KEVIN MARKS: So, I'm here with two of the lead developers of Ning. Can you first explain what Ning is about, and what
you do?
KYLE FORD: Sure. So, Ning is a-- a platform, u-- upon which you can create your own social network for anything. So,
you can come there-- don't d-- don't have to be a super-nerd, or have any technical knowledge. You can just go there
and create-- a social network, really for any interest or passion in your life. So, it's a good range from, you know,
a small family group to-- a nonprofit that has a cause they wanna promote. (UNINTEL) get people, you know, aligned
with, al-- all the way up to large, you know, enter-- entertainment companies and media brands that wanna, you know,
have an official fan club or group. So-- we are adding a-- a-- I think between three and 4,000 new networks a day, so
growing very quickly. And we're at about 1.2-- million different networks that live on the platform-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --today. Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: So, effectively, when Ning joined Opensocial, we gave-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: That's exactly right, yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: Opportunity.
KEVIN MARKS: Opportunity. Though I think it was (UNINTEL)--(OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: Yeah-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --yeah. Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: And th-- the reason why we're here at-- Google I/O is to talk a little bit about Ning past (?), which is
o-- open social applications that live on the main page of a social network, rather than on the profile page. And of
course, this means we're actually building some methods and kind of changing the spec just a little bit, to-- to make
s-- so the open social applications make the most s-- sense on the front page of a social network. But-- hopefully--
hopefully it'll be good, and-- we-- are looking to-- have it released some time in the next month.
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
KEVIN MARKS: And so have you foun-- have you gotten a lot of uptake (?) from your developers on the vi-- individual
profile applications--(OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yeah--
KEVIN MARKS: --first. I mean--(OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yeah. I mean, we ha-- we have. It's certainly been something that we see, like, the more successful profile
apps (?) seem to be kind of more self-expression-oriented. You know, som-- something that makes sense on someone (?)
(UNINTEL) an individual page. You know, a-- applications that are more universal or functionality-based-- have been
successful, but I think are gonna be a lot more successful-- when it's, when they exist in the network level. Like,
for example, something like a shopping cart, I think makes a lot more sense as a network feature on a homepage than it
does on someone's in-- individual profile page. Whereas something like, you know, a buddy poke or a g-- or a game, you
know, can certainly be fine on a profile page. So, we're sort of, kind of gonna be not necessarily drawing a line in
the sand. We'll accept, you know, either for either. But I think we're gonna definitely s-- you know, slide what we're
calling profile apps now-- towards self-expression, and-- and Ning apps towards-- you know, functionality, or really--
almost replacement or ancillary features, you know, to our existing core features--
KEVIN MARKS: There's--
KYLE FORD: --so.
KEVIN MARKS: --a difference between apps for individuals and apps of groups?
KYLE FORD: Exactly-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --exactly right, yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: We're-- we're-- we're tryin' to, we're tryin' to stretch the boundaries of open social applications, as
they exist--
KYLE FORD: Yep.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --in--
KEVIN MARKS: Right.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --current--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --social network containers, and we're tryin' to kind of offer this new kind of option for open social
developers, saying, like, "Well, here's-- here's another way that"--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --"your-- your applications can really make an impact for"--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --"social networks on Ning."
KYLE FORD: And I-- I think one of the-- the cool things about it-- from a distribution standpoint is that, you know,
when someone adds a profile app-- the relationship between the developer and the individual is-- is-- is one to one.
You know, you're-- you're basically saying, "You know, join this app (?) to see a page. Invite your friends." And
then-- they all add that s-- individually to their page. So, you know, on network with 100,000 people, you-- you're
basically trying to go after 100,000 people, whether it's through Virality (PH) or 101 (PH)-- it can be a pain.
Whereas with the Ning app, if you can lobby the one network creator to install it, we-- can-- can blast it across all
the profile pages. So, that could be with one action, a hundred new-- 100,000 new users for your apps. So, hopefully,
developers will be excited about that. Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: And I think there's a, there's a conceptual overlap here with the brain connect (?) module, where--
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
KEVIN MARKS: --again, you're (UNINTEL PHRASE) that embeds on a webpage.
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
KEVIN MARKS: And I (?) suspect developers will see both of these a-- as-- as options to-- to-- to build to--
KYLE FORD: Yep.
KEVIN MARKS: --and say, "I'm doing a (UNINTEL) groups. That would work for"-- (OVERTALK)
KEVIN MARKS: --"Ning app."
KYLE FORD: Yep.
ERNIE HSIUNG: Right, right, right.
