Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Gina Bianchini wants local groups and organizations to expect more from their social networks.

Mightybell, a social network that officially launches today, is Bianchini's latest attempt to bring social networking to smaller communities. Her previous startup, Ning, explored custom social networks and was focused on individuals. Now she's taking a different tack with Mightybell, which aims to help small groups organize online.

Backed with $4.2 million in funding from First Round Capital and Floodgate, Mightybell starts with large groups called "communities," which are organized around topic, purpose, course, or profession. Each community has a subset of groups called "circles," where users can read and post content and talk to other users who are also interested in that particular topic....