Ning 2011 Roadmap

Welcome to the Ning Roadmap! First, let me introduce myself. I'm Jonathan Shambroom, Chief Product Officer at Ning, in my fourth month here and loving it.

2011 ushers in a new era of communication from Ning to you, our customers, and it includes a six month view of our roadmap. The Roadmap page is now a permanent resource where you’ll be able to see what’s coming up next, big and small. The projects are listed in their general intended release order, though these will inevitably move around a bit. (When they do, I’ll let you know). At the end of every quarter I’ll add to the roadmap the next set of major initiatives so there is always a 6 month window of insight and you can know what to expect on your networks. Each of these projects will link to individual posts on the Ning Blog and Ning Creators where we’ll provide a greater level of detail.

The driving force behind our roadmap is to build the very best product for you. If we succeed at that, and you are delighted with our service, and your communities are thriving, the Ning business will similarly thrive. Our roadmap is a balance between improving your existing experience today with current features and introducing new, innovative dimensions to your communities. Our roadmap reflects a few other balances as well. We have resources dedicated to our backend, performance, and scale, while other teams are working on our feature set. With every feature, we consider how to make it work for our loyal, long-time users who are accustomed to Ning today as well as for the brand new users of tomorrow.

Lastly, I’ll share with you my top level thinking on our product, chiefly that it empowers you to do four major things: 1) Customize your sites, 2) Build vibrant and engaged communities, 3) Manage and moderate, and 4) (Finally!) Earn revenue from your site if you so choose. Our plan is highly informed by your feedback, so please keep it coming – via the Creators site, our Help Center, and your participation in product surveys.

I look forward to the year ahead with you!

Tags: 2011, delight, product, roadmap

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Permalink Reply by Johnatan Carassa on April 8, 2011 at 9:36pm

When we going to have more quality in the screen at least like vime or youtube for the ones we paid the pro member every month?

Permalink Reply by Nate LaChance on April 13, 2011 at 5:18pm

So many of you have commented on this topic I really want to clarify a few things. Currently I think Ning is and has done a wonderful job on implementing a very usful social networking platform. That being said there are 3 primary issue that I think should be at the top of the list.

1. Paid Subscriptions

The only thing better then a lot of fans, are fans that pay. For those of you that cannot see the benefits of this... you really don't know what you’re missing. I've seen a few posts on here that say something like, "it will be great to be able to make some of the money back that it cost to have a pro membership..." I would suggest thinking a little more outside box... There is way more revenue to be made than $50 a month.

STATUS? I understand that this is something Ning has been working on since last year and is almost complete. Bravo!

2. True Multi-Media Capabilities

Currently, Nings video platform does not allow a user to fast forward through video unless it completely renders the entire video. This mean that even for a short 5min video the user will be forced to watch the entire thing. Unfortunately, this and the absent features of HD makes the Ning video platform comparable to that of the VCR. Yikes, that sounds real crappy if you ask me.

STATUS? I'm told there are no hd upgrades in the near future :-(

3. File Management

Ning has an amazing platform of data enriched content. Very impressive. However they do not currently offer "folders" for videos . Let’s face it. Social networking means a lot of content. The more ways things can be filed the better. Also, photo albums can be searchable but they do not give results according to most recently added... The results are in random order. If the content is hard to find the so will your members be.

STATUS? Not sure if this is being worked on.

4. Customer Support

Service after the sale is #1 in my book. The only reason I decided to go with Ning knowing that they did not offer any real form support is because I know what I'm doing. I'm definately not perfect but I've beem doing this long enough to do most of my own support... but yes, phone support would make me feel much better. As a newbie or somone that doesn't really know anything about websites... Nings support feature would really scare me. I now Ning offers online support and primimum support and all that... but it's still not "real" support if you'll get my meaning.

STATUS? I think Ning is working on this...

So thats it. Feel free to comment.

Permalink Reply by mark on April 13, 2011 at 7:41pm

I'm extremely excited about the updated mobile website. Long overdue in my opinion.

I have two wish list items that I would like to share and hope the dev team takes into serious consideration.

Incorporate Events into the Mobile version (an overlooked feature that our network revolves around)
Ability to monetize the Mobile version (ad banner placements)

Permalink Reply by Pam on April 14, 2011 at 4:13am

EVENTS in MOBILE - yes, yes, yes. My network is primarily about the events too. :)

Permalink Reply by Edward on April 14, 2011 at 10:23am

Group events and paid events would be very useful for all the event based networks.

Permalink Reply by Chantal Foster on April 29, 2011 at 12:26pm

YES please to Events in the Mobile version! Until Events are added to mobile, I can't justify the upgrade to Ning Pro for my site which relies heavily on Events.

Permalink Reply by Tony Craig on April 17, 2011 at 3:22pm

Any better timeline on the tiered/paid membership feature?

Permalink Reply by adrian gladney on April 23, 2011 at 7:27am

Will a timeline be added back to the roadmap?

Permalink Reply by Eric Suesz on April 23, 2011 at 9:53am

Maybe. We're scheduling projects for the second half of the year right now, and we may slot them into quarterly buckets. But, I'm not sure if it's ultimately necessary to put this info into smaller and smaller buckets. These projects are in order of anticipated completion, so in that sense this is on a timeline.

Permalink Reply by Tony Craig on April 23, 2011 at 12:43pm

Eric, we are launching a new company that combines the strategy of a consulting agency, the functionality of a purchasing cooperative and the advantages of social media. Tiered/paid membership is key to its operation, and we are ready to go. We had hoped Ning's projection of second quarter for your tiered/paid membership meant the beginning of second quarter, but apparently you are not ready. We have implemented a two-step process for now, but I need to know:

1) Will we be able to assign existing members to the member levels I establish once yours goes live?

2) Will those members retain their existing "sign up" dates, so their member renewals are tied to their original sign up date, or will their membership essentially be extended, starting with the date we convert them?

3) We have 3 levels of membership with pricing options - each has its "regular" price and "discount" prices if they enter a specific code (group pricing deals). There will be multiple discount codes, and each needs its own pricing we can easily change (like having a "special"). Will your tiered/paid membership have this flexibility?

Thanks,

Tony / RCTI Business Resources / www.rctinetwork.com

Permalink Reply by Nate LaChance on April 23, 2011 at 1:09pm

Hi Tony,

We are also anxious for a paid membership feature and we have also implemented a two-step process as well.

We are anxious for this update...

Nate, ArchEnemys.com

Permalink Reply by adrian gladney on April 25, 2011 at 9:46am

Eric is it safe to say that the roadmap as it is should be completed by july first?