[BRIEF NOTE] On Friendster

[rfmcdonald]

Friendster, pre-Facebook in its origins though it might be, is doing well enough that it's remained a desirable commercial property.

Online social networking pioneer Friendster has accepted a buyout from Malaysia-based MOL Global, the companies announced Thursday, saying the site would shift into e-commerce.

Friendster, which made its debut in 2002, was widely used to share videos, photos and messages before its popularity was challenged by the emergence of mighty competitors like Facebook. Its users are now mostly in Asia.

Under the new deal, the California-based Friendster will be fully acquired by MOL Global, an affiliate of online payment firm MOL Access Portal which is controlled by Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan, they said in a statement.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

"The new combined entity gives Friendster the kind of financial backing, retail distribution, and e-commerce infrastructure that will enable us to accelerate our strategy," Friendster chief executive Richard Kimber said.

[. . .]

MOL chief executive Ganesh Kumar Bangah said the merger will allow the site to transform into a combined "social media site and online marketing channel with an integrated payment platform" that also offers games, goods and music.

I never had an account on friendster and dismissed the site as an also-ran, but it turns out that--as Digital Media Watch's Scott Goldberg observed back in 2007--a social networking site doesn't have to have its users concentrated in North America to be a success.

Friendster receives less than 6% of its overall traffic in the US, making it the 78th most popular site here. Not bad, but compared to MySpace (the 3rd most popular US site) and Facebook (7th), the death knell calls become more understandable. So where does Friendster get its eyes? According to Alexa, its traffic percentages by country are:

Malaysia: 23.6%

Philippines: 22.1%

Singapore: 17.9%

Indonesia: 14.3%

U.S.: 5.8%

So Friendster has succeeded in attracting traffic from Southeast Asia, but how popular is it within those countries? Huge, apparently. It’s the second most popular site in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Singapore. Who does it trail in all four? Yahoo. Who falls just behind it? Google, YouTube, and MSN, to name a few.

According to the LA Times, Friendster counts 87% of the Philippines’ 8 million internet users as customers.

[. . .]

So how has Friendster managed to succeed so far from home? Jeff Roberto, Friendster’s marketing director, said the company’s San Francisco location has helped. With a large Southeast Asian population there, he says Frienster was used in its heyday of 2002-2003 to maintain contact with family and friends at home. The site stuck with folks at home, and has remained popular since.

Good for friendster. Managing the local dominance that Orkut achieved in Brazil is no small thing.