Save Mark Zuckerberg’s Friendster Profile (or Your Own) Before It Dies
- By Ryan Singel
- April 27, 2011 |
- 3:10 pm |
- Categories: Social Media
Friendster, the early leader in social networks, is about to close the door on profiles and re-invent itself as a gaming and music site that uses Facebook Connect.
Friendster was flying high in the early years of the last decade, but stumbled as MySpace and then Facebook overtook it domestically. Friendster found refuge outside the U.S., particularly in the Phillipines and Asia. The company, backed with $50 million in venture capital from high profile firms, was sold to a Malaysian company MOL Global in 2009 for about $40 million.
Now the company is saying it will delete users’ photos and messages on May 31. Users who want their information are encouraged to use an exporter application. Basic profiles and friend lists will remain to power the site’s transformation into an entertainment hub focused on games and music for Asian users.
It’s unlikely that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, will avail himself of the exporting tool, but his Friendster profile is a time capsule of the early heyday of social networking circa 2004.
There’s a few photos of the young hacker, but what’s most intriguing is his list of friends. There’s Sean Parker, the Silicon Valley bad boy who famously helped Zuckerberg retain control of his company. There’s Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who since left the company to found Asana. There’s the company’s original designer, Aaron Sittig.
Then there’s the former top dogs at Friendster: Scott Sassa, who at the time was the president and CEO of Friendster, who now is a president at Hearst Entertainment. Jim Scheinman, the former biz dev guy at Friendster, is there as well. Friendster tried to acquire Facebook for $10 million in 2004, but was rebuffed.
As for investors, well, there’s Ken Howery, a founder of PayPal who is also a partner with Peter Thiel at Founder’s Fund. The Founder’s Fund put $500,000 into Facebook in late 2004 for 10% of the company, which depending on your estimates, now equates to an investment worth $8 billion.
There’s a handful of women friends as well and some odd accounts including Joe TheSlut and Old Exeter. There’s also, intriguingly for those who’ve seen the Social Network, a friend named Erica.
Perhaps if Zuckerberg isn’t interested in saving this bit of history, the Smithsonian ought to.
- In Praise of Friendster
- Malaysian Firm Buys Friendster (You Forgot Friendster?)
- Flailing MySpace Loses CEO, Death Spiral Continues
- Feb 4, 2004: You?ve Got a ?Friend? in TheFacebook
- College Facebook Mugs Go Online
- What I Learned From Friendster: Jonathan Abrams' New Startup
- Blogger Creates ?Risk?-like World Map of Social Networks
Ryan Singel covers tech policy, broadband, search and social networking for Wired.com.Follow @rsingel and @epicenterblog on Twitter.
Fanny and Alexander review 127 Hours review The Fighter review Rocky review Mary and Max review
No comments:
Post a Comment