Why Ning’s Shut Down of Services is Like a High School Break-Up
April 16, 2010
Me and Ning in good times
Ning is changing their business model starting with firing 40% of staff and pulling the plug on millions of free networks to focus on “Premium” ones. They need to make changes to make money. Fair enough. But to not reach out to their customers about it? Did I really have to find out about it on twitter? Come on!
No notice was sent to network creators. I know because as a Ning customer and Network Creator of BrandTampa.com, I receive a monthly bill from them in my inbox. Where’s the love? It’s out the window along with any sense of trust or loyalty that Ning customers might have felt for the company.
Me and Gina before the break-up
Let me back up a moment and say for the record, Ning has been good to me. Their platform allowed me to pursue a vision and create a network that has over 1500 people who are share similar interests in my local community. Heck, last summer I even went to NY to attend a Network Creators party because I felt such a connection with the brand. But now things have changed.
I should have seen it coming last month when CEO Gina Bianchini left and was replaced by Jason Rosenthal. Now he’s ending Ning’s relationship with about a million networks. It’s like a high school break-up. One morning you wake up and decide you don’t like your boyfriend or girlfriend any more. So you get a friend to pass them a note from you saying, “it’s not you, it’s me” and then proceed to ignore one another in the hallways. Except in this case it’s a leaked email which is now all over the internet which makes it harder to ignore than an old-fashioned note.
If Ning wants to salvage the relationship with their paying customers (outside of the 4 networks Rosenthal mentions in his leaked email) it’s time to call PR and start cleaning up the mess. Or not. Maybe Ning is just moving on. And a million Ning Network Creators will have to do the same.