Investors don't seem to be losing their appetite for social networks -- at least for the top ones. The latest funding comes from Ning, which recently raised $60 million. Apparently, the valuation is a pre-money $500 million or so.

The company has lots of pedigree. That is, the co-founders include Marc Andreessen -- who is the mastermind of Netscape -- and Gina Bianchini, who is a former Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) investment banker. They launched Ning back in October 2004. And it was good timing.

Basically, Ning allows users to easily create their own social networks, with blogs, videos, photos and so on. It has become a melting pot of creativity.

A big trend over the past few years has been Web 2.0 (despite the fact that I'm still not sure how to define this malleable thing). However, there haven't been any IPOs in the sector. What's more, the M&A transactions have been muted, except for some outliers, such as Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) $850 million deal for Bebo.

Despite all this, venture capitalists continue to pour money into Web 2.0 deals. According to a report from Dow Jones VentureSource, there was about $1.34 billion in investments last year (across 178 transactions). In fact, this was an 88% spike over 2006.

Sounds good, huh?

Perhaps not. If anything, we may be seeing a weeding out of the weaker players and a bigger focus on the winners. After all, Facebook snagged about $300 million in funding. There was also a $44 million infusion for Ning as well as a $49.25 million deal for MyStrands.

Compared to other social networking sites – like News Corp's(NYSE:NWS) MySpace and Facebook – Ning doesn't get much buzz. But that may change soon.

This week, the company announced that it raised about $44 million in venture capital. One of the backers of the company is Marc Andreessen, who also cofounded Netscape back in the Internet heyday.

Basically, Ning allows you to create your own social network (and it is actually a fairly easy process). So far, its users have created about 70,000 social networks.

I had a chance to interview Robb Hecht, who is an expert on social networking and operates IMC Strategy Lab Consulting.

According to him:

"In an online environment where consumers are now in control, Ning may give businesses back a little control.

"Brands developing social networks within Ning can insert their logos, branding, visual designs, branded widgets and links much more easily than the three major social networks currently allow. Of further value to businesses seeking customer data, Ning templates allow social networking administrators control over most data members provide them. And with $44 million, Ning can no push aggressively on this strategy."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.