Friendster – Social Networking For Adults

Social networking is all the rage, allowing friends and groups to connect, chat, share photos and videos along with the details of their daily lives. Friendster is one of the oldest social networks, with more than 75 million members both in the US and in Asian communities around the world. Founded in 2001, Friendster is a social networking site aimed at people over 18, who communicate and share the things that are important to them. To get started, you can import your friends from one of several popular email providers.

Like other social networks, the key element of participating in Friendster is creating a profile. You can upload a photo, add details about your age, location and interests and even keep your own blog. Friendster does not allow explicit content and aims to provides a clean social networking environment. It also includes privacy controls that limit who can see your full profile and allow you to block individual users or users from certain countries. If you want to connect with real friends while cutting down on spam, then Friendster will suit you.

Practical Uses

• Update friends and family around the world with news and photos about your life
• Promote local events
• Create a social network around an interest or hobby using the groups feature
• Use your blog to showcase your creative work

Insider Tips

• Recommend music, movies, books, TV shows and vacations by writing a review
• Add one of hundreds of applications to your profile for increased functionality
• Make friends easily by completing your profile fully and by browsing the groups section to find people who share your interests
• If you’re tech savvy, use HTML and CSS formatting to make your profile page more attractive

What We Liked

• It’s very easy to sign up and get started with setting up a profile
• The privacy controls are excellent
• By default, a search for friends and groups will start with your home location
• There were no approaches from questionable friends or noticeable spamming

What We Didn’t Like

• Friendster does not guide you through the site when you first sign up
• The default profile page is very plain

Alternatives

• MySpace – http://myspace.com
• Facebook – http://www.facebook.com

Company Info

• Launched: January 2001
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
• Founded by Jonathan Abrams
• Website: http://www.friendster.com

Costs

• Free (ad supported)

Rating

• 4 out of 5 (great)