Tonight Ning will introduce new chat functionality, giving Ning network administrators the oft-requested ability to integrate a rich chat environment similar to the one launched on Facebook last April. Ning’s new chat system is Flash-based, presenting users with a persistent chat bar along the bottom of their screens as they browse through a Ning network. Users have the option of chatting through an interface at the bottom of their screen, or can ‘pop-out’ their chats into their own windows. While the interface will remain consistent across each network, users won’t be able to chat with members outside of the Ning network they’re currently browsing.
Ning originally introduced a more basic chat feature last summer, but that version uses either dedicated chat pages or sidebar iFrames, which means they aren’t always visible as users navigate through a network. But even the basic version has proven to be very successful – Ning’s chat traffic has skyrocketed, as seen in the Compete graph below pitting Ning’s IM domain against Meebo’s homepage. To be fair, the graph probably doesn’t take into account Meebo’s traffic that occurs offsite (Quantcast reports that Meebo’s entire network sees more like 12 million uniques), but it’s clear that Ning Chat is rapidly gaining traction.
Aside from its growth in chat, Ning has also been posting some impressive stats recently, growing to 4.8 million uniques in January (a 368% growth year over year) despite the fact that the site recently banned porn networks, which some believed were responsible for a significant amount of Ning’s traffic.
Impressive growth. It pales next to 6m for Twitter and 70m for Facebook.
Further, Ning is challenged by fragmentation among it’s thousands of branded networks. Without millions of users in a single network, it’s difficult to conduct any meaningful online conversation.
In the meantime, we’ve surfaced thousands of relevant, realtime conversations on Twitter. See http://tv.tEarn.com/ for one example.
“Further, Ning is challenged by fragmentation among it’s thousands of branded networks. Without millions of users in a single network, it’s difficult to conduct any meaningful online conversation.”
So according to your “logic”, there should only be a single blog, where its millions of readers can conduct meaningful conversations, rather than the present situation, in which millions of blogs, like this one, actually inhibit conversation among participants.
That’s intriguing! If you weren’t such a spammy dbag, I’d love to subscribe to your email newsletter.
I second this, spammy dbags like you are a cancer on TechCrunch and I wish they would implement moderation for comments
Yep. i third this. cancer kills.
I think that DJ almost had a good point. The one thing that I never see from Ning is level of engagement. Sure their reach might be comparable to meebo, but what about the number of IMs sent or time on site? Same goes for ning.com.
Also, 4.8M fragmented uniques is not that interesting to advertisers. How do they monetize? Do they have a brand sales team or do they use AdSense? I’m guessing they aren’t that interesting as a run of site buy and that if you break them out into channels, their scale and level of engagement are not all that interesting. I’d love it if somebody proved me wrong, though.
@Eli Conversations wander – like this one. Among friends at Facebook, it can jump to thousands of topics. Keeping the conversation on topic has been difficult. Finding the relevant conversation among a few hundred friends is hard as well.
I am suprised to see that techcrunch visits thisis50.com…. that is a screen shot from rapper 50cents ning site…. interesting.
Ning’s original announcement about the upcoming Chat Feature contained a screen shot of it running on ThisIs50.com.
Checked out the site. Seems like lots of work to keep your social net going. I looked at data center for example and found recent blog comments. Ning looks like a place where people look for jobs or conduct commercial business.
Ning is a great platform! keep up the excellent work. Vertical social networks are the key to Ning’s success.
Ning is indeed a great platform. However, there is very little listening to their users, the networks creators mainly.
The new chat feature is terrible in many ways. First of all – it won’t allow people to immediately see who is online. When you pop the chat feature it covers a big part of the screen. Plus, the individual member of the network can’t control its layout, and some complained that the bar is too big. Also, you can’t chat from the bar – you have to pop it up.
NING has not been listening or communicating at all with networks creators. People who have brought thousands of users to networks established seem to be “talking to the walls” and getting automated responses.
This attitude won’t get them very far.
This is a nice new feature for Ning. SNS using Ning would I think definitely love this one.
