Bright Things Share Discussion Threads

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 17:43

"Ning values new premium market at around $4 billion"

Read more:

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 17:21

CNN Money report on the developments:



One interesting snippet it that the 10,000 networks started by educators will remain free in a deal supported by an education textbook company.

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 17:17

Certainly a lot for SocialGO to think about with this new pricing scheme.

The cheapest option, being just $20 per year is pretty competitive. The support also looks

Wonder when we will get a response from socialGO, the new ning pricing starts on July 1st and they get 30 days after that to start paying-up. I guess if they want to wait and see what happens with migration before making their own move, they will probably need to wait until September until all is clear

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 17:07

Full comparison of the plans:



Compare to SocialGO's:

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 17:05

The new ning pricing model:




NING MINI
The simplest and fastest way to set up a social network for your classroom, community group, small nonprofit or family
$2.95/month or $19.95/year* (save 44%)

NING PLUS
The tools and features you need to build and grow a branded social network with high engagement – an incredible value at a great price
$19.95/month or $199.95/year* (save 16%)

NING PRO
The ideal solution for building a comprehensive social experience, including additional features, integration, support and bandwidth
$49.95/month or $499.95/year* (save 17%)

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 17:03

Today's email from ning:


"Hello!

We're writing today to let you know about some new and exciting changes coming to Ning. In July, we're doing two very important things:

1. We'll be phasing out all free Ning Networks.

We want to provide a new level of innovation to Network Creators - and build all the valuable features Network Creators have asked us to. To get there, we need to focus 100% on paid Ning Networks. This phasing out of free services won't happen until July, so you'll have plenty of time to weigh your options. We'll do our best to provide you with a migration path if you don't wish to continue with Ning, but we'd love to have you come along for all of the exciting future developments.

2. We're introducing new plans and pricing.

To help make it easy for you to come along with us, we've created new plans for every kind of Ning Network: big, small and in between. We think you'll find these new options affordable for almost every budget - as little as $3/month. That's an unprecedented deal that even allows you to go ad-free.

The plans will be available in July, but you can get a sneak peek at the details here.

What does this mean for my Ning Network?

While nothing is going to be changing today, we encourage you to check out the upcoming plans. If you don't wish to continue as a Network Creator, we'll be following up with you in the coming weeks to provide you with details on how to close out or migrate your Ning Network. You'll have plenty of time to make the best decision for you and your members, and we'll do our best to make that decision as easy as possible.

What if I have more questions?

We thought you might! We've put together a list of FAQs that will help answer many of your questions. Nothing will be changing immediately, and we'll be contacting you again via email with more details.

Sincerely,

Jason Rosenthal
CEO, Ning, Inc."

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 17:02

I seemed to get away with it today, only BGT and one other down. One of them even went up 5%!

I think we could see some pretty big price movements over the next few weeks as the election unfolds

[haff1] 04/5/2010 16:47

...mine all red but two...

[carl79] 04/5/2010 16:34

Dont know about you but my portfolio took a beating today...a few stops nearly got touched...considering my thoughts on a double dip i dont think i'll be moving them down in case this is the start of a FTSE free fall...

[the analyst] 04/5/2010 14:57

"Did This Startup Founder Con Her Way Into a $750 Million Valuation?"



"We hear Bianchini fiddled with Ning's financial and traffic numbers in selling the company to its last round of investors. And not just the forecasts, which are routinely pumped up by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to wishful-thinking venture capitalists, but actuals. It was the discovery this fakery that purportedly led to her March ouster."

[yump] 29/4/2010 09:13

Latest Firefox on my 32bit slowed down Java to the extent that it looks like its not working and then appears about 2 minutes later. Must learn not to install any updates. Too much 'new technology' fixing things that aren't broken. Now if only someone at MS could fix Word so that it stops thinking for itself and formatting my work when I didn't ask it to...

[carl79] 29/4/2010 08:56

Just need to make sure the right plug ins are installed (i use Firefox so needed an extra plug in for that...but once i had it i needed to refresh everything with ADVFN - if you click help there is a video about it straight away so it must be a very common issue...anyway, all good in the hood now...

Saw some comments on the other thread about giving share options...

Yes, good to see. It keeps actual wages lower and provides clear incentive to do well...Still believe they need to improve service though and I can only see that happening if they streamline the operation and focus on paying customers - otherwise it would involve increasing headcount which is not viable UNLESS they are making good profit from the paying sites which of course they could be! Every week that goes by is an indication of how well they are managing cost and generating cash so that's one encouraging thing about the virtual silence on business performance...

Like TA, I expect some market coms after Ning have updated on their strategy. I just hope that BGT take a strong stance as well and leverage this opportunity to the fullest. e should not have too much longer to wait

[the analyst] 29/4/2010 00:12

Very good to see share options as part of the package, imo

[the analyst] 28/4/2010 21:58

All is fine for me and my Macintosh

[ljsquash] 28/4/2010 21:57

I have similar with 32 bit so is it Java?

