Ning.com – new social network launched

Silicon Valley based Ning.com (co-founded by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen) launched today a platform you can use in order to build your social networking website.

I gave Ning.com a quick shot and was happy with the results. In 3 minutes i set up a simple social networking site for Youtube fans .

The 5 steps process was simple and well explained. Compared to MySpace.com, Ning offers a more customizable environment (buddy links, colors selection etc’). Additionally, Ning can be used as a blogging platform. The only backdraw is that you won’t be able to monetized your blog here, as Ning.com takes care (and gets paid for) the advertising.

Update: David Warner, Sr Interaction Design for Ning, corrected my statement on monetizing a Ning social network Site:

“Hey, glad you like it! I’d like to correct one of your points: while we do run advertising on your free network, you can substitute your own ads or remove them altogether for $19.95 a month. Just plug in your own Google AdSense code (or other ad system).

Thanks!
David L. Warner
Sr Interaction Designer
Ning”

That’s good news!

[tags] Ning, Ning.com, YouTube, Marc Andreessen [/tags]