Disapointed in Network Creators

I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with Network Creators.

Most of you wine and cry about what you don't like or what features you want, but where is your voice when Ning is asking for feedback. Case in point the Beta Chat, I can count on my fingers the number of creators who are/have given feedback.

Don't give me some line that you didn't want to test it out cause it's in beta. Turn it on engage your members, ask them to test it out even if it's only for a few hours and get their feed back. They will appreciate you more for trying to improve your network. If it's not up to par yet disable the beta and turn back on the old chat and wait till the next update.

Don't complain for the next four years about the New Chat when you didn't even VOTE, oops I mean give feedback.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Hoey on December 23, 2011 at 4:07pm

Well. Depends on your definition of meaniful. A business going chapter 11, a daughter having a child, a party going on two doors down the street that you didn't know about, a memorial service for a dead comrade...I could go on. I am afraid it is just the opposite of what you think. We are probably getting too much meaningful content from FB and therein as my buddy Will, has said, "lies the rub"

Permalink Reply by Thomas Hoey on December 23, 2011 at 4:01pm

Just happened to see this and was in the mood to comment. As to FB. Actually, I disagree about learning Facebook. The problem is different as I see it. It is so simple, anybody can get it. Read a status/post and like it and/or comment. How difficult is that? The only reason that my Ning network is still getting attention from me is that my members totaling over 5200, still wander in and out, from time to time. I have been steadily switching over to a Wordpress/Forum/Pagelines combination and it is working very good. But as the old axiom goes, if you can't fight it (and we can't), join it. So my goal is to get as many FB users as I can to come to my blog based sites and IT seems to be working. As to the Ning network. The only thing still working is the Chat (which is a mess at times) and the status feed which does moderately well. Forget the forum, videos, photographs and everything else. My members have lost interest and I am done with the fight. It has gone on since 2005 and that is long enough to test anything, IMHO.

I will probably change my mind, tomorrow.

Permalink Reply by John Petrowski on December 23, 2011 at 4:10pm

I'm sure I'll get a lot of disagreement, but a forum can be a dangerous feature and are mainly "5 years ago."

Now, a great forum is great - lots of activity? Fine. But nothing will kill a network faster than a dead forum. Either no new threads or a lot of threads with zero to 1 comment. New members see the lack of activity and are immediately turned off.

Permalink Reply by Debby Bruck on December 24, 2011 at 12:16am

I feel as if all my members are gone. I tried the "pay access" and everyone left. After one month, opened the network free to all again.

During that month of experimental for pay ~ FB was growing in leaps and bounds. Everyone was making their own groups. Conversations going so fast you can't keep up. Update status, new share movies groups, conversations, joins, and additions of documents. My network is so quiet you can hear a pin drop.

I tested the new beta chat. Some liked it, but others having troubles with speed, not refreshing to update chat messages, blocking page and not staying down. The pop-out feature was good. The fact that old messages couldn't be manually cleared distressing. Went back to old chat. Has anything changed?

There is a fanpage for my network on FB, where I will post a link back to Ning network to read blogs and forum discussions. But, mostly old news.

Permalink Reply by Jim Kinson on December 24, 2011 at 4:19am

Many of my members spend most of their time on FB. We have two times that we try to get members together to chat. My community is Cross Roads Fellowship, and that is what we try to do, Fellowship. I don't have to send a blast mail out, all I have to do is click on the FB link on one of my blogs or videos and mention fellowship times and they come running like lost sheep. What is it that people love about Face Book?

I switched back to the old chat box last week. Will probably keep it that way till I can delete messages when the day is out.

I pick up the tab for my site. I mention in a monthly letter that any donations are appreciated, and I think in the past year 3 members picked up the bill for that month. That isn't a problem at the present.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Permalink Reply by Kris on December 24, 2011 at 5:36am

to answer you question what is it people love about facebook, I think it's the fact that you follow everything you want in one place.

I really don't check or use email anymore I just go to my fb to catch up and see what happening.

The bottom line is you don't have enough content to keep your members on your network 24/7 and you never will because you won't be able to give them everything they are looking for but you already said your self "click on the FB link on one of my blogs or videos and mention fellowship times and they come running like lost sheep" so you already know how to drive traffic to your network. Your just not taking full advantage of it yet.

With any web site or network content is and always will be KING with out it you will never create or have a successful network.

Content + Share FB + Repeat = Successful Network

Permalink Reply by John Petrowski on December 24, 2011 at 5:46am

I don't see too many FB comparisons. If someone's goal is simply to use NING to create an "everyone can join" social network I think it'll be a rough road.

Where NING shines is getting groups of people together with common interests - it's also where FB fails.

I can only speak for myself - I run NING for insurance agents. Now, can agents form a group on FB? Yes. But it's extremely limited in application. Basically, they can comment on a wall. In fact, FB agents groups - even ones with thousands and thousands of agents are totally dead.

I can create groups in my network along lines of interest - life, health, senior insurance, marketing, technology, etc...Agents can blog, we run a lot of training webinars, etc...Basically, for agents there's nothing to compare. It's a far superior experience than FB.

But I can see successful NING networks with any niche. FB is great for interactions with friends and family and in fact a recent study showed that's what 88% of all FB users do - as in that's all they do.

That leaves a gaping hole in the social network world to get people of like interests together and create an experience FB is not capable of creating.

Permalink Reply by Debby Bruck on December 24, 2011 at 3:00pm

My folks have too many places to be pulled on facebook and other websites. Very busy people with full time jobs. I was lucky for some to visit my NING at the beginning 3 years ago, but times have changed.

I also pay for my entire network. I'm not sure what will happen.

Permalink Reply by Kris on December 23, 2011 at 4:32pm

personally I don't see FB as competition so for me there is no beating nor joining. I look at FB as a tool and use our 400,000+ fanpage to drive massive amount of traffic to our network. A lot of the content we post to our fanpage that drives the traffic back to our network as been added by our members. Because content is KING we also add content to the network daily.

Our use of a Ning Netwrok + FB Fanpage has worked out pretty well and we are looking fwd to 2013 being more successful than 2012.

All the tools are available to build a successful network, some times you just need to be creative in finding the right way to make them work for you.

Permalink Reply by Ilisapeci Yoshina on December 23, 2011 at 5:15pm

Absolutely Kris! I knew you are one of the smart one from the very first time I visited this forum, that was way before I joined.

Most of us here care about "meaningful engagement" and that's why we are still keeping our Ning account. Website is all about purposeful content. I never compare Ning to Facebook because I don't see any purpose of owning a Facebook account. Who cares about numbers? Ning will be successful if stay focus on its current customers satisfaction. Satisfied customers bring more customers. In spite of over 800 million Facebook users, I still see new creators signing up for Ning. Why? Because Ning has something better than FB.

May your new year be successful than ever. Merry Xmas & Happy New Year Ning!!!

Permalink Reply by Lisa Black on December 27, 2011 at 10:56am

I completely agree with yo both, ning is so hard for the average perosn to navigate. Not only is it hard for most of my users to figure out but as the creator of the network I struggle to make the network fit our needs. I dont have a computer programming degree and find it very difficult to get ning to work for me, surely there is a way to make this easier for me and my members.

NC for HirePermalink Reply by SweetPotato on December 16, 2011 at 12:11am

not sure if im one of the fingers on your hand but I was part of an initial beta test when evan emailed me, have him extensive feedback. there its quite a bit I like and quite a lot I don't like on the new chat, but it is not a massive part of my site so I'm not overly concerned