Ning closing free networks

[Azh]

I don't post on here much, but I spend a lot of time reading - Book Blogs is one hell of a resource.  So I'm wondering how today's announcement will effect Book Blogs?

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/15/nings-bubble-bursts-no-more-free-n...

[Hey Lorri]

It will be interesting to see what will happen.

[cheryl sherrard]

I am already apart of a Ning group that has a donation button on the site (before NIng) made the annoucement
and because they have 2500 people they can stay the same . I think it's great that there are more alternatives
coming up I feel like this is a great resource for everybody and that we dont have to change very much

[Barbara Desmond]

A possible option would be to move over to Webs.

[Vivian Deliz]

Webs even has a way to convert from Ning into Webs...

[Mary Jacobs]

I was upset by the Ning news as well. I use Ning for my online book group. It works perfectly. So far, I have found that socialgo.com looks and acts the most like the ning networks. We are also members of GoodReads and I think that might work as well. I have already set up groups there when we lost our first home.

Other sites:
Webs.com -- easy to use, but no "group" option
Spruz.com - group option, but hard to navigate and customize
socialgo.com - so far the best choice for me, easy to navigate and customize
bigtent.com - easy to navigate, but you are lumped in with a bunch of other people/groups


From what I can tell, the premium plans on ning start around $10 per month. Something my little book group of 15 members can't afford. Since there are over 5000 members here, maybe a few of us can donate a dollar a year to keep it running. I would be willing to do that.

[Pam T]

LibraryThing would be an option, depending upon what one uses Ning for. Perhaps the bookiest place I know.

Thanks, Azh, for posting this.

[Pam T]

If you'd like to look at what LibraryThing looks like, I've got a link to the 75 Book Challenge here: http://www.librarything.com/groups/75booksin2010#forums

This isn't exactly typical of what LT discussion boards look like because everyone here has their own thread where they track what books they are reading this year.

But membership is free. And this site has been going forever and isn't about to change how it works.

[Toni]

I prefer Goodread to Librarything...another option

[Jaime Huff]

the only thing I would be concerned about if Bookblogs were to move from Ning to another site is that it won't be long before other free sites follow suit and start charging and then we move again to another site.. see where I am going with this?

As it's becoming harder and harder to stay afloat, it won't be long before others start charging as ads aren't paying enough in commissions.

I wouldn't have any aversion to a donation button to keep this group afloat. It's a great lifeline to other book bloggers, publishers and authors.

[Azh]

I think that's what bothers me the most - I'm involved in a lot of things on the net and the trend currently seems to be to take everything to fee-based subscriptions. This is going to kill a lot of valuable resources/sites and I just don't think it's fair. If I had enough hosting, I'd go around offering all these sites a lifeline, because I hate seeing things like this happen.

This particular resource - well, as I said, I don't post much but I visit daily and read avidly. It's definitely one of a kind and offers so much support, if there's anything net-based I can do to help out, I'm happy to do so - even if it's a stopgap measure just to show some support!

[Becki Rizzuti]

I know that there have been a lot of suggestions here and that some of you have pointed out the risk of other sites going free if there is a mass exodus from Ning. This is understandable, though I think that in the long run Ning is going to find that they lose money in advertising revenue because so many people flee the site.

If I may respectfully as possible point out that Wackwall is not only free, but it is also open source. This means that if Trisha wanted to purchase a domain and web hosting (which would cost about $130 for the entire year -- or less) she would probably save money over the Ning option AND would be a...

[Becki Rizzuti]

I don't know what the heck happened to the rest of my post, but that's not how I wrote it! Ugh!

Wackwall is providing Ning users with an export tool AND you don't have to host on your own domain: you can also have bookblogs.wackwall.com