Classrooms around the world have begun to adopt online technology to enable collaboration and communication between teachers, students, and parents. With education budgets under pressure, teachers are seeking free solutions that they can configure and maintain themselves without support from technology departments. These online solutions must be ad-free to ensure an appropriate, commercial-free learning environment.

Ning recently announced that Ning Mini would be free for K-12 classrooms. However, Ning Mini offers very few features and customization options and may therefore be inadequate for many classroom uses. For instance, Ning Mini does not support custom pages, events, subgroups, or Facebook integration

Grouply for Education, by contrast, delivers a free, comprehensive package for education groups. It includes no advertising; unlimited custom pages; support for events, subgroups and Facebook integration; and access to Grouply Analytics and all premium Grouply applications.

As we previously announced, Grouply offers an easy-to-use migration tool that lets you quickly move your Ning Network members and content to a social group on Grouply.

For more information and to request Grouply for Education for your group, please visit the Grouply for Education information page.

To migrate your Ning Network to Grouply, first create a new social group.  Then from within the group’s site on Grouply, go to Manage > Management Menu > Migrate from Ning.

The messy alternatives

Migrating to any system other than Grouply will be a difficult and time-consuming process. One option is to manually copy-and-paste your network data from Ning into your new system.  Another option is to use Ning’s export tool (not available until July) to generate a huge XML file and then figure out how to import it into your new system.   You can write your own custom import scripts or hire an expensive consultant.  Either option could take days or weeks.

Grouply’s migration tool, by contrast, enables you to move your network to Grouply in minutes right now.  From within your new Grouply social group, you can quickly import your Ning Network content and members.  Then with a single click, you can notify your members of their new home.  There are no cumbersome files to manage.  No consultants to hire.  You can do everything yourself with complete control over when and how much to migrate.

A gentle migration, not a “big bang”

Grouply’s migration tool puts you in complete control of the process, and you can take it slow if you want.  You can begin by importing the latest member information and content just to see what it looks like in Grouply and perhaps customize the site a bit.  Later on you can re-import to collect the most recent updates, and perhaps ask some members to have a look.  Finally, when you are 100% ready, you do a final import, notify all members, and deactivate your Ning Network.  There’s no downtime, no lost content, no “big bang” cutover.  It’s a gentle, stress-free migration.

Members never disconnected

It is not uncommon for groups moving from one platform to another to lose 50% or more of their membership.  This is usually because members miss (or ignore) the invitation to come register at the new site, and after that, well — that’s it.  They’re gone.

When you import your members to Grouply, they immediately begin receiving individual emails of all new content posted to the group, and each email includes a link in the footer encouraging them to register to access advanced features.  So they are never disconnected, you don’t need to continually hound them to sign up.  In the end, you don’t lose a single member!

Grouply upgrades your Ning Network

Grouply’s social groups provide benefits not found on Ning Networks such as:

• A comprehensive email interface.  All content can be both posted and received via email, providing a convenient way for members to participate.
• Group analytics.  Gain useful insights into membership activities through charts and graphs that show the most active members, the most popular topics, and member participation over time.
• Advanced website privacy. Make some pages public, some viewable by visitors, and others for members only.
• Cross-group administration dashboard. Review and approve members and messages for all the groups your run in one location.

For more on the advantages of Grouply over Ning and other alternatives, please see 7 things to think about before you move from Ning.  To learn more about Grouply, take a tour.

We hope you enjoy using the Ning-to-Grouply migration tool.  To read about the latest updates, please visit our Ning-to-Grouply Migration page.  And please send an email to feedback@grouply.com and let us know what you think!

But how can you meet new people who share your ‘likes’ and interests?

Today, we are announcing the Grouply on Facebook application.  Grouply on Facebook leverages the Facebook Like button to provide personalized, real-time recommendations of relevant Yahoo! Groups, Google Groups, and Grouply Groups to Facebook’s 400 million active users. Current Grouply users – who already receive recommendations based on their actions in Grouply – benefit from enhanced suggestions that consider their real-time ‘likes’ on thousands of sites around the web!

