SocialGo to Benefit from Ning Chaos?
Thursday, March 26, 2009 22:03
We’ve written about the chaos at social networking platform Ning. Website owners, who are clients of Ning, are outraged by the company’s decision to shift from being just a social network platform to a social networking website of their own (Ning.com) . The members of Ning.com were simply taken from every website that used the Ning software to create their social network.
Not wasting anytime, Ning competitor SocialGo just released a statement which speaks directly to the concerns of Ning’s disgruntled clients:
We believe that there are a few key elements to address so that mainstream Network Creators on Ning feel comfortable enough to make the transition to SocialGO in the same way that the thousands of adult Network Creators have been transitioned to Zocku, the sister site of SocialGO:
-
- CONTRACTUAL GUARANTEE FROM SOCIALGO THAT NETWORK OWNERSHIP IS ABSOLUTE
- PRIVATE AND SECURE SPACE TO SEEK AND OBTAIN HELP AND DISCUSS OWNERSHIP ISSUES
- MIGRATION TOOLS AND OPTIONS FOR DEALING WITH NING’S REFUSAL TO RELEASE CONTENT
- COMPELLING FEATURES THAT JUSTIFY THE COST AND BURDEN OF MIGRATION
- CUSTOMER SERVICE AND RESPECT THAT EARNS YOUR TRUST
SocialGo seems to be the favored alternative for Ning network creators. Former Ning third app maker Widget Laboratory joined SocialGo after their run in with Ning CEO Gina Bianchini. SocialGo also benefited from an influx of network creators who were banned by Ning for “Mature” content.
Will the current shake up at Ning lead to another wave of new SocialGo creators?
I’ve dabbled with both platforms in the past (nothing serious) and should say that I remember the Ning platform being much more user friendly. Over the past few months, however, SocialGo has made some meaningful platform upgrades. WidgetLaboratory’s blog mentions that SocialGo rolled out a new “Layout Manager” which allows network creators to fully customize their sites layout. “You can customize the entire layout of ANY page on your site, including the default pages, and have variable column widths, headers, footers, and menus on each page. You also have full API access and the ability to utilize custom HTML and code right within your page layout.”
Will SocialGo be the net gainer of the Ning controversy? I think it will depend on Ning’s willingness (or lack there of) to reverse its trail of bad policy decisions that has its clients waiting to jump ship (but can’t because Ning won’t let them have their files). Even if SocialGo’s platform is now on par with Ning’s, I’m sure it would be a tough decision for network creators to make considering the hassle of transporting an entire website. If Ning insists on taking their members data, however, it may be a necessary hassle.
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Ning SUCKS says:
March 27th, 2009 at 9:48 am
how do we know that social go won’t go the way of ning and screw their creators to? ning promoted themselves in a very similar way also.
leoking says:
March 27th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
there is a case in point for those who have purchased ning… they just cant play around with the privacy of their members…. do the members signing up know that their data like friends etc will be shared with other networks… and get friends request from other network members who have got nothing to do with them in the first place .. collectively NC can sue ning for unethical business practice and breaching the privacy of the members of their network … NING u have used your NC….they wont spare you like this.. time to let the mainstream media know about you ….
JFRANKS23 says:
March 27th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
lol…meanwhile tech crunch will write another 30 posts about twitter…that site got bought and paid for a longgg time ago….if it isnt a press release from the company, they wont report it
Carobee says:
March 27th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I suspect that socialGo is hoping that this is the case, since if you have a look at their traffic, it has been in steady decline for the last 3 months. My biggest fear in moving over would be that they won’t be around in another 6; I would wait until their parent company releases it’s next set of financials. My impression from speaking with other adult site owners is that after having a bad time with SocialGo’s downtime and errors during the beta, many of them have shifted themselves to grou.ps. The traffic results between socialGo and grou.ps suggest this as well.
