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Alternative Ning Social Networking sites
As an administrator of a Ning website it was a shock and an unwanted one at that when Ning announced it was turning into a paid for web app. From my research this was the number one social network app to use on the market. The abandonment of the free produced is a step down and an ominous sign for freemium cloud based web apps. Is this an ominous sign that the freemium model is on its way out? Ning is the leading player in the social networking web app market and their departure is a huge disruption.
Many freemium users like myself now need to move on. I administer a small group of squash players who network to play together an manage an informal league. The new free model is stripped of basic features to be useful for us. How many of are there out there?
Luckily this is a busy field with plenty alternatives. While Ning is universally known and used right on a par with Facebook those who do not or cannot pay have genuine alternatives. There is no major competitor but this is an opportunity for one of them to make a play for an increase in numbers. Here is my run down of key alternatives.
SocialGo is a pure social network with a feature-rich free model of blogging and messaging that is aimed at users who will upgrade to monetisation-focused models.
Spruz is more technically focused with access to its widget database, drag and drop and CSS capabilities. It is actively courting Ning groups to come. It has a lot of features which I can make use of.
Grouply also has a migration tools to use with Ning to import members over but also content. The site does not give much insite into its features and has a limited app offer.
GROUPS also enables Ning migration. It is very user friendly set out with a wiki and blog and lots more.
Yuku is a very visually enticing web app focused on pure social networking with Facebook like features.
Wackwall is a straightforward social network builder with a Ning import tool.
Mixxt is a simple discussion web app with forum and wiki tools.
Crowdvine promotes itself as meet smarter focusing on conferences.
Jinity is another online community with lots of features if less pretty to work with.
So where do we all go? Well the charges at a basic level for Ning are low enough for some groups to stay there but the cost is that they will lose some features of the freemium model. So what else is out there for groups to go to?
In my view Spruz and Grouply are the two most likely contenders for publicly promoting their business to Ning users and providing migration tools.