Friendster
has accounted for a major dip in productivity in our office. Unlike previous social network building apps like sixdegrees or ryse there is something about it which is incredibly compelling.
Is it:
- The ease of use of the well-considered IA and user-interface?
- The photos?
- The “privacy of the mall” feeling of a private public place that you feel confidence in?
- The fact it’s not dressed up in “personal-productivity” speak and is just obviouslly about reinforcing and discovering social ties, and, ahem… dating?
Or all of the above. Go and explore it, using the beta code: “coke”. I’d be very interested in anyone’s views/criticisms.
I signed up after an invite from Azeem. Basically it’s Ryze but more overtly about dating. There is a ‘six degrees’ feel to it (find out friends of firnds) but I don’t think it’s that helpful. I gather I have 182 people in my personal ‘network’ but that’s just everyone I know who has friends of friends. Which is almost everyone. Pretty meaningless in other respects. Ryze had the same effect on me back in the Spring, but the magic wore off. I don’t think anyone has cracked this particular nut yet.
The personal network I’m part of now has 70 people in it, all only identifiable by their first name, interests and some very small photos. Even with friends I know quite well, its getting quite difficult to be sure I’m looking at the right person, or that they are who they say they are.
The problem seems to be that the system is totally self contained, with no references to the world outside, which means theres no sense of identity.
Without any links to the real world, theres no way this could scale, and even if it did it’d be pretty useless once the fun wore off.
So Matt, what email address did you sign up with?
Signed up when Brad invited me. I like it. It’s quite interesting and could be an interesting productivity tool as well for various students trying to find commonalities with other students…
Mlisa
I posted this on friendster:
Missed Opportunities?
I think they’ve missed a few opportunities here [Friendster], and I hope they can change this before the novelty of adding new friends wears off…
1 – Preferences for friend network. For instance, automatically filter people outside UK.
2 – Better visualisation of Friend network. Current map doesn’t scale well.
3 – More collaborative tools and networking forums. What if I’d like to organise an event for example?
4 – Better interfaces with existing online groups. i.e. Upload my buddy list, or let me store my other usernames so I can cross-reference with postings on epinions.
5 – Integrate with existing weblogs. Use RSS feeds to create a Friend Network integrated blog!
Fundamentally, I’m not yet convinced that Friendster gives me anything I’ll want to use 3 months from now.
I’m always interested to see aggregator, UI and business model design for such apps. And always dismayed when someone tries to be http://www.the-one-true-database-of-this-info.com. Maybe Microsoft, AOL, Google or Amazon could win at that game, but it strikes me as the wrong thing to strive for. Sixdegrees.com was cute, but it tried to be the one true database. We need a way to put the data back in the hands of the people it describes, and create a playground for a dozen different aggregators to interop and compete on UI, gadgetry, trustability…
I found Everyonesconnected a better site. Much more feature rich and it has something to keep you occupied and keep you returning to the site. I have been logged on to Everyonesconnected.com for some time now and the site is definitely growing. New features are always being added and it has functionality to suit most users. from fun with friends, to dating and making new friends. There have even been some parties throughout the UK.
Please, Andy, stop spamming the net with Everyonesconnected links wherever you find a mention of Friendster. Engage in a real discussion.
Sheesh.
I’m new to Friendster and it fits certain individuals’ appetite, but not mine. I think it can be a huge entity but not by itself. The Creators should work with other sites. Sorta like a network for social networking tools.
I like to sit back and watch the social evolution of the Internet. And ponder what can we think of next.
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