I was interviewed by PBS Mediashift associate editor Jennifer Woodard Maderazo about social networking sites and how Friendster has found its home in the hearts of millions of Filipinos (read article here: Orkut, Friendster Get Second Chance Overseas).
One of the questions she asked me (though it wasn’t included in that article) was whether Friendster had any competition for Filipino’s attention online. I replied nothing came close and even the well-funded start-up Eskwela.com didn’t made a dent.
But why? Have the online Pinoy really stuck it out with Friendster?
- The one main reason I can think of is the first mover advantage — first come, first served. Had Orkut came out first, maybe we’re all fighting it out with the Brazilians on the top spot.
- Everybody’s already there, so why move out? Since Friendster came out first and droves of people, friends, long lost classmates, and officemates are all in your Friend’s list, its gonna be hard moving to a new service without them in tow.
- The Friendster clones actually helped the brand and the marketing — Prendster, Fwendz, etc. — nothing beats recall if a dozen other sites you go to reminds you of the original one.
If some people say Friendster sucks, then why haven’t the 5 Million Filipinos moved over to say Facebook or MySpace? Your guess is as good as mine.
Yes, in our country, it is usually first-come-first-served. Filipinos are not fond of migrating to a new service because all their friends are not fond of migrating themselves. In a group of 10, it must be at least half who must migrate to say MySpace.com before the other half even consider doing the same.
the thing with social networks is its like the next big fashion craze. you’re only in it depending on who else is wearing that shirt.
though friendster was the first mover, i believe that other services such as multiply and pretty soon, facebook are dominant players as well.
also, i found it weird that multiply didn’t come up in the interview for PH-favored social networking services. what does this mean? i guess it means that the westerners arent aware of that phenomenon because it was overshadowed by myspace and facebook.
AMEN to reason #2…
ayoko na lumipat sa myspace.
I hate friendster! So over rated, even though may account ako dun I’d rather stay on Multiply.
And one thing na napansin ko dun eh some are somewhat mang-mang sa ibang bagay online for them to try lalo na yung walang computer at home with internet. Biro mo sa internet shop puro friendster ang ginagawa ng lahat sa U-belt parang friendster lang ang buhay nila dun LOL! ^^,
Dalawa lang alam nilang gawin gumamit ng Word at Friendster…yung iba nga hindi pa maalala yung mga email add password nila eh. Nyahaha! Nakakaloka!!
Twitter: filipinovoices
says:
I wrote about this a while back, maybe you guys would be interested on my take. Although I think your first point with regards to Friendster already being first to establish a market here in The Philippines is the key reason.
You can read my Friendster article here
Twitter: mparazgmail.com
says:
I don’t grow my Friendster network anymore, but I go there for “background checks” on people. Multiply doesn’t have complete profiles of people.
I’m not on Facebook – I got an invitation but there’s no compelling reason for me to join. Perhaps that compelling reason would be their apps platform?
But, some people don’t want to be found. I hear of people deleting their Friendster accounts.
On a related note, it seems that LinkedIn usage is growing. Good!
Well, add to the fact that “friendster” has already become a part of our dictionary. Even if you’re on Multiply, you’ll still find yourself saying “Friendster kita sa multiply?”
ang yabang mo nmn L.A., porket may computer k lang sa bahay at net connection eh kung manlait k kala mo kaw n ang pinaka malupit n java guru. pwe!
I agree. friendster came first. And what is wrong with being stuck with friendster? Americans are stuck with mySpace and they don’t question why are they stuck with myspace. facebook came and took a little share of the market because of their tv infomercials.
There was an interview before on a Tv show called Convergence (at ch. 25), they were talking about myspace and friendster and most of the interviewees are fil-americans. They keep an account on both sites, friendster for their pinoy friends and myspace for their american friends.
if not only for google, friendster would be the supreme networking site.
It’s not that we’re stuck with Friendster. Some of us merely experimented and got surprised when we found out that our middle-aged barkada mates also had Friendster accounts.
“Bakit ka may Friendster?” I asked my kumpare.
“Yung anak ko kasi, may Friendster…”
(The new batch of Pinoys trying out social networking sites are now also checking out Facebook.)
Its because ITS FRIENDSTER.
Friendster is cool. I maintain an account there. The reason why pinoys are so addicted of friendster is because of the word of mouth liek oi pre check mo friendster ko ang kulet. Pinoys are actually promoting friendster.
actually when youre bored at work. You can find yourself staring at somebody’s friendster account. Or probably uploading a picture. Unlike Myspace in the other hand doesnt have a pinoy feel in it. and oh yeah you can never find your former classmates in myspace but you can find him/her in friendster.
2 things that I’ve learn since I started using the internet since 96. have an email and have a friendster account.
friendster is less “sosyal” ba? it serves it purpose, for me that is. and that’s all that matter.
JC has a point, filipinos are used to staying put. friendster has everything that filipinos need. and also another point is that, you go where your friends are. i’m tired, i hope i’m making sense.
[...] YugaTech asks why Filipinos seem glued to Friendster. [...]
I believe your reasoning holds true, Yuga. Similar to Yahoo! Although Yahoo comes second to Google, I still see more people use the former instead of the latter. In terms of email, I myself use both Yahoo and Gmail, but to be honest with you, I prefer the user-friendliness of Yahoo (or is it because I’m already too familiar with the Yahoo interface?) Hmmm.
AnitoKid at http://www.anitokid.blogspot.com
The spirit of Friendster has Filipino spirit in it…
Its been developed by some Filipino.
I like Facebook better than Friendster. Friendster is more like Family oriented site. Facebook is more on Career and business.
It’s simply because of network effects which a few people have suggested here, though indirectly. There’s no value in signing up for a new social networking site unless your friends are there and potential new contacts are also there.
You’re right on all points Abe.
Cloning will not go that far. From the beginning, I knew eskwela will not go that far. I have no idea what this cloners are thinking.
there a Filipino version of friendster called oyeye? anyone heard about it. Created as a project for school I think then became popular for some reason.
Yabang – Masama bang mag sabi nang totoo? Eh kung mang-mang naman talaga sila on other things around the web hindi naman kasi lahat sa web lang ang buhay. Tsaka ano bang mayabang dun? That’s one thing na napansin ko sa from it, am not telling na am the java guru! LOL!
My main account is Friendster, then followed by Multiply, Eskwela, Myspace etc…
But i’m starting to like Eskwela if i talk about searching for former classmates, or ex-officemates.
freakin’ friendster
Friendster works and so I stayed. Why keep moving when my purpose of keeping in touch is served?
Thanks for this post, by the way.
Friendster works and so one stays with what works.
Thanks for this post.
For me migrating to another service is remembering another username and password, that’s why I’m wondering why other people has friendster, myspace, facebook etc… One is enough for me