Universal ‘Like’ button powers Grouply’s Facebook app

Here’s how it works. Say you are on the Pandora website listening to Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” and you come across a Like button on Bruce’s artist page. Click the button, and Bruce Springsteen gets added as a musical interest on your Facebook profile.

The next time you visit Grouply on Facebook, Grouply will automatically run a personalized search for you across 2.5 million deep-interest Yahoo! Groups, Google Groups and Grouply Groups. Using semantic technology, Grouply lists the groups that best match your real-time ‘likes’.  Join a group that Grouply suggests, and you are immediately connected with a whole new crowd of people who share your love for The Boss!

And what if you haven’t clicked any Like buttons lately? No problem! Grouply suggests groups based on the TV shows, books, schools, political views, activities, and other information already in your Facebook profile.

“OK, but are these real groups?” you wonder.  And it’s a valid question, given that most groups on social networking sites are little more than profile labels.  But rest assured that the groups you discover through Grouply are usually the best of their kind, offering rich dialogue among passionate and knowledgeable members.  A recent conversation in Bruce’s Place, for example, questioned the song choices on a soon-to-be-released Springsteen DVD.  In another thread, members shared their personal stories about how they “got into” Bruce.

So when you join a group recommended by Grouply, chances are high that you will find some enthusiastic, interesting, and informed people you will want to get to know!

Deep Facebook integration

Grouply provides deep Facebook integration that extends beyond group suggestions.

• Facebook Connect – Now you can login with your Facebook ID. No more Grouply ID to remember!
• Group sharing – When you join a new group on Yahoo! Groups, Google Groups, or Grouply, you can share it with your friends on Facebook. Maybe they’ll want to join the group, too!
• Message sharing – Read a posting you like on Grouply? Click the Like button in Grouply and let your friends on Facebook know about it.
• “Group Smackdown” – Beatles or Stones? Coke or Pepsi? Ginger or Mary Ann? Group Smackdown pits one fan group against another to determine once and for all who’s best. Coming soon!

Many of you have told us that what you love most about Grouply – and what distinguishes Grouply from all other offerings – is how the site helps you discover and connect with others who share your passions. We believe the new Grouply on Facebook application firmly positions Grouply as the leading groups offering for “social discovery.” Please check it out and let us know what you think!

With Ning’s recent announcement that they will no longer offer free networks, Ning Network Creators are feverishly evaluating alternatives.  It’s an exercise that Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups owners are familiar with, as many continue to seek a more modern platform with the latest social features.

Grouply and a few others provide all the basics you need to support your online community, including a customizable website, installable applications, event management capabilities, discussion forums, RSS feed support, activity feeds, user profile pages, and a “white label” option.  Here are a few thoughts on other factors to consider before you make the move. Some of thse factors could have a huge impact on the eventual success or failure of your group down the road!

1. Migration path

It is not uncommon for groups moving from one platform to another to lose 50% or more of their membership.  This is usually because members miss (or ignore) the invitation to come register at the new site, and after that, well — that’s it.  They’re gone.

When you use Grouply’s member import feature, you are directly adding your group members to your new group on Grouply.  All members receive a high-quality, professional-looking invitation from you about the new site.  More importantly, all of your members immediately start receiving individual emails of all new content posted to the group.  And each email they receive includes a link in the footer encouraging them to register to access advanced features.  So your members are never disconnected, and you don’t lose anyone!

What about all the forum postings, comments, blogs, etc. from your old platform?  Whether you are migrating to Grouply from Ning, Yahoo! Groups, or Google Groups, you are covered.  Grouply automatically integrates and synchronizes with Yahoo and Google Groups in real-time.  And Grouply is developing a full set of content migration tools for Ning right now, so very soon you will be able to automatically bring over your Ning Network content in just a few clicks!

