Ning is rolling out a new feature to network creators today—the ability to charge for premium access and subscriptions. The company says it is one of the most requested features and Ning will be making paid access available to all network creators over the next several weeks.
Ning is leveraging PayPal’s API to allow network creators to simply implement a subscription or paid access on their site. Users have control over how and where they want to use Paid Access on their networks.Potential use cases include membership dues, paid groups, paid content and donations. Users can set a fixed cost or a subscription based cost as well using PayPal. → Read More
Ning and live stream video company Ustream are announcing an integrated partnership today that allows Ning network creators to broadcast live video and audio on their website at anytime, complete with live chat capabilities and more.
With the integration, live video content can easily be embedded networks hosted by Ning, allowing users to broadcast via Ustream. Not only can users embed Ustream channels into Ning websites, but creators can also add an indicator to the site to alert visitors of a live broadcast. In addition, the integration allows for live chats during streaming. → Read More
Mogwee launches this evening, an ambitious new product from Ning unrelated to its core social networking service. It’s a new social/communications tool that’s built from the ground up for mobile platforms, beginning with iOS for iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads.
For now, Mogwee’s main feature is to let you have on the fly public and private instant message-like conversations with people via the app. It updates in real time allowing for synchronous conversations, or you can wait for notifications to come in to have a more asynchronous experience.
Unlike most new services we see, there’s no friending or following with Mogwee. If you invite someone to the service, or interact with them in a group “hangout,” you can then have one on one conversations with them. It ends up being very similar to services that have mutual friending, but it worked effortlessly in my testing without al the hassle of adding and removing friends. → Read More
2010 was a transformative year for Ning, with the social network platform shuttering its freemium model in favor of all-paid services for network creators. The company rolled out the paid models, unveiled a number of new features for content creators, called Ning Everywhere, and saw an uptick in the number of paid subscribers. CEO Jason Rosenthal says that Ning finished the year with 80,000 paying subscribers, with new customer acquisition up 30 percent from a year ago. Today, Ning is launching a number of new features aimed towards increasing network engagement and interaction.
One of the most important additions to Ning networks is the newly launched Ning Engagement System, which provides creators with intelligence on member activity level, identifies loyalists, and gathers insights on popular content or activities on networks. Ning also allows creators to add a Ning “like” button that allows visitors to vote up popular content. And Ning now gives network creators the option to add Facebook’s Like button easily on their social networks, although the two types of Like buttons could be a little confusing for members. → Read More
Social products are an interesting bird. For even the most experienced product designer, social products prove an elusive lover. While there are many obvious truths in social products, there are also alot of ways to design them poorly. Especially when you are deep in the moment making pixel-level decisions trying to remember what’s important, things may not be so clear.
The only magic I’ve found in designing compelling social products that have the best shot at breaking through the noise and capturing people’s time and money is in being extremely clear on how your social product meets a few key design principles. → Read More
Ning is partnering with user management platform for the social web Janrain to offer Ning Creators the ability to add social login and invite friends features to their members
Ning will offer creators the ability to use Janrain Engage, which allows an app developer’s visitors to sign-in to the app with their existing accounts on Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn or other networks and then publish their comments, purchases, reviews or other activities from the app to multiple social networks. Janrain Engage will also remembers an app user’s preferred network on return visits and will provide a single-click return experience. → Read More
Here come the Groupon partnerships. In what may be the first of several big distribution deals aimed at cementing its lead in social commerce, Groupon and Ning are launching an affiliate beta program today. Anyone who runs a Ning social network can now add a Groupon widget with geo-targeted daily deals. They will get a cut of any Groupon deals purchased through their Ning sites, and Groupon will extend its reach potentially to tens of thousands of new sites with strong communities who perhaps would like to start buying things together. The program is in limited beta now, and will be rolled out as an option for all Ning sites by early next year.
Besides Ning, Groupon may soon strike similar deals with Yahoo, eBay and Citysearch. The goal is to become the de facto brand for daily deals. → Read More
Tonight, social network platform Ning is giving users a new, more customizable way to interact with their social networks with the launch of Ning Everywhere.
Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal says that network creators were asking for three major improvements in the Ning experience. First, users wanted to be able to take experience of Ning and bring it to any device. Second, creators wanted to take data and content from their networks and use this data outside of Ning. And third, users wanted to be able to write custom apps on top of networks that add functionality and features to networks that Ning doesn’t provide. Thus, Ning Everywhere was born. → Read More
Hoping to cash in further on Ning’s shuttering of its free version, competitor Grou.ps is upping the ante with the launch of “WinWin”, a referral program directly targeting so-called Ning exiles.
The service claims to have already migrated more than 50,000 Ning networks, making it the largest “do-it-yourself social networking platform”, and hopes to continue this trend by rewarding new converts and those who encourage others to follow suit. Specifically, Grou.ps will be dishing out credits which can be converted into a host of premium features such as extra bandwidth. The size of the reward is proportional to the size of the migrated network so the bigger the switcher, the more credits awarded to both the referrer and the owner of the converted network. → Read More
When Ning shuttered its free service for creating social networks back in April, educators and schools who were using the platform expresses their concern at the company’s decision to include educations networks created by schools and colleges in this group. When Ning eventually rolled out its premium pricing structure in May, the company announced that it had partnered with an education company to sponsor networks for primary and secondary educators but didn’t reveal the name of the sponsor. Today, Ning is announcing that Pearson, a education-focused publishing company, is sponsoring network costs for Ning Mini platforms for educators come July. Ning says the partnership will extend for three years. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ning.com currently hosts 6,500 K-12 and 2,100 Higher Ed social networks, and range from platforms for teachers, individual schools and classes to alumni groups. Pearson will now be assuming the costs for all of these groups to use a Ning Mini model, which have access to Ning’s core features including, blogs, photos, forums and video embeds, and the added ability to run custom advertising. The price for Ning Mini is $2.95 per month or $19.95 per year. → Read More
It’s been no secret that social network platform Ning has been going through a significant transition in both its leadership and business model in 2010. In March, longtime CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by COO Jason Rosenthal. And in April, Ning’s bubble burst — the company laid off 40% of its staff and killed off its free service. In May, Ning rolled out the different paid models for its platform, Ning Pro, Ning Plus and Ning Mini. And June brings new revenue streams for Ning’s social networks, in an effort to help Ning users monetize their social networks.
Ning is announcing two partnerships, with branded product creator CafePress and social gaming startup Heyzap, to offer monetization options to Network Creators. Custom CafePress shops can now be integrated directly into Ning Networks, offering creators the opportunity to sell branded products, like mugs, t-shirts and more, to members and fans. With Heyzap, Ning creators can add Heyzap pay-to-play games onto their networks. Creators will earn 10% of all revenue from premium game purchases. Ning has also partnered with Chipin to allow non-profit creators to raise funds and collect donations from members. A number of networks have already been experimenting with the new channels, including The Veloist, Duke City Fix, and TuDiabetes. → Read More
The past two months have been tumultuous for social network platform Ning. In March, longtime CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by COO Jason Rosenthal. And less than three weeks ago, Ning’s bubble burst — the company laid off 40% of its staff and killed off its free service. Today the company, which ended its free service a few weeks ago, is rolling out the different paid models for its platform, Ning Pro, Ning Plus and Ning Mini.
Ning will be ending promotional links and will also offer a completely ad-free experience, with the option to run your own ads if you like. Ning is ending Ning ID and and will allow network creators to add Facebook and Twitter sign-in. The network will also offer API access to enable mobile and desktop application development. Creators will be able to add more homepage text boxes and RSS modules, provide access to premium content, as well as have improved header and footer control. Users can charge for membership and accept donations and will have access to analytics around member usage, content and demographics. Ning will now have 3 pricing plans, ranging from $3/month to $50/month. Here’s the breakdown of the plans: → Read More
In the last two months, Ning has been making some drastic changes. In March, longtime CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by COO Jason Rosenthal. Then, less than three weeks ago, Ning’s bubble burst — the company laid off 40% of its staff and killed off its free service.
