Sensible Netnonsense

Friendster still in top form in the Philippines

Aug 4, 2009 10:20

First of all, let me begin with this disclaimer: This is not PR for Friendster. Lol. I am, however, going to share with you some of the news and insights we've been receiving for the past week or so, in light of Friendster's latest activities and milestones. And people wonder why we call the Philippines, the Friendster capital of the world... here's why.

Traffic ranking

In terms of of traffic ranking (and again this is based on Alexa), Friendster is still at the top--No. 2 most visited Web site as of today (No. 1 being Yahoo mainly because of Mail and Messenger). Facebook has reached the No. 3 spot by leaps and bounds, immediately overtaking Multiply and even YouTube
A few months ago, Multiply was still ahead of Facebook, and YouTube was at the No. 3 spot (I am still a bit iffy about Google's ranking though, because Google.com.ph is on position 4, while Google.com is at position 6... if combined, does that mean Google's Web presence is significantly larger?).

Worldwide ranking clearly shows that Yahoo and Facebook are way above Friendster, which has been struggling at the 80-100 spots, and has been slowly faltering over the past few months. Facebook's been at position 3 and 4 worldwide for the past few months already, while Yahoo's been at a constant No. 2 position all year. So, again in terms of worldwide, Friendster isn't as strong and has been dipping.

But not in the Philippines. Checking the records over the past year, Friendster has remained the No. 2 most visited Web site by Filipinos since the late 2007, and has been unseated only a few times (i.e. YouTube outranking it a couple of times). That's a very strong showing for a social-networking site that's been around for nearly a decade and that hasn't really shown much in terms of change and upgrades.

Friendster moving with the times... albeit slowly
One thing I can say about Friendster--what it was when it began years ago, is still pretty much what it is today. Sure, there have been numerous tweaks, such as creating the homepage feed, making functions and offering more user-friendly and Web 2.0 features, but the overall look and feel of Friendster, especially the Profile pages, haven't changed much.

Only recently has Friendster been exploring the world of apps, and thus far this has been mildly successful. Although most apps have been useful mainly for improving the person's Profile page, i.e. adding a photo gallery or video segment, embedding playlists and songs, and so on and so forth, there hasn't been any functional app that has been successful enough to blow into the mainstream user base of Friendster in much the same way Facebook has. And a lot of times the messaging for these apps has only ever been labeled as SPAM.

Friendster has also been plagued by tons of bogus accounts and botters where real users are being left with SPAM in their inbox by hacked or fake accounts and also left testimonials for Web cam chat and viewing at some notorious Web site. So from time to time, one wonders if the Friendster traffic actually counts for real usage.

Nevertheless, Friendster has made headway in terms of improving the stability of its service. I remember back in the day, a lot of people went nuts over the slow load times and constant  loading errors of Friendster. Sure, it still happens today, but not as much anymore. The service has significantly improved and has made surfing and browsing through profiles more stress-free. Even the upgrades in terms of its photo galleries and number of contacts were quite the newsmakers in its prime--I remember before that Friendster could allow up to only a certain number of photos per profile (like less than 20 or something) and a maximum of 500 contacts. Today, you can easily upload thousands of photos organized into albums while being able to add as many as 1,000 contacts. And of course, there's the addition of Fan profiles, where Friendster celebs and celebs in general can actually have tens of thousands of contacts (or fans) in their account.

What's new on Friendster?
First, there's advertising.



Last July 29, Friendster released news of its latest project, the Friendster "Do It Yourself" (or DIY) Ads. It's pretty much what it's called--do-it-yourself ads. You can start off with simple text ads or upload your own Mrec/Billboard ads (250 x 300-pixel ads most commonly seen in Friendster Profile pages) and pay for the impressions. It'll set you back roughly US$0.35 CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) for worldwide traffic and around US$0.25 for the Philippines-only traffic. That's around 18 pesos for worldwide and 12 pesos for local. But considering the volume traffic of Friendster, buying only a thousand impressions even for a day... you'd be lucky if you actually saw your ad. Based on previous experience, for your Friendster ad to be highly visibile, you'd have to buy around 5 million impressions or higher for a week... that's roughly US$1,750 or more, or around 85,000 pesos. Ouch.

Although in my fiddling around with the DIY Ads page, I saw a lot of promise for the service, especially since you could target your ads to a more specific audience and demographic, i.e. region down to the city they're in, age bracket, and so on. As is with most DIY ad placements online, this type of customization and targeting will greatly enhance your ad placement and give you more bang for your buck. Now, if only Friendster's historical CTRs (click-through rates) were better... but that's another story and a whole different review altogether.

Second, there's the community building.



I just got an invite for the first-ever Friendster Grand EB dubbed Pinoy Friendster Day which will be on August 15, 2009, at the SM Mall of Asia. It looks to be an enormous event as it targets ALL Friendster users in the Philippines and is looking to hit a world record! Now, you will remember all my talks and blogs about Pinoys being number one in the world when it comes to social-networking activities. This Grand EB will most likely put the country on the map again AND put the whole social-networking phenomenon into context.

Based on the PR and posters I've received about the event, it will be at 4pm onward, and there will be well-known local bands playing throughout the event. There will also be tons of side events with lots of giveaways, so be sure to bring a loot bag when you go there.

Best of all, admission is free! All you have to do is print out and bring along this ticket here, and you'll be able to join in all the fun.

Now, I wonder how big the crowd is going to be. Considering the venue itself can't hold more than 5,000 people, if Friendster is looking to break some sort of world record, I'm pretty sure it's going to need a much larger area than that. And since the whole thing's going to be free... I'm wondering how it is able to track attendance.

The "Friendster Phenomenon"
In true form, Friendster has made itself a landmark in Philippine pop culture. It's already embedded in this generation's vocabulary, making it the strongest social-networking site in the country today. Even with Facebook nipping at its heels, it looks like Friendster will stay dominant at the top for a while longer, mainly because of how familiar it already is with Filipinos. And historically, Web sites that have succeeded in the country in the past are those that got popular here first, and Friendster is a classic example.

Now, how much longer can Friendster keep Facebook at bay? Well, only time will tell. With increasingly more users being lured in by the promise of yet more alternative ways to waste time on the Web (case in point, apps like Mafia Wars, Restaurant City, Farm Town, and YoVille), unless Friendster can produce its own brand of usable apps, Facebook will pretty soon overtake the leader. Even then, I don't think Friendster will lose its place in the Top 5. Like I said, only time will tell.

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