Ning versus Elgg & the rest...

[Chris Ryall]

Alex, especially, and everyone else,

Has anyone any experience of or considered using any other social networking software apart from Ning?

Eg, People Aggregrator, Going On, Kick Apps, Crowd Vine, Collective, Me, Hay Stack, One Site?

My particular question is how do people think Ning compares to Elgg?

And finally, what features do people consider are important when choosing between these networks to use with pupils?

Some more info from Tech Crunch

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-build-your-own-socia...
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/14/34-more-ways-to-build-your-own...

- I'm starting to form my own views, but will let others answer first :) - tired, will try simpler prose in my next post.

[Chris Ryall]

Personally, one priority (maybe I'll post some more tomorrow) is: Freedom.

I much prefer to use open source software installed on our own servers - this way we have the responsibility and full control of the data and the access. We can also choose to not have adverts placed in front of our students.

I realise that Ning can be set up without adverts - and that they avow to have good & free educational intentions - but personally Elgg lets me have more involvement and control over the environment to let us produce the most appropriate learning experiences possible.

Having said that, Ning is winning in terms of reach, features and usability! It's a hard call to make - and very hard to make for someone else.

[Patricia Donaghy]

Hi Chris
I started using Elgg this year with a group of students (hosted on Elggspaces). Totally opensource and installation free! - although they are now closed to new accounts. I like both Elgg and Ning. Having tried out both, I think students will find Ning easier to use, more productive and more engaging - It seems to provide more 'cool' features and functionality. I hope to test out a Ning site with some students shortly!

[Chris Ryall]

Thanks for your thoughts Patricia,

I think you're right - Ning certainly provides more features and better usability.

I just can't get my head round whether this out weighs the importance of us having complete oversight and ownership of the data in an Elgg environment.

How do I quantify then compare the different qualities and benefits of usability over freedom - I'm no good at comparing apples & oranges!

How important is it to be able to completely manage the network we use with students?

[Mike Cameron]

Chris,

If you wanted complete control then you could always ask for the Ning Source Code for your site and set it up yourself and control it that way (http://help.ning.com/?page_id=139&appUrl=ictconference.ning.com).

In one way the issue here is "do i really trust who is holding the data" and "who else can see it". That is always going to be difficult with third-party site like Ning, but I do get the sense that they are on the side of the good guys. The developers are always receptive to outside suggestion and Gina Bianchini (Ning CEO) is usually responsive to emails.

Mike

[Bruce Wagner]

See the new... Elgg Community Support and Development Forum at http://ElggForum.com :)

[Pankaj]

hi, i primarily came to your site through google.. i found the discussion on elgg...i was kind of weighing my options to stay with ning or to move on... ning has lost my trust because of recent incidents .. the new ning.com lets your competition to eat away your members .. and their main aim is to increase their presence by sending direct emails to our members ... ... ning it trying to become facebook or myspace ... banking on small hyper groups (micro networks) made by us ...

Anyways coming back to the main topic .... elgg the new version gets my vote ... still i need to know if any one out here have used it... so that i can muster the courage the move away from ning .. social go and neetez are what ning used to be one or two years back ...(in fact neeetz is a complete copy of ning ...). i tried kick apps but not that comfortable....

3 things that we have to keep in mind ....

the network should look good (that's how it makes the first impression),
maximum usability by multiple options and least complications...
and great SEO ....

unfortunately ning scores good on all these options.. but then when u know at the end of the day you don't own your network and it can be gobbled up anytime.. that is when u need to overlook the benefits and start looking for options ...

the other two options worth considering would be dolphin or drupal ... requesting all to please share your inputs on the same...