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Gevril and Haurex Italia dinner during Baselworld in March 2011 with Larry Brauner standing in the background.
Baselworld 2012 is right around the corner!
Apr
5
Ning Social Network Controversy
Filed Under Alerts, Networking and Marketing Strategy, News, Ning Sites, Social Media and Social Networking Sites
A comment last week to my October 2008 blog post, Ning Social Networking Sites Update, linked back to Ning Exposed - Tech Company Scams its Clients, an article which sharply criticizes Ning’s latest business model and platform, and it alleges foul play on Ning’s part in reacting to complaints by network creators.
As a Ning social network creator and user, I happen to appreciate Ning’s recent platform improvements and tend to disagree with the article’s assessments. While the allegations of censorship are disturbing, my careful reading of Ning’s Terms of Service leaves me hopeful that Ning has acted fully within its rights.
Aggregating Ning Social Networking Sites
I have always looked at Ning as a family of social networking sites. An individual chooses to become a member one or many Ning sites.
Ning members can connect to become friends, and the friendships that they make will extend across sites. Friendships aren’t limited to the site at which they were forged.
I have found managing my Ning memberships and friendships across sites somewhat complicated, so I was pleased when Ning tied everything together for me in one place at Ning.com.
I always viewed myself as a member of the larger Ning community, not just the semi-independent sites which I created or joined, so aggregating Ning sites and Ning members made perfect sense to me. I didn’t view it at all as some kind of sinister plot.
Member Contact Across Ning Sites
The article referenced above mentions a “hole in the system, which is convenient for Ning, which allows people to gather friends across any website using Ning’s technology and then invite them all to join their website.”
The article is referring to the ability of members to share their favorite Ning social networks and content with all their friends across Ning sites as a convenient loophole, not as an intended and beneficial system feature.
I admit that this feature can be and is often abused by members, but that’s not Ning’s fault. The real problem is that people often make friendships indiscriminately. If the friendships were truly meaningful, they would naturally anticipate and welcome contact, even across sites.
Ning Social Concept Epitomizes Web 2.0
As I indicated before, I believe that Ning is true Web 2.0. It takes social collaboration a step farther than Twitter, Facebook, MySpace , LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Individual social networking sites are created and contributed by users, not just the content within these sites.
I applaud Ning for providing us with a unique social networking venue.
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Tags: Ning, Ning social network, Scam and Ripoff Alerts, social networking, social networking sites
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Well stated Larry.
One problem I see across the spectrum of Social network Sites is that most members don’t understand WHAT it is.
Years ago we were limited to our Social Networking because of geography and time. Now the Internet models have unleashed an endless opportunity.
And Ning is one of the most powerful of platforms, if used by those who understand WHAT Social networking is and How to Optimize your time and energy.
BRAVO on an intelligent reply to an intelligent response to a call for a more streamlined platform.
Excellent reply Larry. And I applaud you for reaching out to expand this social network to include many!
I agree with you Larry.
I love Ning and the fact that you can share content and information with all your friends across all networks. I have made some wonderful contacts who I will continue to cultivate.
I recommend Ning for anyone who is serious about relationship marketing.
The idea of Ning as a family of social networking sites is very appropriate.
The Ning system of sites is very important, and we have to have a center for us to keep control of our sites.
Besides our site to build a network around our most focused interests, we share in more than one idea or marketing concept, which leads us to join other communities in which we have shared interests.
I would throw in a “I disagree, IMHO comment” if I had one, just because it seems to be the social media way, however once again your remarks are on point and relevant.
Our Ning site at inSocialMedia.com has actually experienced a lot of positive growth with the new changes. That makes it difficult for me to muster up any negativity until I see a legitimate faux pas.
Bravo to Larry Brauner and NING!
Chris Patterson
http://inSocialMedia.com
Ning censors any negative comments about its services leaving all the good comments. A true Social Network would deal with such negative critics in a positive way, that was the real reason why I lost my trust in Ning in the first place.
Seriously, a true Social Network like Facebook cared what people think when they decided to change their policy overnight.
Ning has always been arrogant and never listens to Network Creators whenever they make any changes. No one can deny the efforts and investment made by Network Creators in promoting their Network. Ning should at least consider what they think before making any changes.
@Chris I like inSocialMedia and have benefited from my membership and from knowing you.
@Aurora I appreciate where you’re coming from, but the situation isn’t so clear cut.
I would be surprised in Ning didn’t care at all about the network creators. However, after all is said and done, it’s their baby, and they have to do what’s best for the whole business — even if it bends some people out of shape.
Facebook, by the way, doesn’t simply delete negative content, they delete users when they see fit. And I don’t blame them for that. Sometimes fear is the best motivator. One follows the rules or faces deletion.
However, I do understand that all this has had an adverse effect on you, and I’m sorry for that.
Hi Larry! Thanks for these great clarifications. I’ve used the Ning sites for over a year now and find them to be great. Next to Facebook, the Ning sites are my favorite place to visit my friends and network! Deb
Thanks for sharing this - I am new on ning with membership in two sites. I recently dropped Facebook as it changed stuff on their pages that made the site - not friendly for dial-up users. With the graphics and other applications trying to load, it killed my connection. Ning - I can get on and use it and it does not kill my connection.
@Deb I’ve met lots of interesting people through Ning including you.
@Mike You should try Twitter if you haven’t yet.
Larry, I appreciate you for being a pioneer in the Ning Social Sphere. I always appreciate your well thought out responses and critiques. I, for one, have been appreciative of Ning and for what it enables me to do in terms of connecting with like minded people.
Very interesting situation. I hope they are not in the wrong, and everything pans out OK. It would be a real shame if this got real ugly.
Hello. I read about Ning here in your site before but didn´t know you were behind its creation.
Just wanted to wish good holidays.
Regards.
Ning is a good social building website, but I don’t like the expensive price of it.
I’m trying to find answers about how Ning scales in case of a large site/community. What happens if a user has say 5000 friends. Facebook has already shown that it has tech issues in that range, and I’m a victim of that.
That’s a good question Faisal. I hope to eventually discover the answer.
I have about 1700 Ning friends, and all is well.
My newest site that I’ve personally created in Beyond Business Coaching. My most popular is Let’s Follow Each Other.
@Mizé you stated, “I read about Ning here in your site before but didn´t know you were behind its creation.”
Larry did not say he created the Ning site/platform. Larry has created Ning networks which is like groups on Ning that he manages. There are thousands of Ning network creators. You can create a Ning network in a few minutes.
The name “ning” is a Chinese word, which means “tranquility”.
That’s reassuring Stan. Hopefully the Ning controversy has waned and we can all experience social networking tranquility.
Good points, Larry. Ning showed promise when it launched but I gave up on using it almost immediately. I will check it out again now based on this new info.
Imran
IMRAN.TV
[…] Ning social network – I’m sorry to report that Ning has morphed into a host of unrelated niche sites. If you have your own Ning site, or a group or lots of friends on someone else’s Ning site, you can use that site to move traffic. As with Twitter, getting started with Ning is harder than it used to be, and the marketing benefits are fewer. I belong to many Ning sites and have several of my own. My primary Ning site is Beyond Business Coaching. […]
Well put, I am a new user to Ning.com but so far so good. As far as using CMS’s like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal in the past I feel that Ning.com makes it simple and easy to signup, and launch your social network leaving you way more time for the important aspects of a social network (Design, Content, and User Friendlyness). So to all you Debbie Downers out there, I think that this site goes above and beyond the other sites out there (FB, TWIT, and MySpace).