Using the service, customers who have a Ning website can charge for its users to access the entire website or just particular section of it.
FORBES: Glam Media Acquires Ning In Ad-Social Publishing Tie-Up; Andreessen Joins Glam Board
Posterous is also going after other publishing platforms with a switching campaign, targeting first the formerly free service of Ning, a provider of social networks to groups and individuals.
So when does it make sense for a company to use a service like Ning?
In such a case, Ning might share the revenue with the developers.
Glam Media, a women-focused online content and advertising company, has acquired social network creator Ning, in a large advertising and online media tie-up.
FORBES: Glam Media Acquires Ning In Ad-Social Publishing Tie-Up; Andreessen Joins Glam Board
Li Ning, a Chinese athletic apparel company, also experienced challenges in its first attempt to expand internationally.
For Glam, acquiring Ning provides a place for its authors (and publishers) to create their own websites and social networks.
FORBES: Glam Media Acquires Ning In Ad-Social Publishing Tie-Up; Andreessen Joins Glam Board
Li Ning shut a net 1, 821 stores and factory outlets last year, leaving 6, 434 still in business, the company said in a statement.
Rosenthal, who became CEO after co-founder Gina Bianchini stepped down, is a longtime friend of Ning co-founder and Netscape co-founder and now venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.
In 1983, with demand for its rice cookers flat, Wang, partner Pan Ning and a few other cadres cast around for a new product to manufacture.
In June Ning added a paid access service.
FORBES: Glam Media Acquires Ning In Ad-Social Publishing Tie-Up; Andreessen Joins Glam Board
Ning, a Silicon Valley start-up, plans to almost double its mobile development staff to 17 to work on a hybrid instant-message and social network it launched in February, said Chief Executive Jason Rosenthal.
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When asked why this initial investment in the US failed, Craig Heisner, vice-president of digital operations, explains: "I don't think the original plan adequately presented the heritage of Li Ning as a major Chinese brand founded by a famous Olympian who rose to the top".
In a bow to the importance of branding, sites can also opt to have a URL that doesn't include the "Ning" name--for a modest fee, of course.
It seems Li-Ning needs Wade a lot more than the player needs the company.
FORBES: Pros and Cons: Is Dwyane Wade Leaving Jordan Brand for Li-Ning?
By using Ning to build a social network around those topics, publishers could help readers meet new people that share their same interests, Bianchini contends.
Unlike Jianlibao, Li Ning has had a second chance to build a business overseas - it recently went digital in a joint-venture with Chicago-based Acquity Group.
Last week, following a profit warning, Li Ning said it is replacing its chief executive of 20 years with the founder, and investor TPG Group is stepping in to overhaul operations.
Li Ning was founded by a former Chinese gymnast who won six medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
In footwear related news today, Li Ning warned investors of a likely plunge in profit this year (see related story here).
FORBES: Taiwan Footwear Chain Daphne In Acquisition Talks, CEO Eddie Chen Tells Forbes
Ning started off as a free service for anyone to create a social network and many people created sites around hobbies or interests.
Li Ning has been facing a number of headwinds that includes growing competition from domestic rivals, such as Anta and Peak, as well as shrinking profit margins.
Few in that country can forget the impressive sight of Li Ning, himself in a track suit of his own design, being hoisted up at the Bird Nest stadium to light the torch during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The company had a big push this summer at the Olympics, but as of June, Li-Ning shares had dropped more than 60 percent in a year.
FORBES: Pros and Cons: Is Dwyane Wade Leaving Jordan Brand for Li-Ning?
Ning was founded in 2004 as a way for people to create their own free customized social networks.
FORBES: Glam Media Acquires Ning In Ad-Social Publishing Tie-Up; Andreessen Joins Glam Board
However, Wade recently dropped Nike as a sponsor to sign with a Chinese athletic apparel company, Li Ning.
On Saturday, Ning will officially no longer be a freemium business.
FORBES: Free of Freemium, Things Are Starting To Look Up At Ning
Social networks of the commercial variety, that is Facebook, Bebo, Ning et al, may have a place in those countries where it is unlikely that millions will be spent on Government-sponsored social networks of the kind we see in Scotland ( www.glowscotland.org.uk).
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