( CNN ) -- Whether you 're into baseball or backgammon , Harry Potter or heavy metal , Ning has an online network for you . Gina Bianchini , CEO of Ning , says her site brings together people with common interest and passions . A fast-growing , free Web site launched two years ago , Ning lets members custom build their own social-networking platforms based around their passions and pastimes . As Facebook and MySpace connect people to friends and family , Ning gathers users around common interests . The site hosts networks for hip-hop music lovers , video gaming moms and teens obsessed with the Twilight book and movie franchise . Other popular Ning networks bring people together online for political and social causes such as `` Pickens ' Plan , '' which advocates wind energy . Ning had 4.7 million unique visitors as of January and surpassed 1 million social networks -- about one-fifth of them considered active -- last month . Ning also enhanced its site in March with new features such as a real-time activity feed so users can get up-to-the-minute reports -- not unlike Twitter 's tweets -- about what others are doing . CNN spoke recently to Ning CEO Gina Bianchini , a Silicon Valley native and former Goldman Sachs analyst , about the company and the future of social networking . Watch Bianchini chat about Ning » . CNN : Where did this idea for Ning come from ? Bianchini : We really started with a very simple premise . What if you gave people the opportunity to create their own social experiences for their own unique passions/topics/interest ? We started on the ground floor to build it in such a way that it can be customized and programmed and made truly unique for each individual . I believe the most powerful ideas are the most simple . CNN : What is the mission of Ning ? Bianchini : It 's a way to get people to organize and get people to meet around their passions . CNN : Did any specific Web sites or companies inspire you to create Ning ? Bianchini : We were really inspired by the first wave of Internet companies truly native to the Web like Craigslist and eBay . They were really around people connecting to other people . They were really about the Internet connecting people to each other . It 's completely unique to the Internet -- you ca n't do it via television or newspapers . CNN : Did you expect the idea of connecting people though common interests to be so successful ? Bianchini : Social behavior is really what people want to do online . It was clear for the rapid adoption of social networking in general that it is very much the case . CNN : What are some of the interesting social networks on Ning ? Bianchini : There are 200,000 social networks are active right now , and they are across tens of thousands of unique passions . There is a network called 'This is 50 . ' It 's like a hip hop TMZ . Another is the 'Pickens ' Plan . ' It 's a way they are organizing more than 200,000 people around wind-energy policy . There is another one for cricket , specifically Indian cricket , which has added half a million people in the last two and a half weeks . There is another about the Twilight saga for teens . So it ranges from 50 Cent to teens talking about Twilight to serious adults looking at how to make changes in government policy . That 's the power of the Internet and the power of connecting people . CNN : What do you attribute to the growth of Ning ? Bianchini : What 's fundamental in the adoption of Ning is that people are unique . They have unique interest and passion and they like having a contact for that experience and for their identity . CNN : What makes Ning different from other social-networking sites ? Bianchini : It 's focused on providing the [ means for ] people to create new social networks around their interests and passions and connect new people around those passions . We think that 's a very critical element of organization . The Facebook phenomenon connects you to people you already know and Twitter is amazing for news and real-time events . What we see with people who gravitate to Ning is meeting new people with similar interests . CNN : How can Ning be useful to organizations or corporations ? Bianchini : When you can bring people together around a common cause there is incredible potential to do fundraising and to organize volunteers . CNN : How does your site make money ? Bianchini : If you want to add a feature like making your own domain , you can pay a la carte for options . On the free service there are ads contextual to what the network is . CNN : What are your thoughts on the future of social networking ? Bianchini : Niche social networking sites are absolutely something people want to do . People clearly want to do this . . . [ and ] as people get more comfortable with social networking via Facebook , Twitter , they will look around and say , ' I want a social network for this particular group . ' CNN : What are some of your company 's goals in the future ? Bianchini : We are really focused on making our service perfect for people who come to meet new people . We 're growing really rapidly and we 're seeing a lot of interest and new people joining social networks .
CNN talks to Gina Bianchini , CEO of Ning , a fast-growing Web site . TL;DR The Internet is becoming more like the TV set than it was in its early days. The site boasts more than 1 million social networks -- some 200,000 of them active . In March , the site added a real-time activity feed to help users stay updated .