Friendster's not a business
With Friendster pulling down dough likes it's 1999, it bears repeating that there's no business here. Social netowrks are useful when they're small and you actually know the people! Asseting that people will learn to use these systems just like they learned online dating is guessing, not informed enlightenment.
John Paczkowski very accurately nails it:
Stephan Paternot still waiting for call back from Friendster recruiter: Is Friendster this year's theglobe.com? It really looks like it. The "social networking site" has no revenue-producing services whatsoever. It hasn't even officially launched yet. But that hasn't stopped it from banking $13 million in VC financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Benchmark Capital. The company is now valued at around $53 million, which is quite a bit less than theglobe.com was worth in 1998. But Friendster hasn't gone public -- yet. "Does it feel like 1999 again?" Andrew Anker, a general partner with August Capital, asked in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "In social networking, yes. I haven't seen anything like this in four years. It's very bubblesque."
