Online friendmaker gains fans

When Friendster, the popular online networking site, hit the net in 2002, no one realized it would be such a hit — especially its founder, Jonathan Abrams. A few calendars later, the site now has 40 million members and counting. In the Philippines, the site has bumped up the hit list as the second most popular site (the first being Yahoo). To date, with 6.9 million local users out of a total 7.9 million population of Internet users of Friendster, the Philippines is currently the biggest market in the world.

According to Jeff Roberto, marketing and PR director for Friendster, the site has gained a huge following in Asia, making it one of the top three sites for countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Despite the proliferation of similar online networking sites like MySpace and Multiply, Friendster’s foothold in the Philippine market remains strong. "It’s always good to have competition," says Roberto. "It makes for great motivation."

That motivation has resulted in brand-new features for Friendster, including e-mail alerts, birthday announcements (a helpful tool for forgetful friends), and a newsletter.

With network contacts already in place, users are currently searching for ways to generate content and broadcast information. The "shoutout" tool enables users to send out general messages to friends. And now that the site has opened up to unregistered users — allowing user profiles to show up on Google searches — anyone and everyone can view user information.

The company’s updated the interface to include updates from friends (who added new friends, celebrated a birthday or uploaded new pictures) in an easy-to-scan summary that appears on the opening page. Hit Home on the Friendster tab bar and you get a basic update on what’s going on in your friends’ networking lives.

Public Access

Originally a tool for connecting with friends — and, in the process, garnering new contacts through an extended network that displayed the degrees of connection — Friendster soon morphed into a great way to stalk a certain someone. Whether it’s a high school crush or a colleague at work, the site’s resources were limitless. Access to testimonials, pictures with captions detailing vacations and mundane errands, and a profile list covering everything from hobbies to favorite music made the task of gleaning information on anyone registered a simple enough effort.

But the company sparked controversy when it debuted the "Who Viewed Me" option without warning. Essentially it listed everyone who’d viewed the site roughly a few weeks previous to the launch. "That was a pretty big deal," says Roberto with a laugh. The move caused an uproar among users who didn’t want certain subjects to find out that they had been viewing their profile. "We’ve learned from that lesson and now we announce every move we’re planning to make to users," he adds. "And there’s always an option not to sign up for every feature. We’re very careful with stuff like that."

That being said, the viewing option is one of the most-clicked-upon tools on the homepage. "Everyone checked it out the day it launched," he says. The site garnered more hits that day than it had in recent history.

Dear Diary

Blogs have also made an appearance on the site. Users no longer have to sign up for accounts on other sites like Livejournal or MySpace. Along with an updated photo module, which made the process of sharing photos easier, the new features make it convenient for users to post entries and generate content.

Thanks to the company’s attempts to constantly innovate, members can take advantage of the brand-new feature that’s going to change the landscape of Friendster. Called Fan Profiles, the new feature allows artists, celebs, musicians, brands, politicians, models and even restaurant owners or events crew to create a profile to promote their products or gigs. Currently in beta stage — the company is testing it out with one Malaysian songstress named Karen Kong — they plan on rolling out the feature very soon.

Not unlike MySpace, which is home to numerous celeb profiles with postings about their gigs and personal life (check out the divorce squabbling between porn queen Jenna Jameson and her soon-to-be ex Jay, along with the well-documented arguments between former Blink 182 drummer and MTV reality show alum Travis Barker and his estranged wife Shanna Moakler, which they posted on their sites), the new feature allows fan profiles to build a community of fans — which means an unlimited number of friends. Friendster’s current friend limit is about 1,000.

Only the actual entity — or their agent or manager or someone from their posse — can handle the account. The company doesn’t allow imposters — whether celebrity-related or otherwise — and is quick to suspend users who try to fake their way to Friendster fame. "We verify the entities before allowing them to start their own fan profile," explains Roberto. For those interested in being included in the beta program, a quick e-mail to fanprofiles@friendster.com might be the doorway to unlimited online friends and fame.

Urban Soiree

What originally began as a social experiment by Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams in Mountain View California soon became a huge hit, spawning imitation sites and similar programs based on the social networking theme. Abrams originally created Friendster when the process of joining an online dating site and meeting unknown potential dates seemed impersonal.

Friendster meant a safer, more personal environment for friends to meet other friends. In fact, another new option, dubbed Schoolmates, allows members to input their schools and the dates they attended them and the site will publish a link of members who attended at the same time. It’s just another nifty tool that allows old friends to reconnect.

"When it began, Friendster had an option called Make an Introduction," says Roberto. Essentially, it allowed users to introduce one friend to another that they felt would click or have similar interests. "But it felt too much like a dating feature so we scrapped it," he says. Now the tool has been reincarnated as Send a Smile. "It’s a more subtle way of approaching someone you might be interested in," he adds.

On the whole dating site vs. Friendster debate, Roberto has his own take. "On dating sites, you might not meet people you know, but you’ll definitely meet a lot more people who are in it to find a date, unlike Friendster, where a lot of people are just in it to connect with friends. But with our company, it’s safer because the person you find is connected to someone you know. Long-term relationship-wise, Friendster is the safer bet."

"In fact, we get a lot of those stories," he continues. "Those ‘I met my wife through Friendster’ stories."

For the people behind the online networking company, those kinds of stories never grow old.