Ning and Customer Betrayal

When I read the news about the Ning community platform cutting not just staff, but also its free service, I had the same reaction Shel Holtz had -- this is a betrayal of the company core promise and shatters customer trust.

Want to continue using the platform? Pay to play, says Ning. Many have already voiced their concern for nonprofits and educational communities that will not be able to afford using the platform anymore.

These organizations have made a considerable investment in time and attention, as we discussed yesterday, to build the platform for their communities. But the conversation I'm interested in is not about how now they're faced with needing to make a move or pony up cash. There's a great discussion about alternatives to paying for those organizations at Manny Hernandez blog.

One of the first issues I see emerge from those who have built a community using the tool is that of being able to export content easily. This is more evidence that putting a lot of effort into building on a platform that is not yours may come back to haunt you.

That is a problem that is as old as proprietary software is. What I'm thinking about is more something that Ning could have handled better from a communications standpoint. The company betrayed the people who have built networks upon its platform in a couple of ways:

• it didn't consider users of its free service customers, probably because they were not paying
• its communication was counter to its core promise, as Holtz pointed out, "Ning is the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds."
• most importantly, it now forces those people who touted the free tool to their community so it would build a network on the platform to explain to their community that they need to come up with funds or move

They were a bit rash in making an announcement that would affect so many --  in fact in the thousands -- well connected communities without providing a roadmap or set of FAQs to those who would need to explain what's next, move the content elsewhere, or decide to pay because it makes sense. A post that updates users on the company's blog doesn't provide any details beyond a date.

As you can see from the comments, there are still many unanswered questions that could have been handled by Ning proactively. Uncertainty is uncomfortable and people will fill it with their own suppositions or paying attention to whoever steps in to fill it.

In this case, the void was filled by at least two other organizations. Which creates a complication for a business strategy that is seeking growth and increased profitability. Upsetting customers is a really poor way to go even when you're doing it for the long term sustainability of your business.

Who stepped up to help?

• Posterous announced that it commits to building a Ning blog importer, for free.
• BuddyPress provided a list of helpful resources for Ning users.

Hopefully, these companies will not make the same mistake of starting with a promise they will need to revise later. Thanks to robust and profitable search engines, digital media won't forget those promises.

I belong to a Ning-based community for marketers who want to engage in an ongoing discussion about the social Web: Marketing 2.0, which is sponsored by Beeline Labs. It's a public community and the tool is easy to set up and use -- lest you think I'm an anti-Ning person or something.

Communication is a strategic business tool that fits any kind of technology and makes a tremendous difference -- it can take you from potential failure to success. Emerging technologies present more opportunities for organizations to connect with customers.

What comes across any media is still the culture and attitude of the people who drive the business. Each business needs to take a hard look at not just its profitability model. It needs to also question its executives and their ability to go beyond making and implementing tough decision to how they communicate them.

Great communication skills and empathy are an organization's best assets in a networked age of constant market and knowledge shifts. Look for those skills, or you're going to be a thing of the past.

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Are you a member or founder of a free Ning network? How did you take the news? What are you planning to do about it? Weigh in!

© 2010 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Mike Wagner]

Great points Valeria!

I'm sending this post to a client with over 10k members in a Ning community.

Thanks for adding your insight into the conversation.

Keep creating,
Mike

[Dan Johnson]

Good points -- I'm feeling the sting of dependence on Ning for a few smaller, private communities. Competition is healthy, waiting to see who steps up or if we pay the piper.

[Bruce Christensen]

Valeria,
Our family used Ning to test the viability of our family game for social networks.

We knew from the start that it was a free service. We also realized that free can't last for ever. Further, we knew that to have something that would be ours, we would have to make an investment of some sort..(I pay taxes so that I can drive on my "freeway", even though it seems like it is free).

It is unfortunate that Ning did not have a enough other revenue to continue to support their promises. This is a betrayal of trust that they should have handled better.

I agree 100% with you, that Ning cut a lot of people off without a reasonable exit strategy and that their communication was bad.
I am concerned although, that so many people believe that free is a viable economic strategy for any business. I don't see the advertising community, or VC money being able to foot the bill for all the free stuff forever.

