The death of society… or networking sites.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about social networking sites and the impact it has on the cyber generation. From Friendster to Multiply to Facebook, it’s no surprise that these website are fast influencing communication channels between the society now.
In fact, this mad flood of sites can be pretty disconcerting, especially since we keep getting email invites in our mailbox daily.
The first social networking site I joined was Friendster. And I only registered out of sheer peer pressure.
A couple of months back, I interviewed the marketing manager of Friendster when he dropped by Singapore (I can’t, for the life of me, remember his name. And I can’t seem to find him on the Friendster website). It was a profile article for the magazine I write for. It was pretty much an eye-opening conversation.
He told me that although Friendster is a Californian company, the majority of its users are Asian. And a majority of that percentage is made up of Singaporeans. I asked him what could be the reason for this, and to put it simply, he explained that it was sheer luck.
Friendster was possibly one of the pioneers of social networking sites, yet it never evolved to the same popularity as MySpace or Facebook. A possible reason for this is that Friendster got lost amidst the dearth of the other websites. While MySpace targetted musicians, Facebook aimed at colleges, and Multiply strived to be all-rounded, Friendster stuck its ground to be a website that connected friends.
But it would be naive of me to assume that Singaporeans are attracted to the integrity of Friendster.
Right now it seems that the current phase of obsession in Singapore is attributed to Facebook. It’s addictive nature is well documented. And it surprises me how EVERYONE seems to be on Facebook… more so than Friendster. Even a lecturer from my alma mater has just invited me as a “friend”.
