"Friends Activity" Feature

[Kris]

Ok I know this is probably the single most requested feature by Creators to date and let me start out by apologizing  for not requesting it with the rest of you back in the early days.

Ning originally envisioned smaller networks 10,000 or less members and back then I agreed. I didn't feel a "Friends Activity" was really necessary as at the time our network was around 5k members and limited to a small geographic region.

A lot has changed since those early days back in 2008. Ning network have evolved into much larger communities including our own, which has gone from a small local network into one of (if not) the worlds largest motorcycle communities with members from over 100+ countries reaching more than 2 million motorcyclist enthusiasts and growing.

So now in 2012 I'm (kicking my self in the butt for not doing so in 2008) putting in my request for a "Friends Activity" feature.

With activity being posted to our network at min of every 2min there is no way anybody can keep up with every single post. And if you only visit the network once a week or even only once a month your probably only checking to see What's Hot (TOP THIS WEEK) or what your friends have been up to, but with out a "Friends Activity" feature this is not possible because a member is not going to go and visit each and every single one of their friends garages (pages).

Same thing applies to me here, I just don't have the time to visit creators as often as I would like and when I do I find my self weeding threw post to read just a handful of members post like Jen, SweetPotato, JFarrow, etc.

I think adding "Friends Activity" to our networks would increase engagement a great deal.

Ning you have already added a "Top News" feature, now don't you think it might be time you add a "Friends Activity" feature too.

[JFarrow]

agreed..would be a  very welcome feature

along with a progress bar for profile completion!!!

[Alex from Bougex.com]

150% Agree ! :-)

[soaringeagle]

i can see it being useful  i would think it would be best as a profile feature instead of main page feature

jfarrow  progress bar fpr profil completion? im not sure what u mean or why that would be that helpful  but maybe not envisioning it right

my only concern with freind activity is the complexity of it  and how much it might add to load times and   just 1 more thing to cause possible conflicts and issues

nings already a complicated beast  there are minor bugs on sites that go i=unfixed for years partuialy because theres so much code interacting with other code that its hard to track down

would i like to see this happen..sure

would it be worth monthsod=f slow load times and instability if its buggy..not s sure

i always try to weigh bhoth sides of things benifits vs possible drawbacks if the benifits huge ..like doubled traffic if its a seo type upgrade it might be worth the hassles of the bufggines

like recently they changed the activity feed wording and standardized it..was it nice sure but was it worth taking a team off a more imp9rtant project like ftp root access  a real functional sitemap  the mobile upgrade etc  im not so sure since  the changes were pretty much cosmetic and ubtle and pretty much went unoticed

so ill conclude that yea i think its a nice feature to request it will posibly increase site usage  but i would prioritize some other projecrs first

if this was easy to do..just a quick adaptation of whats already in place then in that case go for it

but if its a 4 month project that tok time away from more substantially benificial projects i'd set it side till they are completed

jut my 2 cents

(however if i didnt make it clear i am supporting it  being concidered for addition to the roadmap}

[talenttobediscovered]

Yeah at the same time add some Emotions Smileys to the messages and emails, translator and spelling will help too :(

[Mat]

Lol i remember Kirs arguing with me over this feature, http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/the-main-reason-why-members now finally you understand my pain.

anyway Ning ignored this request long time ago, 

Me my self i tried to let them know : http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/option-to-change-the-activity

http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/the-main-reason-why-members

http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/suggestion-members-are-missin...

[soaringeagle]

hmm well

in a way i can see where your coming from however  ..if it was up to me i would rathger have  member levels  based on activity

newbie  joined the site

jr member posted 2 blogs 1 discusion uploaded a profile photo (required for anythung above newb)

sr member posted or replied to 100 discussions/blogs

has 10+ pictures has invited 15 freinds etc

that encourages engagement with rewarding  for activity with higher stati=us

if u add  steps to the profile cr=eation and the progress bar i think your going to increase the chance of the process being abandoned 1/2 way through..maybe nit by alot but i sure could see a fair number ferting to the invite freinds thinking what yiu want acxcess to my inbox to harvest emails? no way/.see ya

i remember was it hi5 or ..1 of those earo[]lier social networks when mysoavce was actualy used  when u joined whatever site i was thinking of it requested u invite all your freinds harvested your emalss and sent out invites automaticly...over and ober..to everyone u ever emailed  vdery few people actualy used the site however but millions joined..only to annoy everyone they knew afterwards

whatever site it was.i joined..and never used once!

it was 1 of the predecessors to facebook anyway

wel the point is that adding extra steps to profile creation  might cause some to decide not to finnish

but the member levels once they joined and they see sr members they automaticoy wll want t9o know how to get that status then complete the steps to get there (this has 1 drawback too tho some will rush thru postijng nonsense just to raise the counts and get the (undesserved) status quicker

[Jim Kinson]

Like this idea. 

[Rowald]

Something I advocate for too. It's very stimulating.

[Jim Kinson]

+ 10

[solo]

notification that your friendship request has been accepted

[Armani Rouse]

it could happen by hovering over the member profile image and it would display their site engagement or "friend activity" awesome stuff! good idea!

[Alexander Molina]

To return to the topic of this discussion without being diverted their purpose
I think the idea proposed in this discussion by Kris, "Friends Activity" is excellent. Beyond being a request I think is a call to continue on the path of priorities.