Changes...if the ones coming are the ones discussed in the NC Summit, BE EXCITED.

[The PL Team (d&e)]

Yea, that's about all we could say. A select handful of people were privileged with attending a summit in Palo Alto a few months ago. We were joined by a very good blend of NC's from different levels of success. We spoke in turns, spitting out whats great and what sucks.

The walls were LINED with large sheets of paper with our thoughts. Ning listened, many of the recent changes like twitter/facebook integration were deeply discussed there and lots our input made it into the releases. At the end engineers and Gina presented a glimpse of what I believe is to be called Ning 2.0. 

Premium Service NCs hold on to your hats if that's whats going to be announced in the next few weeks.


RE: Changing of the guard... We've been in fairly constant contact with Jason R. from the moment he came on board. We've always been known for being vocal about neat technologies we need and what sucks. Jason has never failed to have a notepad out, or have an engineer next to us so we could geek out on concepts. Much like everyone here jumped on this new guy Eric we've all come to respect, we urge you to give Jason some time. He's solid.


In this thread, lets all please try to keep positive. Plenty of negative ones already there for voicing your anger.

[Almir]

Nice to hear that :)

As a premium network creator I'm positive about this from the moment I've read it and as someone who invest time and money in my own business properties there's no way I could not understand Ning's moves.

Can't wait for new changes. Ning - don't you dare to disappoint me :))

[The PL Team (d&e)]

I'm sure you're aware by the vagueness of my post that we all had to sign an NDA. Additionally no pricing was discussed. We will all EQUALLY need to weigh the cost of implementation vs current or future profit growth for each of our networks, noone was privy to pricing info, I don't even think ning had any idea at that time as most of the features were infant stage.

For some it may make financial sense to get every bell and whistle, for others not. NCs with multiple networks may need to make decisions to focus efforts on some networks, closing others.

Much like Nings latest changes, many NCs like to manage our communities with wise business decisions. Because our members to us, are the equivalent of what we are to ning, The Community. If this means sacrificing some, to focus on "ad ventures*" that make more financial sense, we'll do so.

*no pun intended

[Kristy]

Thanks for that.

I'm surprised by the recent changes, but am holding out hope for the implementation of innovative new features that will "wow" me. Sounds like you've been wowed....intriguing...

[Laura]

Hmmm. Sounds like plans have been in the works for some time. I think that makes me feel WORSE, rather than better. A plan for informing members (before announced on third-party sites) would have been wiser...was poor judgment part of what was discussed at Palo Alto?

[The PL Team (d&e)]

Don't get me wrong here Laura, the winding down of Free services was in no way hinted at. Only Ning 2.0 FEATURES and whats great and sucks about the current platform were discussed, nothing more.

[MelissaNJ]

LMAO... sorry I have to agree!

[Marilynn]

Intrigued! Look forward to hearing more...I'm actually one of those ones who don't have a lot of experience with all the technical stuff, and really enjoy just being able to add and create without much computer knowledge :) Hopefully whatever NING 2.0 delivers, it will be the same, simple service that has allowed my business to thrive.
NING has completely changed what I have been able to deliver to my target market and I really appreciate that.

Cheers.

[The PL Team (d&e)]

Cheers doll! Sit tight, enjoy a drink.

[Scott]

If Ning wishes to keep members by getting them to join up to premium service please provide some amounts that people can afford.

[Kevin Rutherford]

Great post, thanks. I was invited to the summit and had other commitments, but at the time they said there would be more. I was looking forward to attending the next one.

I almost left Ning about 3 months ago to create my own network from scratch, the cost was going to be astronomical to duplicate what I have here and so I decided to stay.

I'm excited about new functionality, I plan on adding a lot of new features to my site and would like to have more flexibility and function.

[The PL Team (d&e)]

It almost made me cry to see in another post that a user had 40 free networks, all of which had names that pretty much competed with her others (fairies,magic,spells,tall fairies, short fairies etc..). It really did as I wondered how many support tickets were generated from them and put into the same bucket as ours when an ad spot goes down and it costs us $ per impressions/second...

After this flip is made, some will be hurt, and others will learn, and grow beyond what they thought they could ever achieve. So many currently free networks will gain some premium features and see the light. What excites me is that WE, the currently growing premium NCs will be more helpful than we've ever been, to an audience more eager to learn than ever.

FOCUS. LEARN. GROW.

[Derek Tonn]

I'm trying to look at this change to Ning's business plan as the glass being half-full as well! The only thing that concerns me (greatly) is pricing. Some of the cloak-and-dagger stuff related to what a Premium Site is (or will be) and what price points will be for the various levels of premium sites is giving me an ulcer...as if they price it too high, it will absolutely kill two of the Ning sites I created and maintain for two non-profits here in Minnesota.

I'm not a "basher" like lots of other folks have been in other threads since the announcement! However, it would have seemed to make a whole lot more "business sense" to make the announcement about price points and premium site definitions at the same time that they announced that the "free" sites were going away within 90 days. This extra week or two "in-between" is causing a LOT of grief for a lot of us Ning admins/apologists and puts me in the very uncomfortable position of not being armed with the information I need in order to help those non-profits make some informed decisions about next-steps. Makes *ME* look bad to the people I am accountable to...as though I don't know what I am doing.

That, above all else, is I think what a lot of people's expressed frustrations about this shift in business model might boil down to. How we (site admins) look bad to the hundreds/thousands of people who are relying upon us to lead on these particular issues. FWIW.

Glass is half-full though...I'm sticking to that attitude. :-)