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==Site transformation==
==Site transformation==
In June 2011, Friendster shifted from social networking site to a social entertainment site which focus on gaming and music. The accounts are unchanged and still existing. However, all the photos, messages, comments, testimonials, shoutouts, blogs, forums and groups that the users may have had in the past may no longer be part of their Friendster account.<ref>http://friendster.ehclients.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=201</ref> An exporting tool is provided to back-up the information of the user account. This tool has an ability to export photos to Flickr and Multiply.
In June 2011, Friendster shifted from social networking site to a social entertainment site which focus on gaming and music. The accounts are unchanged and still existing. However, all the photos, messages, comments, testimonials, shoutouts, blogs, forums and groups that the users may have had in the past may no longer be part of their Friendster account.<ref>http://friendster.ehclients.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=201</ref> An exporting tool is provided to back-up the information of the user account. This tool has an ability to export photos to Flickr and Multiply. The site was finally transformed or revamped in June 29, 2011.


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 07:12, 29 June 2011

Friendster, Inc.
File:Friendster.svg
File:New Friendster Homepage.jpg
Screenshot of Friendster's main page, updated in December 2009
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Social network service
Available inEnglish, Tagalog, Malay, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Spanish
Founded2002
Headquarters
Mountain View, California and Malaysia
OwnerMOL Global
Key people
  • Ganesh Kumar Bangah, Chief Executive Officer
URLwww.friendster.com
AdvertisingBanner ads, Contextual ads, Sponsorships
RegistrationYes
Users8.2 million (June 2010)[1]
LaunchedMarch 22, 2002
Current statusactive

Friendster was a social networking website[3][4] based in Mountain View, California.[5] The service allowed users to contact other members, maintain those contacts, and share online content and media with those contacts.[6] The website was also used for dating and discovering new events, bands, and hobbies. Users could share videos, photos, messages and comments with other members via their profile and their network.[6] It was considered one of the original and even the "grandaddy" of social networks.[7] The service became popular in Southeast Asia and is a major site in that region of the world.[8]

In May of 2011, the company repositioned itself into a social gaming site and discontinued user social network accounts.[9] But Friendster accounts will not be deleted and users can still log in using their existing e-mail login and password. They also stated that contact list (or friendlist) will be preserved along with user's basic information. Friendster said that in the new and improved website, the focus will be on pure "entertainment and fun", and aims not to compete, but rather to complement Facebook. [10]

Friendster had over 115 million registered users and over 61 million unique visitors a month globally. The website receives approximately 19 billion page views per month, and is in the top 1,000 global websites based on web traffic.[11]

Over 90% of Friendster's traffic came from Asia. In Asia, as of 2008, Friendster had more monthly unique visitors than any other social network.[12][13][14][15] The top 10 countries accessing Friendster, according to Alexa, as of May 7, 2009 are the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, South Korea, Bangladesh and India.[11]

History

Friendster was founded by computer programmer Jonathan Abrams and Peter Chin in 2002 in Morgan Hill, California before the creation, launch and adoption of MySpace, Facebook, and others.[16]

Friendster was founded to create a safer, more effective environment for meeting new people by browsing user profiles and connecting to friends, friends of friends and so on, allowing members to expand their network of friends more rapidly than in real life, face-to-face scenarios.[4]

Friendster.com went live in 2002 and was quickly adopted by three million users within the first few months.[4] Publications including Time, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly and Spin wrote about Friendster's success and the founder appeared on magazine covers and late-night talk shows.[4] Friendster's rapid success inspired a generation of niche social networking websites including Dogster and Elfster.[17][18]

As of 2008 Friendster had a membership base of more than 115 million registered users and continued to grow in Asia.[14][15][16] According to Alexa, the site has suffered an exponential decline in traffic in America since 2009. From a peak 40 ranking it reached 800 in November 2010. Most people have since attributed this decline to the rise of Facebook, a rival social networking site.

In August 2008, Friendster hired ex-Google executive Richard Kimber as the CEO.[19][20][21] Kimber is focusing on Friendster's expansion in Asia.[22]

On December 9, 2009, it was announced that Friendster was acquired for $26.4 million US by MOL Global,[23] one of Asia's biggest Internet companies. MOL Global is funded by one of Malaysia's successful businessmen, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Chairman and Chief Executive of Berjaya Corporation Berhad.[24]

Financial history

The company was originally founded in 2003 with a $12 million investment by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, and private investors.[4][25]

In 2003, Friendster management received a $30 million buyout offer from Google, which they declined.[4]

Friendster received another $3 million in funding in February 2006 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Benchmark Capital.[26] In August 2006, Friendster also received $10 million in funding in a round led by DAG Ventures,[26] and Friendster announced in August 2008 that it had raised an additional $20 million in funding in a round led by IDG Ventures.[3][27] Prior to its acquisition by MOL Global, Friendster was backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, IDG Ventures, and individual investors.

