Love-it-and-hate-it site Friendster gets an investment of $1 million, which will go to improving the infrastructure (servers, enhancing user experience), according to founder Jonathan Abrams. An analyst with eMarketer, Ross Rubin, says, "One benefit of [Friendster's business] model is the 'eBayity' of them. It's low overhead. The category is also rife with opportunities for Web services to create a kind of personal portal. And they haven't really tied into the whole blogging craze yet. It's a good match. But for most people, I think they can run out of steam. eBay, for example--I know people who went through an eBay addiction phase, but then it became just another channel for hard-to-find goods. On Friendster, there will be the curious rush. But then what do you use it for, unless you have copious idle time?" This Rubin sounds like a stiff - has he never been tempted by some stupid fad before?
Abrams also tells CNet that while Friendster will roll out subscription/pay services, some parts of the site will remain free and that new features like instant messaging will be introduced later. Oy. Given the messages we get, we hope the instant messaging function will have a "block" option.
Gothamist on writing your first Friendster message and Friendster protocol.
