Does anyone remember Friendster? Better yet, does anyone still have a Friendster account? Deemed "the social network pioneer", Friendster began in 2002- and that's pretty much it. It began in 2002.
For some reason, Friendster was just a tad too early to enjoy what would become a social media boom- then again, MySpace hasn't really fared any better. It has been the subject of nigh infinite malign ever since its inception- including one my favorites by the Onion- which will now be just as outdated as its subject:
Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of 'Friendster' Civilization
Evidently Friendster hasn't been doing that badly, as it managed to raise almost $50 million in venture capital and was subsequently acquired by a Malaysian firm, MOL Global for possibly $40 million in 2009.
Much like MySpace>>, Friendster is repositioning as an "entertainment and news site" (I wonder if at some point there's going to be some kind of internet elephant graveyard for social-networks-turned-entertainment-news-sites) apparently geared toward Asian people. Oddly racist, but sensible considering its acquisition by a Malaysian company.
If you still have a Friendster account and you actually care about the data, you already received an email telling you that you can use a handy "Exporter App" to get all of your data out of there before it goes kaboom.
HEY FACEBOOK WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF YOU DID THAT TOO. JUSSAYIN'.
