About Friendster

Friendster is an online global social network Website. A main goal of Friendster is to help people connect and stay in touch with each other. Because it is worldwide, members can connect with people from different countries. Members use this Website to connect with people with similar interests. It's also used to organize activities, and some are branching out on it to sell products and services. Some use it to develop new relationships. That's just to name a few of Friendster's features.

History

Friendster originated in March of 2002. It was founded by Jonathan Abrams with its headquarters in Mountain View, California. In 2006, Friendster won a patent for its social networking relationships method and apparatus. More patents are pending for this global social networking giant. The origin of the name of Friendster is the combining of "Friend" and "Napster." It aims to allow people the opportunity to make electronic connections.

Originally established as a dating Website, Friendster has become a social networking gathering place for practically any type of relationship. While originally targeted for the crowd in their twenties, Friendster now is widely used by financially independent professionals past their college years. In 2003, Google offered to purchase Friendster, but Friendster's owners decided against that. Friendster remains privately held.

Size

Friendster boasts 85 members worldwide, and it has members from over 75 countries worldwide, Friendster is a leading global social networking service. According to Friendster, approximately 55 percent of the members are females.

Features

Not only does Friendster support individual connections, but the Website allows you to find and connect with groups with similar interests, hobbies, activities, members of the same school, and neighborhoods. Friendster offers a number of features. These include skins, customized layouts, photo sharing, and slide shows. There are many ways to customize and add widgets to Friendster. These include adding a clock, local weather, language choices, LED scroller, animated photo frames, games, 3D photo cubes, sports widget, and cartoonizer. The Website has expanded from networking and social gathering, and it also includes such features as classifieds for jobs and apartment advertisements. Members can also use it to review movies and music.

Geography

According to Vice President David Jones, of all the people in the Philippines that have Internet access, 90 percent of them use Friendster. In Asia, Friendster is the number 1 social network. Based upon traffic, Friendster is the number 3 social networking Website in the world.

Types

Friendster recently launched 9 new languages for users to navigate the content and features of the site. Languages included are English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Spanish. Friendster cannot help only friends connect, but also co-workers, business contacts, old classmates, romantic partners, and new friends can find each other here. Fan Pages can also be built to allow for a fan-based Website for artists, musicians and athletes.

Potential

Not only is Friendster available through the internet, but it is also available through any mobile device that is Internet ready. In some countries, users can sign up for text alerts and receive text messages through their cell phones. Future plans include users being able to respond to messages and friend requests from their Friendster profile through their mobile phones.

Resources

• Mobile Friendster
• October 2008 Friendster Stats
• History of Friendster