KEVIN MARKS: So, with this-- encouraging developers to do that, I suspect, we'll see some-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: I think. An-- an-- and we were just saying that, too, in fact, at th-- some of the talks yesterday, where--
a lot of the (UNINTEL) developers were interested in-- in skinning their apps, because they're gonna be on a-- a lot
more, you know-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --disparate containers, different looks, and that absolutely applies to us, too. So, I-- I thi-- I think
there's gonna be a lot of overlap, yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
KEVIN MARKS: A-- are you guys working on the skinning standard with--
KYLE FORD: We-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --we-- I mean, yeah, we-- we're definitely encouraging it. You know, more than encouraging. St-- not
necessarily mandating, but strongly encouraging-- people to take advantage. 'Cause I mean, we-- we've seen ne--
network (?) creator response, even so far in our Beta period has been, you know, wha-- wha-- you know, they're head
over heels in love with apps that seamlessly blend in and it looks great. It doesn't look like it's a widget just
dropped on the page. The more seamless--
KEVIN MARKS: Right.
KYLE FORD: --it is, the more-- apt they are to install it.
KEVIN MARKS: Of course, you allowed quite a bit of--
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
KEVIN MARKS: --customization-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --each network is its own-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Exactly--
KEVIN MARKS: Yeah.
KYLE FORD: --yeah. Exactly.
KEVIN MARKS: Interesting.
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: So, (UNINTEL) and so that, yeah, tha-- that-- that bodes well for the spec and th-- helping (?) drive
it--
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
KEVIN MARKS: --and-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yeah, for sure.
KEVIN MARKS: Are there, are there particular apps that-- that-- that you've been surprised by or excited by--
(OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM). Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: I had a couple-- (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: Slingset (PH) actually built one-- built an application-- for-- called New Share (PH), and it's
basically, it actually makes perfect sense, wha-- used within the context of a social networ-- social network on Ning,
because it kind of has a Digg (PH) style-- interface and functionality, where users can submit their own links and
people can vote it up or vote it down. Kind of makes perfect sense within the context of a social network. Other--
other applications are doing surprisingly well-- like-- Huddle (PH) is really seeing a-- an application for
collaboration software, which makes perfect sense within the confines of a social network on Ning. A couple of
(UNINTEL)--
KYLE FORD: Yeah, I was gonna say, I-- I mean, Youstream (PH) has done-- you know, I mean, certainly, to date, people
can grab Youstream embeddables (PH) and paste them. But I think what's interesting about our (UNINTEL) with Youstream
is that, you know, you'll have a homepage placement which could be, like, you'll-- let's say (UNINTEL) 50 Cent (?),
for example, is one of our network creators. They (UNINTEL) have a-- the fi-- the official 50 Cent channel on the
homepage-- stream with Youstream with chat and everything. But then to just install all the profile pages, those also
get their own separate view. So, each member could then potentially-- add their own Youstream channel, and kind of
talk back, that way. So, all the members get their own channels, and the-- (OVERTALK)
KEVIN MARKS: Oh, that's interesting--
KYLE FORD: --which is kind of interesting implementation, I think, so--
ERNIE HSIUNG: And mar-- marketplace application, such as Heartfly (PH). So--
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
ERNIE HSIUNG: --an Ecommerce (PH)-- an Ecommerce open social application suddenly means a lot more when you're, when
it's put in the context of a social network, because it's-- it-- it becomes a sho-- it's a place o-- it becomes a
place where people can actually buy things--
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
ERNIE HSIUNG: --specifically geared towards the social network. And it-- it makes more sense-- in my personal opinion,
than when you put it just on a profile-- page of-- of a social networking (UNINTEL).
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: I see. So, it ends up being a-- a-- a conversation the group is having with itself-- (OVERTALK)
KEVIN MARKS: --around the things they're buying?
ERNIE HSIUNG: Yes.
KYLE FORD: Ye-- yeah, absolutely.
KEVIN MARKS: So, if you've got a sports group, it'll be, "Well, here's the-- the right place"-- (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: --wanna buy sports (?) stuff--
KYLE FORD: Right. (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: --here you go. Yeah, absolutely.
KYLE FORD: Exactly. (OVERTALK)
KEVIN MARKS: --people recommend stuff within the-- the group--
KYLE FORD: Yep.
KEVIN MARKS: --yeah. That-- that makes a lot of sense--
KYLE FORD: Yeah, it's like th-- it's like the niche store model meets the niche social network model, so I think it's
gonna be--
KEVIN MARKS: Yeah, that's-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --pretty powerful-- (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: I mean, it has, it has a lot of-- of huge potential-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
ERNIE HSIUNG --we're kind of hoping that-- that'll kind of be an incentive for developers to-- to kind of seriously
invest some time de-- deporting (?) their open social applications--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --for a, for a social--
KEVIN MARKS: Right. (OVERTALK)
KEVIN MARKS: Yeah, (UNINTEL) I mean, we've-- we-- we use it for open (UNINTEL PHRASE), for example-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: Yes. (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: Yes, you do.