[Syamant]

The problem in this situation is the individual who is a member of many communities. The challenges are not just monetary for them. Its their thoughts, connections and links on these communities that they will not be able to access or even collate without help

as for admins, there are still some options but again some they are faced with challenges.

i did write a short post on the ning to wordpress journey
http://futurechat.in/the-journey-from-ning-to-wordpress/

[espeterson]

Nothing tears at the fabric of a brand more destructively than a broken promise. Good luck to Ning. Maybe not so much.

[Shara O'Ryan]

I have a role-playing group on Ning. We use the free service to plan storylines and also to keep in touch with the other members.

I love Ning. I understand that they can't offer the free service anymore - and that's fine - but they could have handled the news/transition a whole lot better.

Had they handled it better, I would have been more inclined to pay to stay. As it is, we're moving the group back to our old site (which, luckily, I never got rid of).

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Mike - hope the post is a good example of how you need to thin about scaling your business. It's a bad idea to make a promise than go back on it without giving people who have invested in the tool a way to know what's gonna happen to their content.

@Dan - competition is good. It keeps the sharks at bay. Hope you find a workable solution. What bites is the time investment to move, if you have to.

@Bruce - agreed that free is not sustainable. In Ning's case it sounds like it was a good pipeline to paid and they could have looked into making the transition to paid smoother by providing value over time instead of turning a switch. People are funny that way, they dislike when you pin them against a wall and hold their content hostage.

@Syamant - thank you for bringing up an angle I had not considered and for the link. I far there will be many a disappointment for content creators who have built on public platforms in the coming year. Always best to build your own base as soon as you can.

@espeterson - good communication skills have saved many a difficult conversation. They help with results.

@Shana - always a good idea to have a back up plan. Interesting idea for a group. One thing that continues to amaze me is the resourcefulness and passion of creators. They can take the tool away, hopefully they won't kill the desire to connect and build.

[Darren Scott Monroe Online Business Ideas]

You know what Valeria? I looked at this in 2007- 08 and the thing I didn't like about it is that it was "too easy" I refrained from building a network there because of it.

The dangerous thing is WHAT IF Twitter and others are looking at that model?

Hey stick to your site and build your list people it is about to get expensive in the future.

[Mark Schmitt]

Why would or how could anyone trust NING after the way this was handled. I'm sure other free sites are watching to see what happens.

EVERYONE walk away. Let's set a presendence or we'll soon be paying for everything on the internet.

I could see .10 to search if this pay for use trend keeps up.

[Donna Maria Coles Johnson]

I agree that Ning could have handled things better. Their announcement was brash, presumptuous and rudely delivered. Having said that, at least they were clear and removed any possible doubt about the direction of their company. They also give plenty of notice I think. I feel badly for people who cannot export -- Ning should make that easy.

But looking at the bigger picture, I host nearly 6,000 users at my community. I started out with the premium service because, as a for profit business owner, I wanted a community that I would increase my company profitability. I think it's ridiculous for a business owner to think that s/he should be able to do that on someone else's dime.

It's your business. Invest in it. Why should someone else invest in your business when you're not willing to do that yourself? At least that's the question I asked myself.

For profits have had a chance to build their Ning communities for free. Some of that time should have been spent thinking about making it profitable too.

As long as the monthly or annual price is reasonable for what you get, pay it and put in the work to generate the revenues that make the service pay for itself and also enhance your bottom line. That's what business is all about.

[Donna Maria Coles Johnson]

One quick reply to Valeria. You ask a good question. I think that, as business owners, we must know that there is no free ride. All of these social networking sites (FaceBook, Twitter -- all of them) have one job and that is to make money. We should use them for what they're worth and leverage the heck out of them. But if you want to be successful with any kind of content model, you absolutely must maintain your own brands at sites you own. A blog and a newsletter, perhaps other things as well, are key. It's vital to own your content and the core mediums you use to share it with the world.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Darren Scott - it's reasonable to expect to pay for service though, isn't it? Wondering out loud.

@Mark - there's a cost for doing business. Clearly, some freemium models just didn't yield enough return to continue.

@Donna Maria - I agree that businesses should think about investing and therefore paying for products and services. Integrating outposts with your own sites makes sense. Ultimately, there is value in the community to have continuity in one place and for the business to invest in that one place so it owns and not rents, so to speak, makes sense.