2. Email interface

Like or not, email is still the preferred way for millions of people to consume their community content.  That’s why traditional email-list systems like Yahoo Groups are still so popular and remain the default choice for many.  If your social website platform doesn’t have an email interface, you risk missing out on tons of prospective members!

With Grouply, members can interact with your group completely via email if they want.  Members can post to the group via your group’s posting address in the format groupname@grouplygroups.com.  And members can receive all group content via email as it is posted.  Each email includes a helpful link encouraging members to visit the site to access more advanced features.  Eventually, all members become aware of the advanced features on the website and start to use it regularly, but it’s great to have email to maintain the connection until then!

3. Cross-group administration dashboard

The typical group owner manages many groups and must login to a variety of websites to make updates and approve membership requests and new postings.  Administration across multiple groups can be time-consuming and frustrating!

With Grouply, you login once and then manage and participate in all your groups without having to login again.  In addition, Grouply provides a single, powerful cross-group dashboard that includes all the information and controls you need to administer all your groups from one place.  Group administration time is cut from hours to seconds!

4. Group Analytics

Is your group “healthy” and are your members satisfied?  Grouply Analytics provides charts and graphs that highlight your group’s strengths and help identify opportunities for improvement. Grouply’s rich, group-level analytics provides insights like no other social media tool currently available. Grouply answers key questions about your group members and their interests, such as:

• Is group activity increasing or decreasing over time?
• What portion of my group participates each month?  Is the trend getting better or worse?
• Who are the “power” content creators?
• What are the most popular topics being discussed right now?

5. Public and private pages

Often there are two different versions of a group website that the administrator wants to present to the world:

• Members version – This site doesn’t try to explain what the group is but instead provides the latest updates to members and encourages them to participate.
• Visitors version – This site explains the group in some detail with the goal of recruiting new members to join.

Grouply allows you create one “super site” with member pages, visitor pages, and pages for everyone, enabling you to customize the experience for users based on who they are.  Members can focus on participating in the group, and visitors are more likely to join because you told them exactly what they need to know.  Everyone wins!

6. Flexible content

Robust social websites support many different types of content – forum postings, events, announcements, classified ads, blog postings, photos, comments, RSVP responses, subgroup content, etc.  But understandably, members can get confused about how to post and where to find each type of content.  Often, confusion ensues and mistakes are made.  Few aspects of running a group are less appealing than having to berate members for not following the rules about where to post what.  And most systems are unforgiving; if an event is accidentally posted as an announcement, there’s no fixing it.  You have to apologize and repost.

Grouply manages content in a way that is innovative and flexible yet simple.  Looking for something?  Search across all group content from one search box.  Want to post something but aren’t sure where or how?  Just select “Post” and you can post any type of content to any of your groups.  Accidentally mis-categorize your posting?   No problem.  You – or anyone in the group – can edit the post and fix it after-the-fact.  Headaches are avoided, and happiness ensues!

7. Avoiding information overload

We would all like to believe that ours is the single most important affinity group in our members’ lives.  But the fact of the matter is that the average online adult belongs to no less than seven online groups across multiple platforms such as Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, Ning, and others.  It is simply impossible for the average person to keep up every day with all the content being generated across all their groups.  They are experiencing “information overload”.

Good news!  In addition to offering our own Grouply Groups, Grouply automatically integrates with the 10 million existing groups on Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups.  Users can sign in once to Grouply and access all their groups in one place.  And now you can use your Facebook ID to login to Grouply, so there are no additional IDs and passwords to remember!

Grouply offers users a variety of ways to interact with their groups so each user can choose what works best for him.  One option, of course, is to visit an individual group website.  But you also have access to a personalized “cross group” site where Grouply organizes and filters content from all your groups so you can keep up much more efficiently (see Grouply: Personalized to your real-time interests). Grouply’s intelligent interface allows group members to spend less time searching and skimming and more time actively engaging with their groups.

The big benefit for group administrators, then, is that the overall level and quality of group participation increases, which means that more groups succeed in the long run!

