What is Friendster? An Overview of the Popular Social Networking Site

What is Friendster? An Overview of the Popular Social Networking Site
Page content

What is Friendster?

Before the Big Three – MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo – there was Friendster. This social networking site builds on the concept that it’s a small world after all and that we are only one, if not two, connections away from knowing/meeting someone famous, popular, or distant in terms of physical location. This article in the Social Networking 101 series defines the popular site by addressing the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, and why) that can help you to make an informed decision when choosing a social network.

The 5 Ws

Who: Registration is open to those 16 or older with the average member ranging in age between their late teens to mid-twenties.

What: A social networking site that paved the way for its contemporaries, Friendster illustrates how users are related to each other through a connection tool; a small box that defines your connection with another member on your profile. For example, person A is connected to person B through person C. Features of this site include:

Connection Tool - Find out how you are connected to others by viewing a member’s profile.

Photo Gallery – Store and post your pictures in online albums.

Testimonials and Comments – Write candid messages about/to your friends on their comments’ board.

Recent Updates – Find out about the latest updates that members have made to their pages in addition to displaying your latest changes with this feature.

When: Friendster was developed in 2002 by Jonathan Abrams in Mountain View, California. This social networking site was released in March 2003 and currently has over 90 million registered members.

Where: Although Friendster was developed in the US, it is quickly gaining popularity in Asia with a majority of its users (approximately 60 million) living in Southeast Asia.

Why: As the saying goes, sometimes the simplest things are the best things in life. This may be true for Friendster in that everything is accessible from a single page. You can find out/write all that you ever wanted to know or share about others or yourself including hobbies, interests, activities, and relation to others by simply viewing/ posting to your profile page. Not to mention, you can always add a little flair or personality to your page by customizing the background or adding small applications such as background music.

This post is part of the series: Social Networking 101

What is social networking? This article series defines social networking and includes practical advice on choosing a network, in addition to summarizing some of the most common social networks out there.

  1. Social Networking 101
  2. Bebo - Overview
  3. Facebook - Overview
  4. Friendster - Overview