Ning is an online social media network platform for people and organizations to create custom social networks.
[Social Graph-iti](_blank)
The Economist, Oct 18, 2007 Ning was co-founded by
Marc Andreessen
Marc Lowell Andreessen ( ; born July 9, 1971) is an American businessman and former software engineer. He is the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser with a graphical user interface; co-founder of Netscape; and co-founder and ...
and
Gina Bianchini and launched in October 2005.
By June 2011 there were over 90,000 social websites running on the Ning Platform.
[With Revenue Up 400%, Ning Adds Paid Access Service](_blank)
Tomio Geron, Forbes, June 15, 2011
History
Ning started development in October 2004 and launched its platform publicly in October 2005.
by Martin LaMonica, CNET news, Oct 6, 2005
At its launch, Ning was a free-form platform for the development and hosting of open-source "social applications".
The source code for Ning applications was available to users so that anyone could
fork a Ning application, modify its PHP code and run it as their own. In late September 2006, Ning narrowed its focus to offering a group website, a photos website, and a videos website for people to copy and use for any purpose. These three templates were later superseded by a single customizable application aimed at enabling anyone to easily create their own social network.
Ning was initially funded internally by Bianchini, Andreessen and
angel investors. In July 2007, Ning raised
US$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
44 million in
venture capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
, led by
Legg Mason.
[Ning news: new investment round](_blank)
, by Marc Andreessen, blog.pmarca.com, Jul 9, 2007 In 2008 and 2009, the company announced it had raised an additional US$75 million in capital.
, by Marc Andreessen, April 18, 2008[Ning Raises $15 Million More at a–Yes, Really–$750 Million Valuation](_blank)
by Kara Swisher, AllThingsD.com, July 21, 2009
On April 15, 2010, CEO Jason Rosenthal announced that the free service would be suspended, and 41% of the employees would be
laid off. Users of the free service had the option to either upgrade to a paid account or transition their content from Ning. In 2011, Ning was purchased by
Glam Media and then officially acquired by
Mode Media.
Features
Ning allows users to create their own communities and social networks around specific interests with their own visual design, choice of features and member data. Ning provides several core features, including opportunities for monetization, integration with other social networks, chat, email services, forums, polls and analytics. Customers are also able to map a Ning social network to a custom
domain.
The social networks running on Ning's service are programmed with
PHP and the platform itself is built in
Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
.
[Andreessen: PHP succeeding where Java isn't](_blank)
by Stephen Shankland, CNET News, Oct 19, 2005 Since October 2010, social networks using Ning can be administered through an
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
application.
[Just one more thing…](_blank)
Evan Goldin on October 20, 2010
In February 2018, Ning launched a monetization platform, enabling users to earn an income from their social websites.
See also
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BuddyPress
*
Drupal
Drupal () is a free and open-source web content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal provides an open-source back-end framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites worldwide ...
*
Google Groups
*
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups was a free-to-use system of Electronic mailing list, electronic mailing lists offered by Yahoo!.
Prior to February 2020, Yahoo! Groups was one of the world's largest collections of online discussion boards. It allowed members to s ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ning (Website)
PHP software
American social networking websites
Companies based in Palo Alto, California
Internet properties established in 2005
2005 establishments in California
American companies established in 2005