friendster

Social network pioneer Friendster, as we know it, will be gone on May 31. The company today announced to members that as part of its conversion from would-be Facebook competitor to "the social gaming destination of choice," it would be keeping accounts alive but deleting all user photos, comments, blog posts, and other profile content. Users interested in preserving that data are encouraged to use a tool to export their profiles to their hard drives.

It's another sad chapter for the company that could have become the social network that everyone used--basically, what Facebook is now. Or … Read more

As part of its efforts to better monetize its services, Friendster is looking to expand its brand beyond just a social-networking site to one that encompasses games and location-based services.

In an interview with ZDNet Asia, MOL Global CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah highlighted social networks, social games and location-based services as three key areas of growth, noting that the company now wants to bring these elements together and expand Friendster beyond just a social network. A Malaysia-based payments company, MOL acquired Friendster last December.

Pointing to Facebook, Zynga, and Groupon as currently the biggest players in the three respective segments, … Read more

On today's show, a rousing discussion on the future of Net neutrality, whether you can handle the truth that is the forthcoming technological revolution, and whether glass-bottomed buses are going to start an upskirting revolution in China. (Ok, actually, that last is about the cleverest little traffic congestion solution ever.)

Social-networking pioneer Friendster used to tout its industry relevance by talking about its portfolio of patented technologies--well, now those patents belong to Facebook.

A set of documents from the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) reveal that Facebook acquired the 18 patents earlier this summer from MOL Global, the Malaysia-based payments company that purchased Friendster last year.

The patents include descriptions of phenomena that will sound familiar to many a Facebook user--"feeding updates to landing pages of users of an online social network from external sources," which sounds a lot like news feed activity fed through … Read more

Facebook, on the verge of 500 million members around the world, might envision a global virtual currency with its Credits system. But the way that system is handled in different parts of the world is far from universal.

Very late Wednesday, Facebook announced that it's partnered with MOL Global, a Malaysia-based payment technology company, to offer its Facebook Credits virtual currency for sale through MOL's online channel and in retail stores across South Asia and Australia. MOL's "network" consists of over 500,000 outlets, including cybercafes, convenience stores, and online banks in countries including Singapore, … Read more

Onetime social-networking pioneer Friendster unveiled a new design on Thursday, and it's focusing on the demographic that has kept it afloat for the past few years: the Asian youth market. And according to Reuters, Friendster may also be sold to a buyer in Asia by the end of the month for at least $100 million.

Yes, Friendster still exists. The first big social network to take off, it was surpassed by the likes of MySpace and Facebook, and its popularity in much of the world quickly faded. Now, it says it has 75 million registered users (no word on … Read more

Online-invitation service Socializr is hoping to be the FriendFeed for your social life. The site announced on Wednesday that it now aggregates invitations from MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo's Upcoming, Meetup, Google Calendar, and industry leader Evite (owned by InterActiveCorp) in addition to letting members send their own invitations. The new feature is called "Event Connect."

Socializr, which was hatched by Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams, also has implemented Facebook Connect and MySpaceID so that members of those social networks can invite friends to Socializr events. A third new feature of Event Connect lets members tap into their accounts on … Read more

I'm as guilty as the next person for having a social network portfolio that's too big. Aside from my Twitter account, I belong to Plurk and Identi.ca, and although I use Facebook most often, I still have MySpace and Hi5 accounts.

But now that 2008 has passed and it's time for us to evaluate what we did last year and try to improve upon that for 2009, why don't we start by cleaning out our social network portfolio and start using only those services that we like best in each category? After all, spending more … Read more

I'm a social-networking addict. I'm never away from my Twitter stream, I always check Facebook for friend updates, and Friendfeed is probably my favorite Web tool this year. I check out Hi5 to catch a glimpse into the future, head back to Friendster from time to time, and can't help but check in with LiveJournal every few months when I feel nostalgic.

But for all that work with social networks, I've also become a somewhat critical and cynical user. And anyone who suffers from my same addiction probably has as well. That's why I've … Read more