Move over MySpace!
2007-02-28 12:45
San Francisco - A new internet company backed by Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen launched a free service on Tuesday that enables people to make their own social-networking websites.
After a brief shutdown to fix a glitch caused by "burning the midnight oil," Ning.com began letting people use simple online tools to create their own websites in the spirit of Internet superstars MySpace or Facebook.
"Ning gives everyone the opportunity to create their own social network for anything," company chief executive Gina Bianchini said while demonstrating the streamlined website-building process in an online video.
Using templates and a guided step-by-step process, Bianchini designed a social networking website featuring pictures, video, e-mail and weblogs in less than ten minutes.
"All the social networks on Ning are internationalised and can be easily localised in any language," Bianchini said.
Advertising can be personalised
Creators can make websites public or members-only.
The service is free, but Ning reserves the right to post ads on people's websites.
"If you want to buy that right from us, you can," Bianchini said. "It's $19.99 a month to run your own ads."
Website creators could also pay premiums for personalised domain names or to increase available storage and bandwidth.
Ning chief technology officer Andreessen predicted that millions of social websites would blossom as people tailored online communities to church groups, sports, hobbies, films, games and other interests.
Ning said that users registered from 176 countries and more than 30 000 customised websites were built during a test period that preceded the formal launch on Tuesday.