Flutterby™! : not Friendster

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not Friendster

2003-12-30 16:54:10.755763+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

I still haven't found value in Friendster[Wiki], but a few folks have obviously found value in it, and many are frustrated that Friendster[Wiki] keeps subverting some of the mechanisms that thy've ben using to bypass the lack of grouping capabilities. If you're looking for alternatives, Kelly passed along not Friendster.

[ related topics: Sociology Net Culture Social Software ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: not Friendster made: 2003-12-31 18:17:36.205083+00 by: other_todd

I'd like some links to substantive criticism of Friendster, if anyone can provide a few. By substantive I mean "not just from people who have been burned by fakery, who can't get the dates they hoped they were going to get, etc."

I've been playing around with Google a bit and I've seen some critiques of the inevitable and impending commercialization of the service, but very few real comments on a sociological level, i.e. we have this huge mass of people so desperate for a way to CONNECT that they put faith in what most of them have to admit, in their more self-aware moments, is a flawed attempt to do so. There's something in that which frightens me.

#Comment Re: not Friendster made: 2003-12-31 19:52:43.033735+00 by: Dan Lyke

I think the most substantive critiques of Friendster[Wiki] are by people who have created fictional entities in an effort to make connections. I got a friend request from someone claiming to be "Burning Man", answering that got me a lot of like-minded people, of course until that name got killed for being fictional. Similarly, there was a "North Bay" entity for a while.

The issues with Friendster[Wiki]'s tight control over fictional entities is that they don't have a mechanism to replace that, to offer links between people that are other than social.

#Comment Re: not Friendster made: 2004-01-05 19:57:29.931138+00 by: Zach

I just added Jesus as my friend. He should be all of our friends.

Actually, other than being able to contact an ex-girlfriend, I've found the site usless. Of course, maybe that's because I've got a ladyfriend already.