So, with all this discussion we've been having (and I imagine, will continue to have) in class about social networking, it got me to thinking: what ever happened to Friendster? Remember, the original social networking site? (Or at least the first one available to the masses, if I recall correctly). I realize I am behind the curve in researching this, as Friendster has been an afterthought for a while now, but still, I was curious. So I decided to do some detective work.
As we all know, thanks to Google, "detective work" is pretty easy these days. So, I went to Google, typed in "what went wrong with Friendster?," and found the article above (click on the link to read it). It's called "How to Kill a Great Idea" and was written by Max Chafkin for the June 2007 issue of Inc.com - and it's fascinating. Again, some of you may already know the story, if so, my apologies. But even though this isn't a current article, it's well worth reading.
When I first started thinking about what might have caused the downfall of friendster, I assumed it was likely a technical issue - that they must have just missed the boat on some kind of software that sites like MySpace and Facebook were able to capitalize on. But upon reading the article, I learned that it was not solely a software issue - while that was a part of the problem, there were a whole host of complications that added up to one big bust - in fact, the article refers to it as "the biggest tech flop since the bubble burst."
As the article outlines, there were two main issues that led to the downfall of Friendster: software issues and management disputes - particularly, conflicts between Jonathan Abrams, Friendster's founder, and the Venture Capitalists who provided the seed money. But there was a lesser, tertiary issue that was a complete surprise to me. Chafkin explains it better than I can, so check this out (direct quote from the article - Chafkin's words):
"Scant attention was paid to Friendster's users. Lunt remembers marveling sometime in early 2004 at how Friendster's traffic would mysteriously spike at 2 a.m. Intrigued, he started looking at the site's log. Oh, my God, he thought, everyone is from the Philippines. He worked backwards, looking for "patient zero"-- the first American to "Friendster" a Filipino. He found Carmen Leilani De Jesus, a 32-year-old marketing consultant and part-time hypnotherapist from San Francisco, the 91st person to join Friendster. She was directly connected to Abrams as well as to dozens of Filipinos, who'd in turn connected to thousands more. In fact, more than half the site's traffic was coming from Southeast Asia.
"From a business standpoint, the revelation was devastating. Friendster, it turned out, was paying millions of dollars a year to attract eyeballs that were effectively worthless to its advertisers. Says Abrams: "We needed to make a tough decision"-- either spin off the Asian business or become the No. 1 Filipino social network. But because the Filipino users had come by way of their American friends, there was no easy answer. If Friendster cut the cord to Asia--either by drastically cutting back on engineering resources or by kicking the Asian users off the site altogether--it risked damaging its American user base. The Carmens of the world might look for a less restrictive site."
And indeed, as Chafkin goes on to say, that is exactly what happened. By the end of 2004, after less than a year in business, MySpace had surpassed Friendster. Amazing how that one connection to a Filipino user ended up putting Friendster between a rock and a hard place, contributing to its demise, right? It's something I never would have considered and found that incredibly interesting.
Anyway, I highly suggest that you check this article out if you don't know the story of Friendster. Well-written, incredibly revealing, and entertaining. And in case any of you are worried, Jonathan Abrams, the founder of Friendster, is doing just fine, thank you very much. He owns a bar/lounge in San Francisco and has a new web venture called Socializr.
I remember right after I graduated college in 2003, sitting in my apartment in Chicago and listening to my friend Joel tell me how cool Friendster was, and how I simply had to sign up. The next day I spent 5 hours working on my profile and connecting to friends (I was unemployed at the time) and thinking "Joel was right, this Friendster thing is really great!" Amazing how much things can change in a mere 5 years. I can't even remember the last time I checked my Friendster profile. Speaking of which, maybe I'll go do that right now...except that I just got a new friend on Facebook. Sorry, Friendster. You are so 2003.
