Is there a way to send an email with a text or link to Ning Blog?

[Randy Fisher]

I recognize that you can do it by phone sending photos etc., but what if someone wants to post to their blog, as text, phrase or a link?

[Phil McCluskey]

Hi Randy,

Unfortunately we don't have an emailing-in function right now that works just for text.

Thanks,
Phil 

[Randy Fisher]

Thanks Phil - I get the feeling that development has stalled, particularly since the Great Migrate to paid membership. Now, with the new owner - what effect will this have on the roadmap - and also pretty basic to have the ability to send text-based emails to a blog.

- Randy

[Phil McCluskey]

Hi Randy,

From my perspective the pace of development actually increased with the move to paid plans 2 years ago, with the added bonus of many new features being based directly on what Network Creators have been asking us for. I don't expect that to change much going forward.

The emailing in functionality has been around since 2006 at least. It doesn't work on most domain mapped networks, depending on their DNS settings. Before adding new content types like blogs, we would need to make the feature work reliably for domain mapped networks. Some of that work might happen as part of the new mobile project.

Thanks,
Phil 

[Ascot]

: ) yes better to get everything 100% A OK on what we have now, small cracks in the foundation travel upwards....please spend time on fixing them before you build the next floor.....

Q when is the NASA UPLINK READY.?

YOURS a domain mapped NC

[Eric Suesz]

I strongly second Phil's point. We've delivered many, many dozens of features in the last two years. Massive up-tick in development because we now have paying customers. The year before that? I believe the highlights were virtual gifts and Twitter integration. 

Everyone has a feature in mind that they feel is missing. A no-brainer that they can't believe we haven't built. I think that your idea is a pretty good one. We'll advocate for it here at Ning and try to keep it in the mix. I'll also make sure to run this by the product manager who is working on the blog update right now. 

[Randy Fisher]

Eric - the promptness and thoughtfulness of your reply, beckons a response.

IMHO - Ning's history is a social network as a foundation to content management. It certainly feels like that in the user experience. Now, if I could code CSS and make for a better user experience, I would - or hire someone who could. But out of the box, it seems to be more of a social place.

But from a collaborative information management perspective with a social network skin / functionality, that's a sore point. Particularly with folks using Ning as a content publishing platform.  What might be considered "small" such as the ability to easily email content from a phone or mail client, is significant - because it makes it really easy to engage with folks, and have them participate in multiple ways. Without, the Network Manager (me) starts looking farther afield to alternatives that will do the trick.

The obvious place is to move towards content management platforms, with that sort of functionality. However, looking at the pricing of competing alternatives, it's on a per user basis - which is out of the ballpark by more than a country mile. For the plan I have, 10,000 users is incredible. Now, if I can get them to really engage with the content, and potentially each other - I've got a winner - and Ning has a customer for a really long time. Now, the thing is, I'm "small fry" here, but as one who speaks his mind, I represent many other who don't, or who don't take the time to write - and share a highly-valuable competitive differentiator.

There - my 2 cents for a Thursday afternoon!

- Randy

[SweetPotato]

Hate to weigh in on territory that maybe I'm not best qualified to comment on but the new Ning mobile will hopefully let people post blogs and discussions by mobile, so that's half the problem solved. As for posting from an email client, under what circumstances would you do that if a) you were using a desktop, or b) were using a mobile (and assuming one can post from the new mobile interface)?
Maybe there are valid reasons I'm missing, and maybe there will be enough NCs here who flag those reasons, in which case i dare say that Ning will listen.
SP

[Randy Fisher]

Using a desktop, or a laptop posing as one.

We, in Canada have among the highest mobile / data rates in the world, so there's some merit to siting at the antiquated desktop, and typing out a tome.

Also - for my community - there are those, hiding out at their desktops at work, looking for just the right moment to share their knowledge, experience and wisdom. A quick email from the desktop via non-company email is just the ticket.

- Randy

[Eric Suesz]

I hear what you are saying, and you say it very well.

I have been in a lot of conversations here at Ning over the past few years that speak directly to the point of "Is Ning a CMS?" I would say that the majority of employees at Ning specifically do not see Ning as a CMS. So, moving directly toward that goal might be hard. But, we have admittedly drifted in that direction at times.

One thing that might be worth pointing out w/r/t our integration with Glam is that they focus on publishers — no coincidence that we're revamping the blog feature right now, since it is lacking a few publisher-centric tools we need to keep it useful and up-to-date. I don't think we've heard a lot of feedback about this type of email-it-in option from larger publishers, but I will definitely keep my ear out to see if I can wrangle a few similar requests and feed them back to our product team. 

[Randy Fisher]

Eric,

I could go on, and deeper detail - but then I'd be moving into free consulting.

Thanks for the good dialogue here - have a great weekend!

- Randy