Friendster Finds New Friends With Big Names And Deep Pockets

from the but-where's-the-business-model? dept

Are we reaching a bubble in the "social software" space? Friendster is getting press coverage today because they somehow convinced three successful and famous dot com veterans to dump over $1 million into the site that still doesn't know how it's going to make any money. I still think that Friendster is a fad that will go the way of sixdegrees.com before too long. It's clear, though, that others disagree. Still, I do get worried when all of the hype about a company focuses on who's involved and not what the business model is. There's too much "we'll get back to that later". Already, there's been quite a lot of Friendster backlash. That doesn't mean they won't eventually figure out a business model that works - but so far there's not much more than hype.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    TAD, 3 Sep 2003 @ 1:31pm

    Tired of Friendster?

    Try Tribe!

    http://www.tribe.net

    Tribe is more concerned with online socializing and networking (not always with people you already know) than with dating. It feels a lot more experimental and introvert friendly.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike (profile), 3 Sep 2003 @ 1:54pm

      Re: Tired of Friendster?

      Actually, I played around with Tribe briefly and thought: "Man, this looks exactly like Friendster. Do I really want to bring in all the friends I set up through Friendster into this? Then what will I do when the next one comes along and I have to build yet another profile and drag all of my friends into that system too."

      Nope. Not worth it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        mark pincus, 4 Sep 2003 @ 11:27am

        Re: Tired of Friendster?

        actually, my hope is that all the social maps can be connected so that users wont have to reinvest. you should own your own profile regardless of where it's hosted. i'd be happy to see friendster and eventually yahoo and possibly typepad and blogger host all the profiles; so long as they're 'open' to 3rd party applications on a level playing field where users can choose services they want.

        tribe is interested in becoming the most useful person-2-person listings marketplace. we need a people web in order for that to occur.

        link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.