I see that Ning (co-founded by Marc Andreessen of Netscape fame) has settled on a revenue model. Ning allows anybody to create their own social network site (think Bebo, MySpace, if you don’t know what I’m talking about just grab any 17 year old and ask). The resulting networks can be either public or private, new members can be by invite of the original owner or as is more usual by invite of any member. For $4.95 (€3.80) per month you can associate your own domain with your network and for $19.95 (€15) per month you can remove ads or replace them with your own ad network. (Replacing the ads would be a priority for sites aimed at minors or at a conservative audience as the existing ads seem to tend towards the ‘get your naughty pictures here’ type!).
This service is ideal for internal school social networks or for local community sites or church groups or support groups or …, the list is endless. See Scoble for video demos of the service.
The DIY web is becoming a reality. There really is no going back ……