Awards and recognitions

In July 2006, Friendster was awarded Key Social Networking Technology Patent.[28]

In 2007, Friendster was selected by AlwaysOn Media as Top 100 Private Company Award Winner.[29]

In April 2008, Friendster became a Webware 100 winner.[30]

In 2009, the site was the subject of a satirical portrayal by The Onion News Network of the site's discovery as an archaeological relic, untouched since 2005.[31]

In May 2010, Friendster was recognized as one of the "Hottest Silicon Valley Companies" by Lead411.[32]

Services

In November 2009, Friendster announced a global partnership with MOL AccessPortal Berhad (MOL), a leading payments provider leveraging a network of over 500,000 physical and virtual payment channels worldwide, to power the Friendster Wallet and a payments platform enabling micro-spending for over 115 million users on Friendster. The Friendster Wallet was designed to support a variety of payment methods including pre-paid cards, mobile payments, online payments and credit card payments.

In 2007 Friendster added Fan Profiles and the Friendster Developer Program (open platform), and launched Friendster.com in 9 additional languages. In 2008, Friendster continued to launch the site in new languages and also launched Friendster Mobile which includes SMS text alerts.[13][21][33][34]

Fan Profiles: Fan Profiles encompass over 40 different types of "entities"[35] – including artists, celebrities, models, musicians and organizations. Such entities can create a "Fan Profile" which helps them promote themselves and build a fan base on Friendster. Fan Profiles are also accessible to non-Friendster members via search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.[36] Friendster users can become fans of their favorite entities and keep up to date on all their latest news. There are over 40 million total fan connections to Fan Profiles on Friendster.[6][36]

Friendster Mobile and Friendster Text Alerts: Friendster mobile (m.friendster.com) is free for users from any web-enabled mobile device and is available globally. Friendster mobile is available in several languages in addition to English (Indonesian, Malay, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese). Friendster users in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines can subscribe to and receive SMS text alerts on their mobile devices for network activity and friend related updates.

Languages

Available languages include Filipino, Thai, Malay, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified), Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.[6] Until September 2007, Friendster was only available in English. 10 new languages were added from 2007 up to January 2009, with Filipino being the newest language to be included.[37] Users can also enter content on Friendster in any language.

Friendster launched all language support on a single domain - www.friendster.com. Friendster is the first global online social network to support Asian languages and others on a single domain so that users from around the world can talk to each other.[38]

Development

Friendster has been an open site since August 2006 when it first began allowing widgets and content to be embedded in user profile pages through its developer program.[39] Roughly 39 percent of Friendster's users have widgets on their profile.[39]

Friendster gives software developers access to APIs that utilize content and data within the Friendster network to build and deploy customizable applications on and off Friendster. Friendster's Developer Program is an open, non-proprietary platform with an open revenue model.[39][40]

Friendster was the first social network to support both the OpenSocial and the Facebook Platform.[40]

In December 2009, Friendster relaunched its website with a new interface.[41]

Patents

Friendster holds some fundamental online social networking patents:[42][43]

In August 2010, Facebook confirmed that it had acquired 18 patents from Friendster.[44]

Site transformation

In June 2011, Friendster shifted from social networking site to a social entertainment site which focus on gaming and music. The accounts are unchanged and still existing. However, all the photos, messages, comments, testimonials, shoutouts, blogs, forums and groups that the users may have had in the past may no longer be part of their Friendster account.[45] An exporting tool is provided to back-up the information of the user account. This tool has an ability to export photos to Flickr and Multiply. The site was finally transformed or revamped in June 29, 2011.