Group member pain points

At Grouply, we have surveyed and interviewed hundreds of users across dozens of online group systems (e.g., Yahoo! Groups, Google Groups, Ning, Facebook) about what they like and don’t like.  The top two “pain points” reported by group members are:

• Information overload – Some people receive hundreds of messages a day across all their groups, making it impossible to keep up.
• Limited recommendations – Nothing is done to help members discover new groups, friends, or content.

Grouply addresses these issues by tracking the real-time interests of our users and using that information to help filter messages and recommend groups, people, and content.

Tracking real-time interests

How does Grouply track your interests?  Let’s look at a typical user.  Abby Burns is a 30-year old mother of two.  She loves American Idol, golf, wine tasting, cooking, and being a mom.  Abby uses Grouply to engage in her passions through her online groups, and in so doing, she is expressing her real-time interests in various topics:

• She joins a new golf discussion group – interest in golf
• She posts a message to her wine tasting club about Pinot noir – interest in wine in general and Pinot noir in particular
• She reads, bookmarks, or searches for messages on preschools in her mothers club – interest in preschools

Since Grouply tracks and remembers all these activities, Grouply understands how Abby’s interests fluctuate over time.  In January, for example, Abby posts and reads far more messages in her American Idol fan club than in her golf group, indicating a much stronger interest in American Idol at that time.  And this makes complete sense, since the new AI season is just getting underway in January but the golf links are still closed!

Grouply tracks user interests over time

Grouply uses what it knows about Abby’s real-time interests to improve her experience in Grouply.  Let’s see how.

“Smart filters” combat information overload

Each day in her inbox, Abby receives a Grouply Smart Digest email – a personalized summary of all the activities that have occurred across all of her groups in the last 24 hours.  The Smart Digest highlights what’s interesting to Abby and hides what’s not, allowing her to keep up with her groups in much less time.  For example, Grouply knows that Abby recently read a posting about preschools in her mothers club, so Abby’s Smart Digest emphasizes the new comment that was just posted to that same thread.  Grouply also knows that Abby has ignored several other recent conversations in that group, so when new comments are posted to those threads, they are hidden from Abby by default.

The Smart Digest highlights what’s interesting to you and hides what’s not

Grouply provides Abby a number of other “smart filters” that help her quickly focus on the few messages she is likely to be interested in among the hundreds that get posted to her groups each day:

• Crowd filters – Grouply shows Abby the topics that are most popular among her fellow group members today.
• Saved searches and alerts – Abby can tell Grouply exactly what she’s looking for – say a used Big Bertha golf club or discussions about Kelly Clarkson.  When a message is posted that matches Abby’s criteria, Grouply sends her an email alert.

Grouply enables social discovery

Grouply suggests people you might want to meet and groups you might want to join.  Since Abby helps run her mothers club, she is very interested in meeting others who run parenting groups so she can share best practices with them and collect new ideas.  Each time Abby logs in to Grouply, Grouply suggests new parenting group administrators with whom she might like to connect.

Since Abby recently joined a cooking group, Grouply suggests other cooking-related groups that she might like to join.  And Grouply’s Facebook application recommends groups to Abby based on the current interests and activities in her Facebook profile!

Grouply recommends people and groups based on your real-time interests

As Abby reads a conversation in Grouply, she can see which of her fellow group members also viewed the thread.  Perhaps she notices that she and Eve Franken, a fellow mothers club member, tend to read a lot of the same postings.  Abby doesn’t know Eve, but maybe she should!  So Abby clicks over to Eve’s profile page.

