Now that Friendster is apparently going to reformat (why even bother though?) and will delete all user content by May 31, it seems that the pioneering social networking site that eventually turned into one of the biggest online failure stories of all time has all but thrown in the towel. Apparently, people in Southeast Asia were the only ones who wanted to stay on Friendster; 80 percent of the network’s 116 million users are from the region. But trampled by Facebook and abandoned by people who were too embarrassed to be associated with Friendster to maintain their accounts, the site became the butt of jokes—the hiding place of jejemons.
The site gained notoriety for breeding users who were fond of uploading skeevy-looking photos such as these. This was one of the first results when I checked Google Images for Friendster.
I remember first hearing about the site (and getting an account) in October 2003, during my first shoot for Seventeen. Two other girls from the Teen Advisory Board that we were part of then, Elaine and Dette, were excitedly talking about it. We got makeovers, posed for the camera, and blew air kisses at each other afterwards. “Add me on Friendster!” Dette called out. When I got home, I got an account right away.
It was a great way to catch up with old friends and stay connected to people I didn’t see much, but it turned into a stalker’s dream. Stalkers were suddenly caught red-handed when someone at Friendster had the bright idea of putting that “Who viewed you” feature. Somewhere along the way, “Friendster mo ako” and “testi,” short for testimonial (let’s all admit it, it also sounds like testicles) became catchphrases, and the numbers of friends racked up. Somewhere along the way, Friendster suddenly became passé, and people started deleting their accounts. Then Facebook came up.
When Friendster unveiled their new logo, no one cared anymore; they’d all moved to Facebook or Twitter. Friendster became good only for digging up old mementos of the past—that is, if you hadn’t deleted your account yet.
A deeper search on Friendster Google image results led me to this:
Starring Kim Chiu as a pre-teen, with someone's feet in the background
I’m pretty sure the current (image-conscious) Kim Chiu would love to have those old Friendster photos taken down. Too bad for cyberfootprints!
Greetings in the most precious name of the LORD
GOD Bless
Thank you for your time and effort
How are you please?
Hope we will be good friend
Take good care of yourself
Best regards to your beloved family
I think there’s nothing to be ashamed of. The old photo of the young Kim Chiu is pretty and cute. very refreshing face actually