To Ning or not to Ning, that is the question

Ning.com is very cool. The Ning architecture allows anyone to set up and customize blogging and social networking features to create a social network suited to their needs. It even includes built-in photo galleries with the option to sort images into albums.

This free resource should be ideal for an artist to set up a network and interact with consumers.

So why isn't it more popular?


Hadnews.com posted an interview with Ning.com CEO Gina Bianchini, taped during Feburary's World Economic Forum:

http://us.hadnews.com/davos-interviews-ning-ceo-gina-bianchini-insists-facebook-isn%E2%80%99t-a-competitor.htm

Throughout the interview, Bianchini argues that because Facebook fan-pages are a light-weight distribution resource and Ning sites are fully immersive and customizable, Ning is the better choice for institutions in order to create a stronger connection with the user.

"GB: And so what I think actually is happening , and we’re seeing this especially among people who are artists, and people who started in 2005 and 2006 with a myspace page, which is they basically look at it and they say, “ok, Facebook, myspace, Twitter, phenomenal for distribution. That is the place where I can put up a fan page and within a few hours I can have a million followers.” The same thing is true for twitter. So if you basically look at the people who have over a million followers, they are getting increasingly sophisticated in terms of understanding that those are phenomenal, but very lightweight distribution channels.
What they’re realizing and I think where the market is going is the sophistication around, where you’re sending people and where the destination is, whether that was originally a blog, or whether that was originally a website is actually becoming a rich immersive social experience.
MA: And now you’re talking about Ning?
GB: And now I’m talking about Ning.

And I agree.

However, the fact remains that Ning's market-share is simply strong enough to make it a solitary outlet. In order to use Ning, consumers need to create another profile and sign into yet another network, and for many consumers that is enough of a turn-off to keep them away.

And then there is trouble of publicizing your Ning. In the same way many have abandoned personal websites in favor of Facebook or Myspace pages, it can be difficult to drive traffic to a ning.domain.


This is not to say that Ning is a bad choice, it just may be a bit too soon. Ning has recently integrated with twitter and a Facebook integration is discussed in the foreseeable future. If that can be realized, Ning will be a great medium for artists and designers to connect with their consumer.