We all know the story of how Friendster, one of the original stars of Social Networking, had a meteoric rise and then watched MySpace and Facebook steal all of their thunder…and traffic. However, even though Friendster has been relegated to the “2nd tier” of social networks they are still one of the top traffic generating websites online (see charts below) and are dominant in the highly coveted Asian marketplace – a region where MySpace and Facebook have yet to gain serious traction. So is Friendster poised for a comeback and ready to take on the giants of Social Networking? I wouldn’t go that far, but some interesting news came out today that might give some insight into their future plans.
First, IDG Ventures announced they will be investing $20 million into the 6 year old social network – a good chunk of change that will help Friendster continue to improve their product, infrastructure, traffic and staffing…which leads me to the next bit of news. Friendster announced the hiring of former Google Managing Director of Sales and Operation for South Eastern Asia, Richard Kimber, as their new CEO. Kimber obviously brings two skill-sets to the table, the ability to manage a large work force (he had around 1,000 people in his group at Google) and extreme familiarity with the Asian business and operational environment.
With money in the bank, a new leader but flat traffic growth, Friendster comes to a fork in the road. As I see it they can head into two directions: they can focus their attention and resources on the Asian market or they can try and re-enter the larger more lucrative markets in the United States and Europe. The hiring of Kimber definitely says to me that they want to continue focusing their attention on the Asian market where they have the strongest presence. This also makes the most business sense as there is no way they can win a head on battle with both MySpace and Facebook – they would need a lot more than $20 million to compete with the big boys.
So how big are they in Asia? Here are their top ten countries when it comes to sources of traffic:
- Indonesia
- Philippines
- Malaysia
- United States
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Japan
- India
- Canada
- United Kingdom
7 out of the 10 top sources of traffic for Friendster came from Asian / emerging countries with the top 3 being located in the Pacific Rim region. Looking at the list you can see that there is a great deal of room for growth within the Asian marketplace. Japan, South Korea, India and of course China are all areas that have serious growth opportunities when it comes to social networking. Friendster is probably the best, established, social networking service positioned to become the dominant player in those countries. This is where Friendster’s future lies.
So the question becomes what is Friendster’s fate? With the new money, new leader and the right strategy Friendster could become a dominate global social network – with the wrong strategy they can be stuck in the same “2nd tier” group as they have been in the past few years.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Apparently when you ask someone in the Philippines what the #1web site is they don’t say “Google” or “Yahoo”, they say “Friendster”.
Friendster is smart to ignore the NA / UK markets and focus on Asia.
I agree…somewhat. Freindster should establish themselves as the Asian Social Network of choice, but they should not ingore the US or European markets.