Tomorrow, Ning intends to announce its plans for the future, including new features and pricing plans. And we think we may have just stumbled across one of them: a new advertising product that resembles AdSense. Maybe they will call it NingSense. Update: We’re hearing this actually went live a few months ago and is unrelated to tomorrow’s announcements. It appears to be part of a public service announcement campaign that links to charity sites and cause-oriented Ning networks. → Read More
With yesterday’s news of Ning’s move to eliminate free social networks on its platform, competitors are rushing to emphasize their free offerings for building a social network. Today, Grouply, a startup that’s built around creating and managing online groups from Google and Yahoo Groups, is going to try to make it easy for Ning users to port their groups to Grouply’s platform. And fellow competitor Grou.ps is also welcoming Ning refugees to its free social network platform as well.
Grouply will shortly announce a more comprehensive ‘Ning to Grouply’ migration tool that will enable a Ning network owner to easily import other important content from their network, says Mark Robins, CEO and co-founder of Grouply. → Read More
One month after long-time Ning CEO Gina Bianchini was replaced by COO Jason Rosenthal, the company is making some major changes: It has just announced that it is killing off its free product, forcing existing free networks to either make the change to premium accounts or migrate their networks elsewhere. Rosenthal has also just announced that the company has cut nearly 70 people — over 40% of its staff. Here’s the email Rosenthal just sent out to the company:
Team,
When I became CEO 30 days ago, I told you I would take a hard look at our business. This process has brought real clarity to what’s working, what’s not, and what we need to do now to make Ning a big success.
My main conclusion is that we need to double down on our premium services business. Our Premium Ning Networks like Friends or Enemies, Linkin Park, Shred or Die, Pickens Plan, and tens of thousands of others both drive 75% of our monthly US traffic, and those Network Creators need and will pay for many more services and features from us. → Read More
The list of people I interviewed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this year is starting to look like more like a hit list than a VIP list. Two of them have been relieved of their current positions – MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta and now Ning CEO Gina Bianchini. If I were Jeremy Allaire, Max Levchin, Sheryl Sandberg or Evan Williams, I’d watch my back. They may be coming for you next. → Read More
Ning CEO Gina Bianchini is being replaced as the CEO of Ning by COO Jason Rosenthal. Bianchini founded the DIY network of social networks with Marc Andreessen. But after five and half years at the helm, she is ready to try something new. She will transition to an entrepreneur in residence role at Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm started by Andreessen.
In a blog post, Andreessen (who remains chairman of Ning) notes: → Read More
Up next in our series of tech interviews at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week: Gina Bianchini, the CEO of social networking service Ning.
Ning has never had the press attention of Facebook and Twitter. But there are 41 million registered users on Ning, and Gina says that 92 million people a month worldwide visit Ning sites.
We spoke at length in the interview about how the world sees Ning, and how Ning defines itself. Anyone can easily create a Ning social network, cobranded or white labelled. 2.5 million of them have been created so far.
In some ways Ning networks are competitive to Facebook Pages (here’s the TechCrunch Facebook page). Both allow for a presence inside of a social network. And when faced with a choice, most may choose Facebook simply because it has so many hundreds of millions of users to help word spread virally.
Gina doesn’t see it this way. She notes that Facebook pages have limited features and are locked within Facebook itself. Ning allows for deep social experiences around brands and things. Instead of the product competing with Facebook (and Twitter, etc.), she sees Ning as the center of an ecosystem that includes all of these products. A fascinating excerpt from the interview: → Read More
Each year the World Economic Forum at Davos holds number of technology focused sessions. Last year I moderated a high profile discussion about the next digital experience. This year, Loic Le Meur is hosting a discussion on the growth of social networks.
Participants include Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn, Greylock), Owen Van Natta (MySpace), Gina Bianchini (Ning), Evan Williams (Twitter) and George Colony (Forrester Research) and Don Tapscott (nGenera). Randi Zuckerberg, Jeff Jarvis, Russian super-investor Yuri Milner and others also dropped by to participate.
The room is packed, standing room only, and bursting at the seams. These guys are popular in Silicon Valley. Bring them to Davos, Switzerland and everyone wants to hear what they have to say. → Read More
