No more free Ning!!!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Kaiser on April 15, 2010 at 1:59pm

I think it will be interesting to see how the whole situation plays out. Looking around, people are mad. I don't know if this makes a difference to Ning, but there are surely going to be some problems Ning is going to have to work through to recover from a business move like this. I also find it interesting to be writing this on a Ning! One thing is for sure, this is going to be an interesting story to follow over the next few days (or weeks).

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on April 15, 2010 at 3:00pm

This is an interesting turn of events, and we'll need to see what actually happens as events unfold.

I do pay for the premium services for Classroom 2.0, Library 2.0, FutureofEducation, Aula 2.0, BookDiscussions, and the other Nings that I run, so from what I can tell these sites won't be impacted--at least in the short term.

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Permalink Reply by Allan Foster on April 15, 2010 at 3:31pm

Are their bandwidth issues for your NINGs? I belong the the English Companion Ning and it is hard to believe that 14000 members don't create a lot of bandwidth charges.

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Permalink Reply by DoonePlace on April 17, 2010 at 8:57am

It is not an issue bandwidth as much as it is of storage and video viewing;

From Ning:

'Out of the box, your Ning Network comes with 10GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth (approximately 5,000 photos or 500 videos).

To make room for even more content, purchase additional units of storage and bandwidth."

If you had 14,000 viewing video's at one time it will be a problem.

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Permalink Reply by Nellie Makarova-Cross on April 17, 2010 at 3:57pm

Dear Steve,

I would like to say that joining Classroom 2.0 changed my life! Thank you for that. Hope Ning will take into consideration all what is posted here. Could you pass a word and ask for educational NIngs to remain free?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on April 19, 2010 at 6:00am

Thanks, Nellie. :)

Yes, we'll see if our united voices will have any pull. I'm also holding a live Elluminate session on Tuesday, April 20th, at 5pm Pacific Daylight Time (US) / 8pm Eastern Daylight Time (US) / 12am Wednesday GMT with educators using Ning to gather information and to talk about what is currently known and what the potential courses of action are for existing network creators. Anyone is welcome. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed (to make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support).

Here's the latest statement from Ning's CEO: "On May 4, 2010, we will share with you all of the details of our new offering, including features and price points, through a series of blog posts, emails, and conference calls. We recognize that there are many active Ning Networks for teachers, small non-profits, and individuals and its our goal to have a set of product and pricing options that will make sense for all of them. For Ning Creators using our free service who choose to move to another service, we will offer a migration path and time to make that change. We will still continue to allow free trials and test networks on the Ning Platform."

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Permalink Reply by gwyneth jones on April 19, 2010 at 7:35am

I'm thinking the world of the free Internet is over. with the economy and ad sales spiraling down....once free websites will have to charge for their services. and we need to shift mindsets and decide which sites are worth the money...and be ready to pay it.

i used to pay for NOTHING, nada, zippo, on the Interwebs back in the day with angelfire, hotmail, rocketmail, geocities, care2, etc.

now i pay for smugmug, flickr, second life (omg- lots of L$!) , google apps, etc..

but no, i don't think Nings are going away...social networks are here to stay. and we've gotta be ready to pay for them...i guess Facebook & Twitter next!

I'm also going to go ahead and post the Elluminate webinar: Ning Changes and the Impact on Educational Communities around on some other Nings & groups i belong to... i also would encourage all to join LearnCentral...some great FREE PD to be had there as well as building a vibrant PLN.

If you would like to see the discussion of this same issue on the ISTE10 Ning here's the LINK. I also will wait patiently till May to see the final verdict.

Cheers!
~Gwyneth

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on May 5, 2010 at 10:07am

Here's the link to the recordings of this event: http://www.stevehargadon.com/2010/04/ning-in-education-discussion-r...

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Permalink Reply by Dawn Jacobson on April 15, 2010 at 3:05pm

It's very disappointing, as Ning provides an alternative to Moodle or Blackboard that is both economical and simple for the average classroom teacher to establish and maintain. Ning's founders recognized the value of FOSS, particularly to the teachers that expose their students (and future users) to the technology. One can only hope that someone in their corporate structure is as "tuned in" to the long-term value of giving something away free, and convinces their Board that education-related Nings should remain free.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on April 15, 2010 at 4:27pm

Here's my blog post on the topic: http://www.stevehargadon.com/2010/04/ning-changes-and-impact-on-edu...

Ning Changes and the Impact on Educational Communities

The news today of changes to Ning, based on a purported (but I think likely authentic) internal memo from the new Ning CEO, is reasonably going to cause some concern in the education community. Ning has facilitated a pretty historic change in the connecting of educators, often in self-directed ways, through the ability to "create your own social network."

If there are changes coming to Ning, then as a community we'll want to work together to respond and to help each other. Some initial thoughts are below. I'm also going to open up a live Elluminate session on Tuesday, April 20th, at 5pm Pacific Daylight Time (US) / 8pm Eastern Daylight Time (US) / 12am Wednesday GMT (international conversions here). Let's gather information and then use that time to talk about what is currently known and what the potential courses of action are for existing network creators. We'll use the FutureofEducation.com Elluminate room: log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. I'll open up the room 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early, and we'll run as long as is needed. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support.

Some initial thoughts:

*If you have an exiting Ning network, while you can only export the networks membership, I'd suggest doing that now just to be safe. (In your network go to Manage > Members and then look for the link at the bottom of the page to export.) I don't think it's appropriate to import those members into any other system without their express consent, but you will want to have their email addresses in a worst-case scenario.

*I'd urge some thoughtfulness at this stage. It's not clear what Ning's long-term intentions are for educational networks, and once your user data is backed up, speculating before Ning makes any official decisions or announcements is not likely to provide you with a practical outcome right now.

*We know at Elluminate that our LearnCentral.org network's user interface does not yet match the Ning experience, but hopefully, for some of you, LearnCentral becomes an attractive alternative to Ning. Our model is different than Ning's: we're creating a single education-wide network with stronger group capabilities, and we're doing so for free because it's a great introduction to the already existing paid services that Elluminate offers. There will be some scrutiny of commercial models right now given this turn of events, and hopefully we end up looking pretty good in this regard.

*The Ning networks that I run are all ones where I pay for premium services. While it's not clear from the above-mentioned Ning memo what or how many premium services will be required to continue your Ning network, I don't have any concerns about my existing networks at this point. You can see a list of them some way down the left side of this blog page. Some of them are generously sustained by organizations who support the financial costs, and I can explain how I approached and then have worked with those organizations in our Elluminate session if that's a route you want to go.
I'm also glad, time permitting, to work with individual networks whose continued existence is important to our larger community, as was the case with the Library 2.0 network Bill Drew had grown for some years but which he was going to shut down and we were able to find sponsorship for (hurrah, Brentwood School librarians!). Feel free to contact me directly at steve@hargadon.com in this regard if and when it becomes clear what Ning's new policies will be.

This does seem like a dramatic turn of events, but something really powerful has happened in the education world, for which Ning has been a great springboard. Educational networking, however, is now more powerful than one company's services alone. The road may not be completely smooth, but we will figure this out together. :)

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Gerancher on April 15, 2010 at 5:46pm

I think Ning management is making a big mistake by not grandfathering existing networks. Especially networks like Classroom 2.0. I think they're going to lose even more customer base as a result of this decision.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on April 15, 2010 at 6:00pm

I agree. But just to make it clear again, I already pay the premium service charges for Classroom 2.0, so based on current messaging from Ning we should be OK.

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