Roadmap - should we be worried?

[SweetPotato]

I'm not normally one to publicly bemoan a lack of progress here on Ning but checking out the roadmap today left me a little depressed. There are really only three or four things on it, two of which (blog and third party commenting) have been on for a year, and one (ning ads) was announced not long ago at the seeming development expense of things that were promised a while back (blog and third party commenting).

I know there have been minor updates and that some of what I have listed are major redevelopments but this is the first time I've felt cause to highlight the perceived sense of stagnation that I'm feeling.

Is there some cheer you can bring me, Ning?

http://creators.ning.com/page/product-roadmap

Thanks SP

[Rowald]

Yes, we should be worried. The development of the NIng platform is extremely slow. It would be a good step for Ning to communicate more, maybe explain what the difficulty is in bringing more updates. For example, what are Ning employees doing on a daily basis? How many programmers are there? With the right communication costumers don't have to be dissatisfied. Also, I am really dissatisfied with customer support. It's so bad I won't even bother sending tickets anymore unless I absolutely have to. Nothing in general at the moment but just my overall general experience. More updates would kind of balance that out, but that's not the case as SP evidently mentions.

http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/four-months-since-any-product...

[SweetPotato]

Not sure about them having to detail what their staff are doing :-)
But improved communication might go down a treat.
Sp

[Kwaku OwusuAfriyie]

Am with you guys on this. What they have stated on the road map is not enough in this modern day of social media platform.
If you visit other platforms there are a lot of features which makes you want to go back there. A small example is friends in common etc. These features makes it easier for promoting connection among members as well as the growth of the platform concern.

I remember Eric from ning mentioned they will be intoducing some new features. I expected him to give us the creators a list of what to expect as well as the time frame.

[Jordon McGee (Jords)]

But improved communication might go down a treat.

Definitely agree. If Ning was more transparent during this stagnant period I bet more NC's would be at ease. It would be neat if they added a comment under each development on the Roadmap explaining any major delays just to keep everyone informed.

[Pierre Lannoy]

I hope this has nothing to do with acquisition by Glam Media, because if this is the case it's only the beginning ...

[Melon]

I think Ning is going through a tough time. I read a post from an ex employee on quora (take it as you will) saying they felt they had been lied to about the acquisition, and the company went from having some of the best talent in the business to them leaving by the droves.

I wonder could the very obvious slowing down in development have something to do with that. If the engineers that built the platform in the first place are/have left, and Ning is having problems recruiting more talent, development is going to slow to a crawl.

Naturally this would not bode well for the future.

It is also worth noting their acquisition has changed their priory  Although I have heard them claim otherwise actions speak louder than words.

I've been with Ning for 5 years - through a lot of changes, 360 degree turn arounds, bizarre decisions. Ning will do they is best for Ning, do not kid yourself otherwise. If that means dismantling the service you pay for they will do it (and have done).

If find the advocacy staff great (Eric, Monica et all) but as an organisation I would not trust them as far as I could throw them. Unfortunately this seems to be a common view amongst long term customers.

Why am I still a customer? Because it is still a good social network platform. I decided last month however not to put all my eggs in one basket, and am developing another site on another platform.

[SweetPotato]

Hi Melon, don't suppose you have a link to that Quora comment do you?

SP

[Melon]

I had a look for it while I was writing the post but couldn't find it. Also did a google search for terms I remember been in the post (ning acquisition talent).

It is possible it was deleted or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

[Analiza Roque]

Roadmap? Oh yes, I almost forgot about that one. Sad? No, disappointed? Yes.

Actually, I really don't bother much about the applications, new formatting options, facebook sign up, mobile advertisement and others, I don't want to expect much from Ning or now Glam company?.

I'm contented with HTML and some enabled javascript that I can play with.

For the past few months, I disabled the following:

1. Removed the Facebook sharing options
2. Removed the Facebook like options
3. Removed events and hide groups
4. Removed my mobile option, since mobile advertisement cannot be fix yet so I revert to normal desktop view.
5. Removed the ning share banner
6. In my home page, the only active module you can see is a text box enabled with few HTML codes/ JavaScript codes. Underneath is a latest activity where I also removed the social sharing twitter options, then disabled few links to appear on the home page.
Simple Site. 7. I made it simple yet functional, since I focus more on the contents.

What are other things that I might possibly removed?
Next inline will be the videos, then leaderboards, then pictures. Then the whole site maybe? lol. I hope Not!, I wanted my site to grow up with Ning/ Glam.

Right now?, I had member(s) signed up but never received the notice that she signed up, which normally I received.

That was after the spam flooding where I changed sign up approval upon request.

"There's a high chance that member applicant will be highly disappointed if we cannot approved it in a certain period of time, let say 1 day?"

That will be a direct definition of lesser members for me.

Never mind, I don't bother much about it since I'm earning few cents now lol after I removed most of the functionalities.

Now?, I'm a little bit bothered about scrambled layout after I changed something. Unstable? I hope so not.

Its not good for community members seeing an scrambled layout sometimes, that will give them the impression that our network is not good and stable.

So, like others I'm a little bit worried and slowly thinking whether to migrate or not?

Ning has grown so much and I know the problem might be to many for them to handle.

And like others, we wanted to grow on this platform. But...

[Janice D Carter]

Analiza,

This is my concern also

"Now?, I'm a little bit bothered about scrambled layout after I changed something. Unstable? I hope so not.
Its not good for community members seeing an scrambled layout sometimes, that will give them the impression that our network is not good and stable."

I have experienced many issues and have tickets out that I have literally spent HOURS on with no results. One for FB integration, over 45 days with no resolution.  But those are my issues and don't effect members all that much.

If we are not investing in a stable environment for our business, what are we investing in with Ning?

 

[SweetPotato]

Analiza, if you trust me with your admin passwords then i'll take a look to see if the same thing happens here. Understand if not

SP

[Analiza Roque]

Hi Sweetpotato, thank you for offering some help. I forwarded the admin access to your inbox. Thanks again. Site