Ning

==Background==
Ning is a social networking infrastructure site.
Ning is an online platform for users to create their own social websites and social networks[2], launched in October 2005[1]. Ning was co-founded by Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini. Ning is Andreessen's third startup (after Netscape and Opsware), and gets much of its notability from Andreessen's successes with those companies.[3][4]
* Wikipedia:Ning
==Insights==
===Example Nings include:===
* Rustbelt = http://Rustbelt.ning.com
** See Mark Rauterkus at Rustbelt, http://web.archive.org/20091015155456/rustbelt.ning.com/profile/MarkRauterkus
* Pittsburgh Live Music = http://PghLiveMusic.ning.com
** http://PghLiveMusic.ning.com/profile/MarkRauterkus
* In October 2008, much to the dismay of network creators who were previously strongly encouraged to invest in PHP development, all access to the PHP code and REST APIs has been permanently and abruptly ended without any prior notice, effectively turning Ning into a proprietary application with support for OpenSocial extensions.[10]
==Ning's Business Model==
Ning has two primary business models. 
* Ning allows users to create a network for free, in exchange for the network hosting ads that Ning supplies. 
* The "Ning for Business" option, offers users a network where they control the ad content (or lack thereof), in exchange for a monthly fee. A few other premium services such as extra storage and bandwidth and non-Ning URLs are also available for additional monthly fee.
According to TechCrunch, adoption of Ning has not been as widespread as the company had hoped. It requires a knowledge of web programming, lacks the scalability of an open API, and can only be hosted on Ning's servers. After hitting 100,000 social networks, TechCrunch revised its forecast and Ning has been called "fast-growing". As of 2008, Ning hosts more than 500,000 networks.
===Ning Company History===
The company started as a stealth startup named '24 Hour Laundry' with CEO Gina Bianchini and 14 employees. The name changed to Ning at launch in October 2005. Ning was initially funded internally by Bianchini, Andreessen and angel investors. In July, 2007, Ning raised $44 million USD in venture capital, led by Legg Mason. Ning is located in downtown Palo Alto, California.
category:Social media