By Jason Epstein
Think of what a single person can accomplish with an internet connection today; they can gather “likes” on Facebook, tweet to their Twitter army, feed their followers on Tumblr, satisfy their subscribers on YouTube, treat their Kickstarter supporters to sweet perks, and a whole lot more. But Ning seeks to take it another step. Actually, it seeks to take it another few steps. Ning is a community-building platform that allows you a place to display, discuss, and monetize your content all in a flexible, customizable experience for both community leaders and members. This is due to what Ning describes as a fostered blend of “member engagement” and “traditional publishing”.
Ning is offering a free 14-day trial so users can set up their own fully-features social website and try it out. And yes, Ning has a social sign-up/sign-in feature that allows members to seamlessly use their Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and other accounts to sign in.
14 days will provide an idea of what to expect from the site function-wise and allow users a chance to start testing the waters within their own online community, but having a thriving community from the get-go just isn’t a reality. Ning recommends users to be patient, telling community leader hopefuls that it “takes between three months and one year to reach the point where the community takes on a life of its own.”
The basic plan costs $25/month, allows for 1,000 members with 2 moderators and email response within 48 hrs.
The performance plan costs $49/month, allows for 10,000 members, 10 moderators, email response within 24 hrs and phone support.
The business plan costs $99/month, allows for up to 100,000 members, 100 moderators, same-day email response, priority phone support and APIs.
Is it just me or does this seem as exciting, fun, and lucrative as it is outrageous that they actually cap the amount of members you are able to have in your community? Doesn’t that go against what social media stands for in the first place; limitless connection? Unless Ning is looking to create a secret-special-invite-only type atmosphere, I’d predict that they’ll need to open up those member caps in favor of offering better plan perks for their various price points. Thankfully, plans can be changed at any time in case a basic user is starting to gather more than 1,000 members and wants to upgrade.
All plans include a bevy of custom design, social integration, community, publishing, privacy and cross-platform functionality and features.
Check out Ning’s promo video on their homepage, an example of a successful Ning network here and get your free trial here.
Comments are closed.