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Marc Andreessen's Social Platform: Ning

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the someone-doing-something-interesting dept.

An anonymous reader writes "As reported on SiliconBeat, Marc Andreessen has finally lifted the covers off his latest project: an applications structure called Ning, which makes the development of social websites like thefacebook.com and match.com more accessible. See TheGlu and Dating for examples of Ning in action."

4 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Web development for dummies by Bad+to+the+Ben · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It's cool to hear Andreessen is behind it; this gives it a little more legitimacy than it would otherwise have (ie, less likely to disappear thanks to not having a business model).

    Why? Didn't Netscape mostly disappear? Admittedly, it was more due to Netscape sucking and having their business model conquered by MS free giveaways than not having a business model.
    The innovation is in new stuff, not in ripoffs of existing sites.. will be interesting to watch whether Ning will really make this possible.
    Don't count on it. The entire point of this "Ning" (stupid name) thing is to make it EASIER for other people to rip off existing social sites and start their own. IMHO and observations, the really innovative sites are developed by people using their own tools, because prepackaged sets like this one tend to limit what they can do to the preconceptions of whoever created the tools. Slashdot with it's "Slashcode" is a good example. Slashdot was innovative, but all the sites based off it aren't really. There are exceptions, of course.
  2. Re:Slashdot dating by crschmidt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Create an account. Apply for beta developer status. Click "Clone This" button on dating.ning.com. Type in that title, add a few extra fields ("What programming langugages do you know?" "Who is your ideal BOFH?")

    It's that easy.

    That's the power of cloning, and the primary force behind Ning.

    Want Proof? I just did it: SlashDot Dating.

    --
    -- Christopher Schmidt YouTube Quality of Experience
  3. Interesting? Doubt it by freddej · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The first blog comment on siliconbeat said it all:
    "My first reaction, not knowing that this was an Andreesen site, was "gee, these apps are derivative". Come on, Bulldogster? And how many applications do we actually need to tell us about restaurants in Palo Alto?"
  4. Oh dear, oh deeeeear! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I dunno. I get a "danger will robinson" reaction to that thought, and my tail gets all bushy.

    We're already so divided and conquered and fractured. Specialized dating sites may cause all the politico/ideologico groups to start exclusively inbreeding until we're just a disconnected sea of tribes that don't even speak the same language.

    I'm being silly, but only a little.