandwidth-related (which we'd all respect), but a marketing decision. I also think the group issue and the size issue are really problematic. I'd add to this two other deal-breakers I think will stop most educators from using Ning moving forward for new networks: 1. If you stop paying, the content goes away completely (not just being archived somewhere, but really disappears), and 2. There is now no inexpensive way to associate a domain with a network (not as big an issue, but problematic, nonetheless).

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  44. will there be special pricing for educators?

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  45. Steve,
    Thank you for this backgrounder. I am trying to find out what type of analytical tools will be available in NING Pro (the online documentation just says "user metrics") - can you fill in any details?

    Will it be possible to run Google Urchin in NING Pro?

    I am trying find tools that will allow me to track user level metrics by IDs for an education project we are running this fall.

    Thanks,
    Julie

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I hate having to moderate comments, but have to do so because of spam... :(