Friendster wires a money transfer feature to the Philippines
Friendster has just introduced a way to send and receive payments with friends on the social network through your mobile phone — if you’re using Filipino currency, that is. This is a smart way for the site to take advantage of the trusted relationships that… Continue Reading
Facebook’s traffic growth leaving rivals in the dust
Facebook has grown to 150 million users this month, more than half of whom use the site every day, according to company chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Other social networks, like MySpace, Friendster, hi5, Bebo and Orkut, have also become popular around the world over the… Continue Reading
Friendster nabs fourth social-networking patent, dozen more pending
Friendster was the first modern social network to really gain traction on the web. But it has lost ground to rivals like MySpace and Facebook over the last five years or so due to a number of missteps. Nevertheless, it has gotten popular in Asia… Continue Reading
Friendster says it’s compatible with Facebook apps
Social networking site Friendster announced that it now supports applications built on competing network Facebook’s popular platform.
Friendster already supports apps built for OpenSocial (the Google-led effort to make all social sites compatible), and the announcement signals that Friendster is the first network to support both… Continue Reading
Friendster now allows OpenSocial applications on its social network
Friendster, the social network that’s big in Asia, has launched an OpenSocial version of its nine month old developer platform. This means any application that is already built to the OpenSocial social network developer platform specifications will now more easily work on Friendster; various versions… Continue Reading
Friendster raises $20 million, nabs a Googler to be CEO
Friendster, the formative social network of the modern web era that became a verb for rollercoaster failure and then took over large chunks of the Asian market, has some good news this evening.
It has raised $20 million and plucked Richard Kimber, Google’s regional managing director… Continue Reading
Friendster’s growth in Asia could make it the top social network in the world, once again
In the current international land-grab among leading social networks, Facebook is overtaking MySpace as the largest social network in the world. But there’s a big caveat — Asia — where a much-maligned older rival, Friendster continues to lead Facebook and everyone else by at least… Continue Reading
Friendster, Bebo, LinkedIn all opening — aren’t waiting for OpenSocial
Friendster and Bebo are joining LinkedIn as the latest large social networks to throw open their web sites to outside developers.
Like Facebook, and a recent effort led by Google to do something similar with its “OpenSocial” project, these sites are letting third parties build applications… Continue Reading
Friendster launches developer platform, developers rushing in
Friendster, the social network that has been forgotten by many in the U.S., but which is thriving in Asia, is now opening its own developer platform, copying the move recently by popular site Facebook.
Third parties can build applications within Friendster, and can access the site’s… Continue Reading
Friendster sees massive 40 percent page view boost in May
updated
Friendster, the early social network that stumbled badly three years ago and gave up leadership status to MySpace, Facebook and others, continues to recover — and its 40 percent page view boost last month is remarkable.
The site had 24.7 million unique users last month, according… Continue Reading
Socializr, for planning events online
Socializr, a new San Francisco-based company that wants to help you plan events online, opens to the public today.
It is owned by Jonathan Abrams, the founder of the early social networking site, Friendster. When Friendster emerged four years ago, it was cutting-edge — creating enormous… Continue Reading
Tech shakeout continued: Friendster, Backfence, Insider Pages, Orb updates
Despite fallout at social networking and other Web 2.0 companies lately, its clear that the problem isn’t lack of opportunity. Many companies still see strong growth ahead.
Check out social networking veteran Friendster.
The company lost $410,000 in December, according to documents a source just slipped to… Continue Reading
The “FF class” of stock, for founders who want cash early
(Updated with more details on how FF works)
A form venture capital funding in Silicon Valley is getting increased interest from founders of start-ups.
It is called the “FF class” of stock, for founders who want to cash out a small percentage of their stake in a… Continue Reading
Two-timing, YouTube ruckus, French connection, the Friendster patents & more
Roundup:
Entrepreneurs who have two companies – The Mercury News has a story summarizing the exploits of the guys with two start-ups, Kevin Rose & Jay Adelson (Digg, Revision3), Scott Rafer (MyBlogLog, Mashery) and Evan Williams (Odeo, Twitter). The idea that one is not enough, because… Continue Reading
The woeful story of Friendster, and lessons
Gary Rivlin, of the New York Times, has just written the best overview yet of the terrific bungle of social networking company, Friendster.
Jonathan Abrams, founder of Friendster, had a great initial vision, and sparked the social networking revolution by allowing friends to hook up with… Continue Reading