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Friendster to launch mobile text alerts in Asia

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Friendster, Inc. announced that its users in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines will soon be able to subscribe to Friendster Text Alerts, a full suite of alerts covering activity in their Friendster network, sent directly to their mobile devices via SMS text messages. Friendster Text Alerts is Friendster’s second mobile offering and complements its mobile site, m.friendster.com, launched in May 2008.

Friendster users can subscribe to receive text message alerts for friend requests, new messages, comments, bulletins and more. When such activity takes place within their network of friends on Friendster, they will receive an SMS text message on their mobile phone. Users will also be able to share and communicate by sending a text message to Friendster to update content on their profile, such as shoutouts and bulletins, send messages, and reply to friend requests.

Originally posted on June 26, 2008 @ 10:38 am

Friendster now in Malay

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Friendster, Inc. announced that it is now available in Malay, allowing its users and visitors a greater choice of languages with which to navigate the site, enter content and use Friendster’s complete set of social networking features. There are 15 million Internet users in Malaysia and Malaysians around the world.

Friendster now fully supports nine languages – English, Malay, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. These languages represent over 70 percent of the world’s Internet users, or almost a billion Internet users in total.

In Malaysia, Friendster has over 4 million monthly unique visitors to Friendster.com as of April 2008. It is the most popular online social network in Malaysia, according to a recent analysis of industry data.

I still think that Friendster is failing in keeping up with other social networks, like MySpace and Facebook. A focus outside the U.S. is a good move, however.

Originally posted on June 18, 2008 @ 9:58 am

Userplane’s Webchat now top application on Friendster

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Userplane announced that Webchat 2 is now the number one application on the Friendster open platform. Webchat 2 is a chat software that enables real-time text messaging and streaming voice/video communication.

Easily integrated and fully scalable, Userplane’s Webchat 2 facilitates rapid deployment of centrally hosted chat rooms on web communities such as Friendster. Userplane joined the Friendster Developer Program in December, and since the number of users adopting the chat app has steadily increased. Known simply as “Chat” in the Friendster’s widget library, Userplane’s app was used by nearly 800,000 members last month.

The Webchat 2 suite includes Minichat and Userplane Money, a revenue-sharing platform that pays when it is used. In addition to Webchat 2, Userplane is launching its own apps within the Friendster application directory to support audio and video chatting for all users.

Originally posted on March 3, 2008 @ 8:03 am

Userplane announces participation in Friendster Development Program

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userplane.pngUserplane announced the launch of Webchat 2 on Friendster’s global social network, using the new Friendster Developer Program.

Userplane Webchat is easily integrated and fully scalable, enabling rapid deployment of centrally hosted chat rooms. Key features include Minichat – a lightweight, fully skinnable chat output pane – and Userplane Money, a revenue-sharing platform that pays when it is used. Userplane recently announced that it has paid out more than $500,000 in six months to its partners, who have signed up with the Userplane Money program.

The Friendster Developer Platform was launched to enable developers and companies around the world to have secure and managed access to a set of APIs to Friendster data. These APIs provide seamless integration points within the Friendster web site to create and integrate compelling applications for Friendster’s more than 56 million users. The Friendster Developer Program provides developers the greatest freedom to monetize applications, and a completely open platform supporting existing and emerging standards. As a result, applications can be easily deployed on and off Friendster for Friendster users, and dynamic, new, compelling features can be created by developers via user-approved, easy access to user information and Friendster social network data.

Friendster’s application directory can be viewed at www.friendster.com/widgetdirectory

Originally posted on January 9, 2008 @ 4:45 pm

Friendster deploys Developer Program; Launches directory of 180 applications

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friendster1.pngFriendster, Inc. launched a directory of over 180 applications, enabling its more than 56 million global users to easily discover, add and use applications on and off the Friendster.com website. These applications, called “widgets” throughout the industry, have been integrated into the Friendster user experience by developers leveraging Friendster’s Developer Program, released as a pilot program on October 25, 2007 and now fully deployed.

To date, six companies have piloted the Friendster Developer Program in the last several months including Rockyou, Slide.com, Clearspring, Imeem, Jangl, and Gbox.

Originally posted on December 11, 2007 @ 3:04 pm