References

  1. ^ https://www.google.com/adplanner/planning/site_profile#siteDetails?identifier=friendster.com&geo=001&trait_type=1&lp=true
  2. ^ "friendster.com - Traffic Details from Alexa". Alexa Internet, Inc. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
  3. ^ a b Eric Eldon, August 4, 2008. "Friendster raises $20 million, nabs a Googler to be CEO" VentureBeat. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Gary Rivlin, October 15, 2006. "Wallflower at the Web Party." New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  5. ^ About Us
  6. ^ a b c d Friendster at a Glance document
  7. ^ http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/05/20/may-the-month-of-internet-rapture/
  8. ^ http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1707760,00.html
  9. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/blogs/gear-up/friendster-is-dead-encourages-u-s-users-to-move-on-20110511
  10. ^ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/04/27/11/friendster-admits-defeat-facebook
  11. ^ a b Alexa Top 100
  12. ^ ComScore Press Release, June 30, 2008. "India and China Propel Internet Audience Growth in Asia-Pacific Region, According to comScore", Press Release. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  13. ^ a b Ling Woo Liu, January 29, 2008. "Friendster Moves to Asia", TIME. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  14. ^ a b Press Release, October 21, 2008. "Friendster is the #1 Social Network for Adults and Youth in Malaysia", Press Release. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  15. ^ a b Press Release, October 21, 2008. "Friendster is the #1 Social Network for Adults and Youth in Singapore", Press Release. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  16. ^ a b Betsy Schiffman, May 9, 2008. "In Praise of Friendster", Wired. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  17. ^ Pete Cashmore, September 14, 2006. "Dogster’s Friendster for Dogs Raises $1M", Mashable.
  18. ^ Liane Cassavoy, Monday, November 22, 2004. "Secret Santa Gift Swap Goes High Tech", Today @ PC World.
  19. ^ Press Release, August 18, 2008. "Friendster Deploys OpenSocial Support for Benefit of 75 Million Users, Developers and Industry", Press Release. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  20. ^ Press Release, August 5, 2008. "Friendster Announces New CEO And $20 Million in Funding", Press Release. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  21. ^ a b Heather Havenstein, October 28, 2008. "Friendster Opens Platform to Developers", PC World. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  22. ^ Jessica Vascellaro, August 5, 2008. "New Friendster CEO Has Asia Focus", The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  23. ^ Michael Arrington (2009-12-15). "Friendster Valued At Just $26.4 Million In Sale". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  24. ^ Rao, Leena (2009-12-09). "Malaysian Payments Company MOL Global Snaps Up Friendster". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  25. ^ Nikhil Hutheesing, March 22, 2004. "Corporate Inter-Face-Time." Forbes. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  26. ^ a b Dawn Kawamoto, August 21, 2006. "Friendster scoops up $10 million in funding." CNET News. Retrieved December 4, 2006.
  27. ^ Caroline McCarthy, August 5, 2008. "Friendster gets $20 million, ex-Googler as CEO." CNET News. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  28. ^ Friendster Awarded Key Social Networking Technology Patent
  29. ^ Friendster Selected by AlwaysOn Media as Top 100 Private Company Award Winner
  30. ^ Webware 100 winner: Friendster
  31. ^ Fake Area Newspaper Gets Real Television Show
    The Onion Takes Friendster Down a Few More Notches
    Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of 'Friendster' Civilization: The Onion (VIDEO)
  32. ^ Lead411 launches "Hottest Silicon Valley Companies" awards
  33. ^ Press Release, June 26, 2008. "Friendster Announces Mobile Text Alerts", Press Release. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  34. ^ Julie Sloane, September 24, 2007. "Friendster Debuts Chinese Site," Epicenter from Wired. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  35. ^ Friendster Fan Profiles Page
  36. ^ a b Caroline McCarthy, September 27, 2007. "Friendster, in a bid for popularity, introduces 'Fan Profiles'." CNET News. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  37. ^ Press Release, January 27, 2009. "Friendster Now Available in Filipino." News Blaze. Retrieved on February 4, 2009.
  38. ^ Press Release, May 15, 2008. "Friendster, Largest Social Network in Asia, Now in Vietnamese." Press Release. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  39. ^ a b c Catherine Holahan, May 22, 2007. "Sharing the Widget Wealth." BusinessWeek. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  40. ^ a b Lawrence Coburn, November 3, 2008. "Widget Summit: Hi5 vs. Friendster." Sexy Widget. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  41. ^ Robin Wauters. "Friendster Gets A Major Makeover, Calls Other Social Networks Plain And Boring". TechCrunch.
  42. ^ Caroline McCarthy, December 9, 2008. "Friendster awarded 'compatibility scoring' patent." CNET. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
  43. ^ Eric Eldon, December 9, 2008. "Friendster nabs fourth social networking patent, dozen more pending." VentureBeat. Retrieved on December 9, 2008.
  44. ^ Liz Gannes, August 4, 2010. "Facebook Buys Friendster Patents for $40M." GIGAOM. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  45. ^ http://friendster.ehclients.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=201
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