I am reading about the end of free ning =(

I don't use Ning at school but one of my fellow teachers does.  I have heard mixed reviews from the students as to how they feel about using this network but I applaud this teacher trying new technology.  I read a post from Free Technology for Teachers today who also posted about the end of Nings free service.  He wrote about some other options.
CubeTree is a free service designed for companies that would like to build a social network of wikis, shared items, and microblogs for their employees.
Jabbster is a free service that allows families and groups to create private online communication networks.
ShoutEm allows you to make your own public or private network.
Edmodo is a microblogging system designed specifically for teachers and students. Using Edmodo teachers can create a microblogging network for their classes.
I forwarded these recommendations to my colleague and he promised to give some feedback as soon as possible which i will post here.