Will Ning become the new Facebook?
These days, it seems pretty safe to say that, in spite of all the controversy, Facebook has become King of Social Networking. While a few “Facebook refusenicks” (to borrow a term from the U.K. anti-Facebook movement) still exist, the Facebook phenomenon has spread to an incredible number of users. According to Quantcast, the site’s traffic in the U.S. alone is 78 million people every month. But with so many recent scandals and user dissatisfaction with Facebook’s more than questionable policies on privacy and data ownership, will Facebook always manage to reign supreme? Or are there other social networking sites providing something different–something better–than what Facebook has to offer?
Not being very Web 2.0 savvy until I took an Online Magazines course at Centennial College, I was shocked to only recently discover Ning, a create-your-own-social-network platform that was launched October 2005. The unique thing about Ning is that anyone can create a new network, which Ning then lets you customize with different templates, colours, themes, and a wide variety of widgets. You can also include feaures like a blog, photo and video-sharing, and an events page. I tried it and it was super easy to do. I was actually really excited and impressed by the way Ning was taking read-write web to a new level. It felt empowering to be able to design and originate my own personal network that way. Something more unique and specialized than a Facebook network or group. Because it is so customizable, it seems perfect for more defined groups like a family, a class, or a club.
(An interview with Ning CEO Gina Bianchini.)
Ning sites are hosted with Ning (meaning their name will be part of your url), but they also offer a url masking feature for $5 that will eliminate the .ning. Also, for those who want more control, Ning allows developers to change some features and underlying logic of their networks. Ning also supports Google’s OpenSocial API, which allows you to make social networking sites interoperable.
Although Ning is not as established as Facebook, its popularity is growing exponentially. An article called “Ning’s Infinite Ambition” from Fast Company magazine explains that Ning’s creators calculate that “each person signed up for a Ning group is worth, on average, 2 people, compounded daily … which is how Ning has been able to grow at a daily average of more than 0.4% and add 500 new groups a day, doubling roughly every 137 days.” This “double viral loop” effect means that every network creator is a user and any user can become a network creator.
It will be interesting to see if Ning will be able to rival Facebook. Do you think Facebook has officially won the social networking wars? Have you created or would you ever consider creating a Ning network? Why or why not?
