Friendster: New Money Following Bad?

Has anyone ever climbed back from a plunge like the Friendster nosedive? I don't think so. But big money thinks so, with IDG Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Benchmark throwing $20M into the kitty.

[from Friendster Lives: New Cash, New Boss and a New Strategy? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog by Brad Stone]

It says it has more than 75 million users, though many who signed up in the early days have not used it for some time. It also says it is the top social network in Asia, with 33 million monthly unique visitors from the region -– twice the amount any other social network.

Beyond expanding in Asia, one clue to Friendster’s future plans may be found in its description of itself in this latest press release. Friendster “has a growing portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking, with more expected over the next several months.”

Perhaps they can capitalize on 33M Asian visitors a month, but I don't see them reemerging here because of that.

And the patent thing? Aren't we expecting that a lot of software patents might be unenforceable based on the new tack at the Patent and Trademark Office? Or maybe the VCs didn't hear about that.

Comments

[Dan Thornton]

With 33 million users in Asia, and possibly a lot more on the way, does it really matter if it makes it big in the Western world?

[Stowe Boyd]

Is 33M that many relative to other Asian social networks? Aren't they particularized (generally) by language groups? I think it will fall into the deadly middle ground, not big here and not big there, either.