Grouply shows which of your group members share your real-time interests

Eve is not the type of person to spend a lot of time “dressing up” her profile page, but fortunately Grouply has been dynamically tracking and collecting Eve’s real-time interests for her – the messages she has been posting and viewing and the groups she recently joined.  Abby quickly discovers that Eve has also been reading up on preschools.  And hey, Eve also belongs to a wine tasting group – but a different one than Abby!  Abby has found a new group to join and a new person to meet.  She sends a quick note to Eve:

“Hi, Eve!  You and I are both in the Pleasantville Mothers Club, and I see from your profile that you are into wine.  Me, too! …”

Grouply, real-time interests, and the interest graph

Hopefully it’s clear that Grouply provides Abby (and everyone!) a far more personalized and improved experience through real-time interest tracking.  And we’re just getting started!

As Grouply builds up information about user interests, we begin to assemble an “interest graph” that shows how we are all connected to each other through our shared interests.  Like the “social graph”, the interest graph has the potential to enable all sorts of exciting new web applications.  More on this in an upcoming post!

The Interest Graph

Grouply offers a free alternative to Ning. A “social group” on Grouply provides much of the same functionality as a Ning network, including a customizable community website, event management, discussion forums, an activity feed, and an app store with dozens of useful applications. In addition, Grouply’s “social groups” provide benefits not found on Ning networks such as:

• Comprehensive email interface – Post and receive all content via email if you like.
• Group analytics – Gain useful insights with charts and graphs showing the most active members, the most popular topics, and member participation over time.
• Advanced website privacy – Make some pages public, some for visitors, and others for members only.
• Cross-group admin dashboard – Review and approve members and messages for all your groups in one place.

To learn more about Grouply, take a tour.  Or create a new social group on Grouply now.  It’s free!   And Grouply has no intention of ever discontinuing our free offering. Grouply also offers premium services similar to Ning’s should they make sense for your group.

We are committed to making it as easy as possible to migrate your Ning network to Grouply. In fact, you can import members of your Ning network into a Grouply social group right now! In the coming days, we will provide details on a more comprehensive “Ning to Grouply” migration tool that is already in the works.

If you are a Ning Network Creator interested in Grouply, please contact us at feedback@grouply.com and let us know your requirements. We’d love to work with you to make your migration to Grouply as seamless as possible!

Mark Robins
CEO, Grouply

While Grouply is certainly perfect for people that manage or participate in social groups, Grouply also provides small businesses, non-profits, associations, and clubs a way to quickly and inexpensively deploy a professional-looking web presence. Often, these organizations want to go beyond the functionality and appearance offered by the standard Grouply package. For example, they might want to suppress the ads, specify a custom web address (URL), add rich media like photos and videos, or “white label” the site.

Grouply now offers premium services to meet all these requirements. To make it easy, we’ve organized these services into three packages:

Starter Package – Ideal for owners of large groups who want to enhance their web presence with unlimited custom pages and Flickr slideshows, Google Docs, Twitter and YouTube videos. Analytics, also included, provide insights into group member interaction and engagement.

Pro Package – Designed for small businesses, non-profit organizations and group owners who need a comprehensive website with a custom identity. The Pro Package expands on the features included in the Starter Package, offering complete control over advertising and the ability to remove ads completely or even run your own ads. You can use your own custom web address, promote your site or business through search-engine optimization (SEO), get a featured placement in the public group directory, and promote your website to millions of Grouply users. You also have the option to reinforce your brand image by removing Grouply links and references.

Concierge Package – For small-business owners, non-profit managers and group owners who want to maximize the effectiveness of their website. Qualified technical and design experts at Grouply help design and set up your fully customized website. Includes fast and direct access to qualified technical experts, high priority status on all inquires, and a dedicated email contact.

Take a tour to learn more about Grouply’s premium services.

Want to get started? Create a new group and select a premium package in the process.

Already have a group? Login and go to Manage > Premium Services and select the package that’s right for you!

So Srihari created the GRE-Success Yahoo! Group to help people who want to earn a graduate degree in North America and Europe. GRE-Success now has over 2,300 members and continues to grow quickly.

