The End of Ning as we know it

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Permalink Reply by Peter Ing on August 17, 2010 at 3:48pm

I have two words for you

Wordpress + Buddypress

Last year I initially looked at using Ning for one of my websites , simply because its less hassle to get going and hosting is covered, but the fact that they effectively own your data wasn't appealing, because I wanted deeper access to play around with ideas. I decided to go with Buddypress instead, to leverage my experience with Wordpress.

I have been using Buddypress for quite a while now. Its been a long road but the platform has matured greatly in the last year and a half. There are a few quirks I don't like about Buddypress but I am sure in time they will improve. One of the big problems is SPAM! But there are ways to fight it. The spam is actually more of a WordpressMU problem itself. The other problem I have with Buddypress is the fact that it has a front end and a back end for users which is confusing.

Wordpress has just gone past version 3 and there are lots of improvement planned in the future. The Buddypress community is strong and the project is more than just an open source social network framework.
A lot of Ning admins are looking to make the switch, so someone has created a Ning import plugin

http://buddypress.org/community/groups/import-from-ning/

Check it out, but for most users sticking with Ning might be a better option because there will be less hassles and its not going to cost a fortune to keep your site there $2.25 per month is less than what you will pay for a self hosted site. If you need to go for the Plus or Pro Options then your site will surely have some kind of income, be it from Sponsors or from being monetized.

Interestingly I wonder what is going to happen to Silicon Cape, because there are defnitelly more than 150 users, the sponsors already cover the costs, but if it gets too much will they consider also moving this network to a self hosted platform?

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Permalink Reply by Roger Norton on August 20, 2010 at 1:25pm

Anyone else know any more about this? I heard that it was only relevant in the US...

Alternately are there any local developers that could do this? I'm sure we can find a project sponsor or some cash to get it up and maintained...

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Permalink Reply by Brian Adams on August 24, 2010 at 8:28pm

Hi Marius

I have switched to www.grou.ps - very similar to NING, but FREE - works like a bomb

They also have an import function, so no sweat - all contacts, look and feel is there quick.

All the Best
Brian Adams

P.S. Also looking at Jom Social a Joomla plug-in to our main site that can do NING stuff and more

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Permalink Reply by Marius van Niekerk on August 24, 2010 at 8:41pm

Super thanks Brian, will give it a try!

Brian Adams said:

Hi Marius

I have switched to www.grou.ps - very similar to NING, but FREE - works like a bomb

They also have an import function, so no sweat - all contacts, look and feel is there quick.

All the Best
Brian Adams

P.S. Also looking at Jom Social a Joomla plug-in to our main site that can do NING stuff and more

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Permalink Reply by Reinier van Tonder on September 13, 2010 at 12:41pm

Hi All

I have stuck with Ning for my new Network, and all the negativity surrounding upgrades, spamming etc is actually of the past. I have taken the Ning Pro route to build my network www.livinglabel.com and I have not had any issues. Allthough it aint free it saves you lots of hassles when you do not have the time to build a new web presence from scratch. Also, there are so may free CSS templates available in the market it is purely a copy and paste scenario. I have allready started monetizing although my members base is still very small.

I had a look at Jom Social for Joomla originally but found too many hassles. I can honestly say i am not pushing Ning, but purely the fact that I have created in three weeks my new site.

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Themba Dlamini on October 7, 2010 at 7:57pm

I am new in networking and Ning was my first experience. I started www.phuzemthonjeni.com in March and in April I got the message about changes. I had to work hard to ensure that the network pays for itself before changes. It is paying itself now and members are enjoying free service. With this arrangement I am considering Ning-Pro.

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