Barely two years old, Silicon Valley-based company Ning has just re-launched their fully customisable social network on Ning.com, hoping to capture some of the market by offering a markedly different service to the now familiar MySpace, Bebo and Facebook offerings.
Formed at the time when social networking was on a sharp increase, Ning emerged in 2004 from a partnership between Netscape co-founders Marc Andressen and Gina Bianchini, with the sole aim of enabling a diversity of social networks. Just over two years later, Ning.com appears to have realised that dream. Like Netscape's Andressen, Bianchini is not new to large start-ups with her sale of a web marketing firm to the Japanese advertising mammoth, Dentsu, just four years ago.
Ning.com appears unique in giving users the opportunity to create their very own social network with free tools and hosting. A completely new and unique social network can be set up in a matter of minutes and shared with family, friends or colleagues. Ning.com differs to market leaders MySpace, Bebo and Facebook in that it gives control of the Ning network and its features to the user. Users can enable options to watch videos online, listen to music, create a photo slideshow or publish their own blog. This level of control is continued in the visual design and layout of the social network.
Ning is not just aimed at the casual social user; Ning for Business satisfies the need for companies looking to deploy their own social network with unique branding. Offering extensive customisation options, any business can add their own visual design to a new social network and control the features available to its members.
Alongside this business oriented offering, Ning Premium is a paid enhancement option to an existing social network, allowing a raft of additional features such as an ads service, custom domain name, higher social network security and increased storage.
Ning.com is undoubtedly hoping to take a chunk of the social networking market, which has enjoyed a sharp increase in interest right through 2006 and into 2007. To keep up to speed with this healthy boom in interest, Ning.com are planning to implement a constant stream of new features that include enhanced interactive elements and animations, all of which are designed to increase functionality whilst peaking user interest and interaction. However, It remains to be seen how the largely unique Ning premise and extensive customisation features will fare against the might of the world's largest social networking sites.