While the Yahoo! Group offered a forum for members to ask specific questions, it did not provide an overview of the entire process. So Srihari started a wiki and created pages covering such topics as the GRE structure, the Statement of Purpose on applications, and how to get a credit card. But having two different systems proved confusing and burdensome. Many users weren’t aware of the wiki and asked questions already answered there. Furthermore, Srihari had to maintain access controls in both places.

“I realized that the Yahoo! Group alone could not meet the needs of the group, but there was no way to migrate the group to another system without losing hundreds of members,” said Srihari. “Our Grouply website integrates the wiki and the Yahoo! Group in one place. Users can find everything they need, and I have only one set of access controls to manage. In addition, Grouply provides useful statistics that help me manage the group. For example, Grouply tells me which content is most widely read so I can focus on the areas of greatest interest to my members.”

The “green movement” is many things to many people: a philosophy, a political campaign, technologies.  To Eric Snyder, it is a way of life – i.e., the small choices in his everyday life that reduce any negative impact that his lifestyle has on the planet.  For instance to reduce landfill waste, Eric often gives away or “freecycles” perfectly usable items (e.g., TVs, chairs, board games) that he no longer wants to other people rather than throwing them away.

To help others do this in his hometown of Ottawa, Canada, Eric created a FullCircles Ottawa group on Yahoo Groups.  People post messages about items they no longer want, and other members “claim” them.  FullCircles Ottawa has 9500 members who have “rescued” tens of thousands items from the landfills.

At first, Eric was happy to have the Yahoo Group deliver the messages that facilitated the exchange of the “re-used” item.  But the Yahoo Group no longer meets all of his needs.  To increase the impact of the group, he realized that he needed to educate people more about freecycling and sustainable lifestyles.  He also found that he spent too much time “coaching” members to include the right information in each message.

“I wanted to embed videos and other resources about green lifestyles on my Yahoo Group, but I couldn’t.” says Eric Snyder, founder of FullCircles Ottawa.  “With Grouply, it literally took seconds to add new pages and embed videos throughout.  The best part is that Grouply required no migration from my Yahoo Group – it just automatically integrated it.  With other systems, I would have to leave Yahoo Groups and lose thousands of members in the process.”

In addition, the Grouply website provides message templates that ensure that members include the right information when they post.  Eric also uses the group analytics in Grouply to monitor membership and increase group activity.

As we discussed previously, traditional online groups systems such as Yahoo! Groups – with dead-simple email interfaces accessible to everyone – are really good at fostering rich dialogue among members.  And since there are so many online groups out there – Yahoo! Groups alone offers more than 9 million with 110 million members – you are sure to find a group that matches your interests.  The two main issues with traditional online groups are that they don’t offer customizable websites and they lack the modern social networking features that users have come to expect on sites like Facebook.

Facebook, as we have said, offers strong interactivity features and the ability to share rich media and express yourself in a variety ways.  Plus the Facebook site itself looks clean and professional, unlike traditional online groups, which were designed primarily for email interaction.  However, Facebook Groups lack customization tools and email-based discussion support.  The typical Facebook Group turns out to be a “profile label” rather than a real group with a defined objective, active discussions, and a passionate user base.

Social groups on Grouply give you the best of both worlds!  Social groups offer the social interactivity, media sharing, and modern design of social networking sites like Facebook.  Social groups also provide the rich discussions, popular email interface, and people-discovery opportunities found in traditional online group systems like Yahoo! Groups.

While social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace help you reconnect with people you already know, social groups help you discover new people who share your interests.  In other words, social groups are built around what you are interested in rather than who you already know.

With Grouply, you can create a new social group about anything you like, or join a social group and connect with others who share your interests.  If you already run an existing online group on Google and Yahoo! Groups, you can give your group an “extreme makeover” on Grouply!  Your old-style email list gets a brand new, modern, professional, fully customizable website that automatically interoperates with Google and Yahoo! Groups.  All for free!

We think you are going to love the new Grouply.  To find out more about social groups on Grouply, take a tour.  Or, just dive in and create a new social group on Grouply. Get out there and connect with others who share your interests and passions!