Friendster is a popular social network, and one of the first sites to offer user profiles and the capability to network with others. This very functionality led to a patent by the United States Patent Office that has been the subject of some criticism both about patents in general and their effect on Web services.
Friendster may be best known for turning down a bid by Google to buy the service in 2003, which is right around the time when the site grew too large and popular to support its scale. The site still has more than 50 million members.
Winner: Friendster (Friendster.com)
Category: Social
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Category: Community
Friendster is an incredibly popular social network, and also one of the most talked-about in the Web community. Friendster was one of the first sites to offer user profiles and the capability to network with others. This very functionality led to a patent by the United States Patent office that has been the subject of some criticism both about patents in general and their effect on Web services.
Friendster turned down a bid by Google to buy the service in 2003, which is right around the time when the site grew too large and popular for its servers and technology to support its scale. The site still has over 40 million members, although many have left for newer and more popular social networks like MySpace and Facebook.
Web site: www.Friendster.com
Webware coverage: Friendster lands a third patent
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