Ever heard of Ning? I hadn’t either until I read an interview with its CEO and co-founder on mediabistro.com. Ning is a digital media company that lets people create their very own social networks, for free. From what I can tell, it’s kind of like a blog, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter all rolled into one customizable site.
According to comScore, Ning had approximately 5.2 million unique visitors in March 2009. This is “an almost unbelievable 314 percent year-over-year increase,” explains mediabistro.com.
The interesting thing and Ning (rhyming unintentional) is that it enables users to focus on their favorite people and interests. For example, one Ning network is all about Corgis, others focus on public relations, some are about Beyonce, and others highlight ice cream businesses (those may be my favorites!). The networks people have started pretty much run the gamut on topics. If you can dream it, you can have a social network about it (within legal limits, I’m sure).
Ning seems to be all about “mapping the world’s interests and passions”, according to the CEO and co-founder, Gina Bianchini. I find this concept very interesting, as a good part of my job is to reach consumers through their interests and passions.
A few hours ago I had never heard of Ning, but now I’m going to follow them and their networks much more closely. It seems to be a fast-growing company with huge potential in the social media world.
Are there any new social media sites you know of? Any you think are the next Facebook or Twitter? Share them with us.
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