Jim says:
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:36 am
socialgo has custom domains and zocku so that figure of socialgo’s traffic being in decline would not technically be accurate. Look at zocku.com’s growth and then add that to socialgo’s “declining” figure, plus niether of those figures would account with custom domains, plus take a look at: http://owners.socialgo.com/magazine/read/it-just-keeps-getting-bigger_170.html
Sites like alexa don’t always show the true story, they just measure what’s coming into *.socialgo.com
Stewart says:
April 5th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I’ve just spent the last couple of hours setting up niche networks on both SocialGo and Ning, and I have to say, at this point, there’s no comparison between them in terms of polish and features. I wrote up my thoughts here:
http://profitfrom.socialgo.com/members/profile/1/blog-view/blog_1.htm
In terms of the issue with Ning being the hub and your network being a spoke in the wheel, I think that should end up benefiting most network owners since ultimately it should drive interested members into your site.
I have no doubt that SocialGo will improve over time though, and I am definitely not counting them out altogether at this point.
TJW says:
April 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Comparisons of SocialGo today to the more mature Ning are apples to oranges. What will be interesting is comparing SocialGo of six months from now to Ning (or Ning.com – or whatever else Ning thinks it is).
As SocialGo comes out of beta and begins to release the very flexible layout manager and widget store – watch out. Network Creators who want real control, a true white label experience, and an open ability to integrate with other websites and tools will find there is only one solution – SocialGo.
I do not work for SocialGo or have any financial relationship. I am simply a long time user of Ning chomping at the bit to get away from these fools. Being with Ning is like being a big grown up business having to deal day to day with children who don’t understand right from wrong, promises from stories, and integrity from bluster. I want out of the children’s day care center and into the office building.
I can’t wait to be rid of Ning.
Stewart says:
April 7th, 2009 at 3:24 am
TJW,
It will be interesting to see what 6 months change will bring to each service. SocialGo will need to change their free offering though if they ever want to get off the ground; what they have now is utterly useless, and if they can’t get network owners in on the bottom floor, I’m not sure how they expect to convert them into paying customers. Personally I think if you’re feeling like you need to leave the day care center, then you should look at self-hosted options, otherwise you’re jumping out of one fry pan and into another. SocialGo is a business and they will do what they need to do profit from your hard work, just like Ning.
TJW says:
April 7th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
@Stewart
Paying for a business service is absolutely fine. I happen to believe in paying businesses for good solutions. I do it every day of the week and work with businesses that operate professionally and with great integrity. So – no need to assume all businesses are as underhanded as Ning has been. But, a social network that provides a white-label version, and secures fees for the service has no business making a grab for my members. Totally and completely unethical behavior. Additionally – you say what Socialgo has right now is “utterly useless” – funny. I’m just sort of chuckling. Believe what you want about uselessness – I have no personal need for you to use Socialgo. Please feel free not to! Pay for a self-hosted option. Go for it!!!! But, trust me – Socialgo is not useless to me. Far, far from it. I’ve been carefully watching their progress and the position they are creating through the development of their platform. Socialgo is everything (and more) that I had hoped Ning would be.
How to Get Six Pack Fast says:
April 15th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Not that I’m totally impressed, but this is a lot more than I expected for when I stumpled upon a link on SU telling that the info here is quite decent. Thanks.
Free Social Networks says:
May 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
People like free stuff. But the free option is quite limited.
Thats what gets most people using those other sites though.
Dominic Wheatley says:
July 6th, 2009 at 10:48 am
I’m not touting here guys, but you all know what you’re talking about and there’s no reason a company rep can’t chime in. I accept we have a job to do in polishing the SocialGO product. Reason why I’m late to this comments party is because the new SocialGO release is out and I think we’ve covered some of the issues mentioned here. Take a look. Getting better all the time
Also, our ’statement’ as above in the article is no stunt. We happen to belive this is the right business decsion – we’re aiming to be ‘business grade Ning’. Hard but we think doable. Anyway, we’re ploghing our furrow and thanks to those who have been kind.
Dominic Wheatley CEO SocialGO