The announcement from Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal that they will soon be phasing out their free service comes as both a surprise and a source of discomfort for community managers who invested their time and effort into a Ning network.  These managers will soon have to decide to whether to become homeless or start paying a mortgage for a new home.  The question is how low can that mortgage be to replace the functionality that Ning provided?

The internet can always provide options and we’re already seeing communities stepping forward to fill the void.

BuddyPress Steps Up

The Wordpress based “social-network in a box” product BuddyPress seems to be leading the charge.  Just a day after the announcment, Boone B. Gorges released a Ning to BuddyPress Import plugin that will migrate display names, usernames, and email address.  John Jacoby runs the new Ning to BuddyPress blog to provide resources and assist community managers with their transition.

Matt Mulenweg has jumped into the conversation as well suggesting that Ning users should not necessarily seek to replace it with another freemium service.  He states “…if a company with $120,000,000 in funding can’t figure that business out, I wouldn’t hitch my horse to a company with $5-6M.”

So I Want a New Home…How Much Will My Mortgage Be?

While the new Ning pricing structure has yet to be released we do know what their current premium plans run.  Ning’s premium offerings include express access to customer support starting at $10 per month, removal of Ning links at the bottom of pages at $25 per month, custom URLs at $5 per month, an ad-free interface at $25 per month and extra bandwidth and storage at $10 per month.

A BuddyPress implementation has the disadvantage of not being free.  Payment comes not for the software but for the host service that is required to run the software and serve the domain.  Even then there are plenty of options with lower costs than what Ning asks for.  This blog is hosted by HostMonster.com which currently charges $5.95 for an annual contract which includes domain registration.

There is also the costs of initial setup and maintenance of the community network.  Depending on the customization required, community managers may need to hire BuddyPress consultants to assist in setting up the site.  Once setup the BuddyPress interface is easy to use and intuitive so maintenance costs should be low or unnecessary.

Functionality – BuddyPress vs Ning

Ning’s product list includes what you would expect in a community site including member blogs, chat, RSS feeds, groups, discussion forums, photo and video support, and community management/moderation functionality.  They provide 50 unique themes along with the ability for unique branding through the use of custom CSS.

BuddyPress is a set of plug-ins designed to work together on a Wordpress MU installation.  They include Extended Profiles, Instant Messaging, Friends, Groups, Blog Tracking, and Forums.  There are currently 141+ BuddyPress specific plug-ins in addition to the vast collection available in Wordpress.  A quick search of the Wordpress Theme database on the keyword BuddyPress returns 8 themes though there are many more available on the web both free and premium.

Where’s Drupal?

On a side note, I have to wonder where is the other obvious transition choice, Drupal?  As of this writing I cannot find any postings concerning Drupal’s advantages specific to Ning’s soon to be homeless.  Dries Buytaert’s blog has been quiet on the subject along with the Acquia, Drupal.org and Drupal Gardens sites.  Maybe we’ll see something from them this week during the DrupalCon in SF.  Its only my opinion but I would guess that Dries and Acquia are more concerned with their more enterprise efforts, such as the recent launch of WhiteHouse.gov on Drupal.  While I am happy to see open-source sponsors like Acquia provide better enterprise solutions such as in the areas of security and database management I hope that the little guys do not get forgotten.

Resources

If you are considering a transition from Ning or want to create a new community network in BuddyPress contact me.  With over three years of Wordpress experience mostly in the photoblogging domain I am available to assist you in your decision to migrate and the transition itself.  If I cannot provide you the answers you need I can definitely point you in the right direction.

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I’ve realized my life will not support a 365 photography project. The three times I’ve attempted it have resulted in failure after about 30 days or so. Maybe someday my life will normalize and become a little more structured but until that day comes I can POST a photo a day. Hence my new photoblog, Marc-a-Day.

This photoblog uses the DuoTone theme for Wordpress that is the evolution of the popular Monotone theme.  The background color dynamically changes for each post to present the best accent for the photo.  I’m pretty happy with this one, so far it’s been easy to customize and SEO friendly.

Stop by and let me know what you think.

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Special thanks to Courtney Engle for posting a portion of my talk about Photoblogging at WordCamp Mid-Atlantic on Vimeo.

Marc Benton speaks at WordCampMidAtl from Courtney Engle on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. My slow but sure comeback My absence from the online community I hold dear...

photo courtesy of Shawn Duffy

A little over a month ago Aaron Brazell and I were talking about the presentations being planned for WordCamp Mid-Atlantic 2009.  It hit us that photoblogging had become a popular blogging technique that could make for an interesting session.  I quickly stepped up to volunteer to take this one on.

In preparation I conducted a survey of Wordpress photobloggers and asked questions like why they photoblog, what themes and plugins did they utilize, and what improvements they would like to see.  I’d like to thank everyone that participated in the survey and plan to have the results published this week.

The survey results were a great asset to building my presentation.  I was able to display a number of themes and plugins along with examples of what I believe the top 5 reasons to photoblog are.  If you are interested in seeing the slides from the session you can find them here.

I do plan on breaking the presentation down into a number of blog posts over the next few weeks.  This subject will then continue on as a regular feature here with Wordpress theme and plugin recommendations, how-to’s, and answering any questions you may have.

Finally let me thank the organizers of WordCamp Mid-Atlantic, Aaron Brazell and Jimmy Gardner.  They did a great job and the day was a complete success in both my eyes and every participant I spoke to.  For a recap of the day check out Jimmy’s post about it.

WordCamp Mid-Atlantic Photoblogging with Wordpress Slide Deck (PDF)

Related posts:

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2. My slow but sure comeback My absence from the online community I hold dear...
3. 10 Year Milestone Fellow photoblogger and online friend Jason D Moore recently...