When Shaping Youth was looking into adding a high performance social networking component to our site under construction, we were pitched by various companies promising mini-MySpace hubs with pricey software technology in the six-figure bracket. Ouch.
I was looking for a simple, turnkey solution like Ning, using an intuitive interface to hook up our site in a social media context that made sense. I knew we’d never afford a fancy schmansy $100K elaborate site in a pre-launch, pre-funding capacity, so we’d backburnered the idea until I met Gina Bianchini of Ning at the Guidewire Leadership Forum in December where I pummeled her with FAQs about Ning.
Gina looked incredulous when I told her I couldn’t afford much as a fledgling nonprofit, and impressed me instantly explaining Ning’s completely FREE web app!
Ning sets up in minutes and allows ANY one to create a customizable social media hub. Eureka! (Check out Ning’s blog)
Over breakfast with Gina she mentioned our commonality with another great org, Girls for a Change, and over lunch we had a lively lunch debate with Bill Nguyen founder of Lala about whether social media will ‘fizzle or sizzle’ in Web 2.0. By day’s end, I’d decided Ning was a solid fit, social web platform for our future needs at Shaping Youth.
Backed by Marc Andressen of Netscape fame, Ning wipes away the financial boundaries of ‘white label’ social networking to allow small groups of ANY kind to use their engine to power their own club, team, reunion, organization, or special niche grassroots endeavor seamlessly. Very cool.
Initially, Ning had a great concept but a tough execution for neophytes like me that hire out for coding, so I figured I’d wait until their beta flushed itself through the waters of life to keep from tanking my own ‘big vision.’
I knew they’d get it together, and Gina was a smart cookie with laser vision. Sure enough, Robert Scoble, who is in my NextNow member thinktank, reports Ning has recently ‘relaunched. Now, Ning has easier functionality and cool tools for fools like me that can’t grok the geek speak of engineers. Yay! Here’s Robert doing his Scoble Show video demo of Gina at Ning.
Shaping Youth is SO excited to be able to unite our various partner orgs and core people concerned with media and marketing’s impact on kids.
Now we can share resources, databases, users and full profiles working as one big open source collaborative rather than mini-fiefdoms talking to ourselves and “preaching to the choir.” Whew. Finally.
We obviously haven’t launched any aspect of that yet because we’re integrating it with all our other branding components, podcasting, web site and such, but it dawned on me that our readers should know about it because it’s useful to those ‘shaping youth’ through positive change as well as to youth themselves!
Tweens and teens that want to create their own social networking hub within their own enclave (school, book club, horse enthusiasts, team sports tribes, anime fans, a music focus, whatever floats your boat) can now add web widgets, RSS readers, photo and video sharing and allow their own members and pals customizable pages.
GOTTA have that for kids’ identity, especially in a web world where ‘you are your page!’
Wonder if Ning will add avatar design next? There’s already plenty of YouTube-style power here to be able to post any and all on this multi-purpose platform.
For Shaping Youth, Ning’s ‘ad-free’ option is particularly appealing, since we’re always caught in the conundrum of ditching the standard rev/gen drivers that support sites.
We don’t want to find an ad for Fritos or Bratz dolls plopped amidst our core content that’s slamming the same companies, so we’re quite picky about how our revenue generation will create sustainability.
Granted, it’s a long haul coming up with creative solutions, but we’re getting there.
We looked at other parenting destination sites to see how they handled ads, like KidsInMind, MyFamily, Kaboose, Family Fun, Baby Center About.com and all the biggies, but I just wasn’t comfy slapping on a clever ‘disclaimer’ or walling the content in a subscriber option because our new nonprofit is trying to blast our media message globally and uncork a massive media movement.
Ning gives us the freedom to turn OFF the ads for about twenty bucks a month, or harvest our OWN ads from a benign sponsor —health care or life insurance or some parental target– (anyone’s invited to step up to the plate for Shaping Youth that can pass muster here)
This is where there’s irony that a teen will have an easier time creating a sustainable site than we will, since they can simply ‘plug-n-play’ Ning’s application and have turnkey viability absolutely FREE.
Ning can offer a place for kids to stay in their own comfort zone with a private tribe or expand the enclave once those security hurdles are bridged.
I’m still not certain exactly how Ning’s age-check/security aspects work, so we’ll wait to hear more from experts like KCBS tech commentator Larry Magid of SafeKids who will be on Shaping Youth Advisory Board Member Rona Renner’s radio show Childhood Matters this Sunday, discussing preteens and technology along with our partner org, Common Sense Media.
In just a year since Ning launched in beta, their unique visitors have grown tenfold to nearly 5 million per month, and traffic on page views is in the 20 million per month realm…that’s the kind of impact we want to have, and like Ning, we want to take our time getting the ‘bugs’ out.
I’m fine with letting our vision slowly evolve, to find the right funding.
I just keep trusting my gut that things will sort themselves out in my universe.
It pays not to jump the gun and do things twice.
So for all you guys pinging on me about how our ‘beta blog and programs’ have been tried, true, tested and are pestering and pushing me to roll, roll, roll…I can only take a deep breath, look at Ning’s lessons and say…
All in good time.
Speak Your Mind