[uncle_bob] 28/4/2010 19:45

Another job ad which refers to 150k networks, also share options package as part of the deal.

[carl79] 28/4/2010 18:28

is advfn's monitor down? I cant seem to get the java to load in my browser...

[the analyst] 27/4/2010 22:51

I think a trading update becomes possible once ning have shown their hand, but not beforehand

Once ning have revealed their business plan, they won't be able to change it for a while without looking ridiculous , so it would give BGT a good opportunity to update the market if they wanted to.

I'm not saying it will happen, just that there is a possibility there if they would like to take advantage of it.

Perhaps a trading update, new business plan (removal of free offering), placing and surprise V2 release all in one go! LOL! :)


PS
the egg came before the chicken, but the chicken came before the chicken egg. Trust me, I'm a biologist! :)

[uncle_bob] 27/4/2010 22:45

Chicken and egg, to provide better customer service costs money, it BGT are short of cash how do they provide customer service without going bust, in which case there will be no service.

You get the feeling that BGT are on the brink of either becoming a successful company or blowing it.

Which way will it go and why no trading update.

[the analyst] 27/4/2010 22:40

Does the 5th May have a relevance, given that ning are releasing their business plan going forward on 4th May?

"Non of my adsense ad work properly and you guys tell me that it cant be fix till the 5th of may."

[the analyst] 27/4/2010 22:39

Another comment from that page:

"I agree with Marjorie. I have to site I pay 149.99 fo1 and 50 for the other. That's $200 a month. The number 1 thing on my list is better customer services response. If, I am paying 150 per month I deserve better service. So far its the same service when I had the 29.99 plan.

Next, since I am paying you guys that much, I expect you guys to double check your work for me before saying its complete. Example...I am still having viewing issues with I.E browser... I had to find out for myself... you guys should have know about this. Not I.

Non of my adsense ad work properly and you guys tell me that it cant be fix till the 5th of may. This is how i pay for your service at 200 for 2 site. So far it has not work without adsense being out of whack. This was the best yet. you guys rely to me and tell meits adsense issue....really?...I guess I have been single out by adsense... that's funny because I have another site form another company and it works fine since day 1.

I just expect better service when I have issues, I pay extra because I don't know how to build a site on my own... you guys are the experts right???

At the end of the day.. your sales team can promise the world but when its comes to it.. costumer service need to deliver on that.

You guys have a number for sales to get more customer but no phone number to keep your customers... how is does that make business sense? At least provide that tool free to your 149.99 customers."

[the analyst] 27/4/2010 22:38

Sign-ups are obviously vital, but I wonder whether attracting a customer then losing him because of a poor product and customer support may be worse than not having attract that customer in the first place

Very difficult to get them back once you have lost them

[the analyst] 27/4/2010 22:33

Makes me wonder whether if the team had made sure the product and customer service were up to scratch months ago, they could be well ahead of the game by now.

They seem so close, yet so far away from something very very good indeed

[the analyst] 27/4/2010 22:31

Interesting comments on this page:



This one was particularly interesting:

"by Marjorie 2 days ago
In order to monetize membership to its fullest, we need to entice potential new members without giving everything away. For example, on dating sites (and I'm not saying ours is a dating site - far from it), they allow non-paying members to fill out a profile and look around, but they can't contact anyone. It would be great to have members be able to see forums, but not participate. Also, I would like to be able to manually input a member.

The most important feature I would like to see is better customer service:
How about some sort of A-Z guide to Social Go? I don't like the idea of having to resort to the forums for explanations, because many times people don't get back to you in time. We need definitions of terms. Usually, it's something so simple that could be answered very easily.

Ask yourself, how much time do you waste answering the same questions over [e-mail]? Wouldn't it make more sense to have it posted in one central location to avoid all of that repetitive work? You have Get Satisfaction, Forums on your own network, etc. How about a central knowledge base?

And lastly, and this is at the top of my list, you need phone support or a live help desk of some sort. I'm paying you over $125/month, I deserve live help. I pay 1 Shopping Cart $99/month and PayPal $0/month. Both have live phone support during office hours and they offer excellent help. I pay my ISP $12/month and Go Daddy $10/domain and they have 24/7 help! I understand you're in the UK. I would have no problem calling you at night or early in the morning. I have Skype so cost wouldn't be a factor.

I tell everyone how awesome your product is, but I always proceed it with - "But, their customer service sucks." You are very nice people, but it's ridiculous at this point that I have to wait 24-48 hours for an answer. Esp. on weekends!

To preserve the happiness of your customers and boost word-of-mouth promotion, it's important that you address these issues promptly. You would have so many singing your praises if you just paid a little more attention to them."