KEVIN MARKS: --our (UNINTEL) obsession (UNINTEL)--
KYLE FORD: Yeah. (LAUGHTER)
KEVIN MARKS: We're gonna get-- (UNINTEL)-- (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: --yeah, it gets a little meta, so.
KEVIN MARKS: So-- what stuff have-- what stuff have you found at I/O? What kind of inquiries have you been getting
here?
ERNIE HSIUNG: What kind of inquiries? Just al-- well, we've get-- we've got a lot of range of-- different developers.
So, a lot of, a lot of people that are built a-- building thin-- on different things, unrelated to open social, are
kind of coming and learning about Ning for the first time.
KYLE FORD Yeah. (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: --we're-- we're just recently--(OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: --getting a big PR push.
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
ERNIE HSIUNG: So-- so we're kind of-- first off, getting our name out there helps a lot, especially in terms of the
brand identity, but also in terms of talking about open-- having developers build open social features for us. On an
open social level, I think we're definitely trying to get our name out there. Definitely, the-- the-- the High Five
(PH) and-- High Five and Orchid (PH) are definitely kind of the go-to-- open social containers (?). And for good
reason, because they definitely are at the top of the game, in terms of ver-- like being the '09 (?) Sandbox for open
social.
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
ERNIE HSIUNG: We also, we're also-- one of the reasons why we're here is to also kind of-- remind developers that
there's other kind of containers out there. Not necessarily just for the-- just for the profile, but expanding on the
profile--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --page. And maybe kind of putting something in their heads, that, like, well, if-- e-- may-- if-- if
what you're building is more appropriate for a, kind of a group setting, a-- a-- to-- for it to be on the main
(UNINTEL) social network, maybe you should think about building for us. And that would be awesome--
KYLE FORD: Uh-huh (AFFIRM).
ERNIE HSIUNG: --and-- and that way--
KEVIN MARKS: Right.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --we win (?), of course, in that you get-- you get-- we get s-- awesome feature, but you guys win
because all these networks have the opportunity to add your application--
KEVIN MARKS: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --and get brand exposure and--
KEVIN MARKS: Right. (UNINTEL) something I was saying in th-- (UNINTEL) yesterday, was that trying-- a lot of these
things grow very organically, and you're not quite sure whether the apps going to take off--(OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yep--
ERNIE HSIUNG: Right.
KEVIN MARKS: --stories from the app developers.
ERNIE HSIUNG: Right.
KEVIN MARKS: And I think you provide-- (UNINTEL PHRASE) into a new place, and-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yep.
KEVIN MARKS: --it that way.
ERNIE HSIUNG: Yeah. That's-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --the hope, so--
KYLE FORD: Yeah. So, we'll see. And-- and for the network creators, too, obviously, you know, there have been, wha-- a
lot of people we've targeted or gone after-- to ge-- you know, to get these Ning apps in for launch a-- you know, have
been based on feature requests we hear from network creators. You know, Ning offers a-- you know, ten or 15 features,
but we've heard, time and time again, "You know, I'd love to be able to-- do news-- new-- new style ranking. I'd love
to do b-- build (UNINTEL) Ecommerce or live video streaming." Things that, you know, we may eventually get to, but
it's certainly not on our short-term road map. And so now, to be able to kind of patch these holes with these, you
know, great--
KEVIN MARKS Right.
KYLE FORD: --third party offerings is gonna be great-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: --yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: --that was always part of the goal of-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: --social, is the--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: --the-- the social networks get new features--
KYLE FORD: Exactly-- (OVERTALK)
KEVIN MARKS: --build themselves--
KYLE FORD: Yep.
KEVIN MARKS: --and the developers get a platform (UNINTEL) instead of users-- (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yeah, so.
KEVIN MARKS: --up to, without having to go and (UNINTEL)--
KYLE FORD: Exactly. (OVERTALK)
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: --mutual benefit going on there. And (UNINTEL PHRASE) saying--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
KEVIN MARKS: --social network (UNINTEL) got more interesting.
KYLE FORD: Right, exactly.
ERNIE HSIUNG: So, we're--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --going from 15 to 100 features, and that's-- that's--
KYLE FORD: Yeah. (LAUGHTER)
ERNIE HSIUNG: --gonna get exciting--
KYLE FORD: It will be.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --and scary.
KEVIN MARKS: Oh, wow.
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: Kind of-- (OVERTALK)
ERNIE HSIUNG: --and it-- it's-- so-- so-- so we'll see (UNINTEL) all happens, and this is all, it's all completely new
and--
KYLE FORD: Yeah.
ERNIE HSIUNG: --we're-- we're excited. We're very excited. S--
KEVIN MARKS: Cool.
KYLE FORD: Yeah. (UNINTEL).
KEVIN MARKS: Excellent.