I think SocialGo offers a lot more features and widgets than this… only because Ning is older its has more users.
I’ve covered SocialGo recently here…
http://web2craw...etwork-creator/
Yeah, that 65 word analysis of socialGo (taken directly from their site) surrounded by google ads is really insightful. Please keep covering things like that, because the world knows that we need more craptacular websites with zero content and a ton of ads.
After you’re done reading that review check out my site at http://macmaniapodcast.com/
Hey,
Thanks for reading that 65 words..
Probably the worst site I have ever seen in my life
I just let you earn $ 0.05 cents by clicking on one of your ads…
contact me if you want to split it…
NewsFlash:
http://www.Web2Crawl.com wins new title:
‘Worst Website Ben Fryxell has seen in his life’.
.
.
.
who cares….
Wow, I love this cool color. I’d definitely get one!!!
nice update of the system for ning
http://www.heal...tedirectory.com
For groups that really want to make things happen… visit http://www.collectivex.com
No doubt that sites like Facebook, Ning and myspace are popular. As Paul says, Ning allows you to look for jobs or conduct commercial business. Basically, once you create your social network, you are free to do anything with it.
An easy guide to create your social network can be found here – http://vizedu.c...social-network/
Looks great for use by educators who are using ning to forge connections between teachers and ultimately their students. I attended a coference where the entire schedule and presentations were supported by a ning; a chat function would be an added bonus.
the new feature from ning looks cool but i’d rather use meebo when i’m at work because it’s still easier to use in my opinion.
This is without a doubt the WORST feature Ning has ever released. So, so horrible. And it’s going to cost a lot of people, a lot of business. Why Ning would place something like the chat in the bottom tool bar is so far beyond me I can’t comprehend it. One of the things members on my website love is communicating with one another in the chat room, and now they will be lucky if they can even locate it. Again, I am so un-impressed and frankly quite pissed off.
Hi Brad,
We’re excited about the ability to have persistent chat across the network, the pop-out option to stay chatting while anywhere online, and the other features listed in our recent blog post – http://blog.nin...ruary-23rd.html. Providing it in the lower corner allows for seamless integration with your network as well as the pop-out option.
That said, we appreciate you sending any specific feedback from your members directly to us at the Ning Help Center (http://help.ning.com). If they are confused by the change, feel free to use information from there to help introduce it to your members on your social network.
Thank you,
Laura
Director of Support
Ning
If you actively manage a site on Ning like me, you welcome the constant upgrading and changes Ning makes. I think I like the new chat so far but it is too early to tell. Essentially Ning is a free service they provide (25 bucks a month is pretty much free) so the expectation and hope is that they will continue to grow, make money ( not sure if they are ) and give fast feedback on issues that come up.
I agree. I have a network that is growing and I get excited when I hear about new Ning updates. Thank you Ning for kicking ass.
It’s funny these people here complaining about a free service. Don’t like it? Move on.
http://www.poshcircle.com
I really love the new chat feature for my Ning network. It rocks!
http://img.skit...6dajem6pnk2.jpg
Check out this thread…
http://networkc...paign-ning-team
Ning Network creators are upset at what Ning is planning on doing…
Zohar is right. This new chat has several problems and bugs. It is running very slowly and a pop-up window for chat is ridiculous.
My users are mad with me cause they think I was the one that made the chat changing. This chat is crashing all the time.
I was very happy with the other format. Why this?
ning really sucks. they’ve turned into a horrible company
http://www.char...ms-its-clients/
oops sorry.. this link totally exposes ning
http://www.char...ms-its-clients/
ning is a VERY poorly run company that cheats its clients. check this post
http://www.char...ms-its-clients/
hello can any one tell me how can i add that the new chat feature in my web site see this link
http://img.skit...6dajem6pnk2.jpg
AngryR- awesome post! no offense but TC totally dropped the ball by not reporting this.
How can i purchase the Ning chat ?
Google Wave just pre-destroyed Ning. Or, perhaps, gave them an out, if they can “Wave-ize” their system in a timely fashion.