Daily Bits

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Friendster to Make a Comeback?

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Friend what? For sure, a considerable number of people still remember the “good old days” when Friendster was THE social network to be part of. However, actually admitting to being active on Friendster these days is something that I will not expect of a lot of people. For one reason or another, the popularity of this social network just spiraled downward – a fate that is not altogether alien to social networks.

I did read on the BBC today, however, that the people at Friendster are not giving up. The fact is that, while Facebook is the undoubted leader in the scene, Friendster is still alive. In Asia, especially, this platform is doing quite well. Friendster users in countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia are actually as many as Facebook users, believe it or not.

Having said that, experts believe that Friendster can get back on its feet. Last year, in December, MOL Global bought Friendster. MOL Global is known in Asia as the number one online payment solutions provider. With that kind of entity backing Friendster up, the site has actually grown in some ways.

Its interface has been changed to suit the times. Applications have been added, and games have been integrated. These changes could very well be what Friendster needs to draw the attention of users once again.

Today is the first time that I logged in to my Friendster account for a year or so, and lo and behold, my account is still alive! Even more surprising, my friends seem to be quite active. If their behavior is any indication, then perhaps Friendster will indeed make a comeback. Then again, if more people are like me, then I fear that Friendster has no hope at all.

Have you logged in to Friendster lately? What do you think? Will we be hearing more of Friendster or will it simply suffer a drawn out death?

Photo via PinoyAmbisyoso

Expert Gives Facebook Only 5 More Years

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Facebook is on a roll, isn’t it? In the past month or so, we have been hearing about all sorts of new features from THE social network platform. Some of the more recent ones include the Friendship Pages and Groups. And, just the other day, we heard about their “Gmail Killer.” So one would think that Facebook is here to stay – at least for a very very long time, right?

Not according to Dr. Jeffrey Cole, a digital consumer expert. If you’re doubting his prediction, bear in mind that this is the guy who said that MySpace would suffer the same fate (decline) four years ago. While MySpace is still around – I just logged in earlier to listen to some indie music – no one can deny that it is but a shadow of what it used to be. Oh, and check out Dr. Cole’s other credentials: Director of the Centre for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California and a director of the World Internet Project.

So Dr. Cole said that in five years, Facebook is going to be what MySpace is today. However, he states one major difference: there will not be a single social networking platform anymore. Instead, we are going to have many smaller communities.

His predictions are not limited to social networking platforms. He also mentioned that the iPad will be the last man standing in the realm of tablets – mainly thanks to the Apple brand – and that it will change the face of traditional print.

If his track record is anything to go by, we might just see his words becoming reality sooner than we think. Let me ask you though, do you think Facebook will be “gone” in 5 years?

Guess What the Top 10 Most Popular Facebook Apps Are?

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Come on, give it your best shot! I am sure, though, that even without having to really think, most of you will get the answer correctly. That ubiquitous FarmVille is still the King of Facebook applications – no surprise about that! The real-time simulation game where anyone can pretend to be a farmer has made addicts of countless people around the world. Indeed, there was a point when it was said that the number of Farmville farmers exceeded the number of farmers in the entire United States! Zynga really did hit a goldmine in that app! Furthermore, other popular Zynga games are scattered all over the top 10 most popular Facebook apps list – Texas HoldEm Poker, FrontierVille and Café World.

Here is something that might surprise you, though. Would you believe that the second most popular Facebook application is Microsoft’s instant messenger app, Windows Live Messenger? To be honest, I didn’t even know that there was an app for this, but apparently, since its launch in August, more than 10 million people have connected Facebook to Windows Live. Pretty impressive!

ReadWriteWeb posted the full list of top 10 Facebook apps yesterday:

  1. FarmVille
  2. Windows Live Messenger
  3. Phrases
  4. FrontierVille
  5. Texas HoldEm Poker
  6. Bejeweled Blitz
  7. Cafe World
  8. Mafia Wars Game
  9. Birthday Calendar
  10. Treasure Isle

Now try “scoring” yourself.  How many of these apps do you use on a regular basis?  I currently use 1 out of 10, but I have to be honest and say that I used to be a slave to app number 7 and app number 8.  And, no, I don’t play FarmVille. 😉

RockMelt: Do We Really Need Another Browser?

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What web browser do you use now? The chances are that you have at least three installed on your computer, and you probably don’t use all of them on a regular basis – unless you’re a developer, maybe. I have Firefox, Safari, and Chrome and really just use the first two.

That’s why, when I heard about RockMelt – “Your Browser. Re-Imagined.” – I couldn’t quite fathom the need for it. The main thing that they are focusing on is the fact that the browser is very tightly integrated with Facebook, as well as other social networking platforms.

At this point, you are probably thinking of Flock, which basically tried to do the same thing. Unfortunately, it didn’t really take off. Anyone among you using Flock these days? My point exactly.

Even experts seem to look upon this venture as something that might not take off. With the heavy emphasis on social browsing integration, there is not much to sustain whatever initial attention RockMelt might gain. The three big players – Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome – can easily add those features.

Still, we can’t deny that they might have something here. After all, social networking is really the “in” thing right now. Who knows, RockMelt just might change the face of browsing.

Call me a dinosaur or whatever you wish to, but I just don’t feel the urge to apply for a RockMelt account right now. If you do, visit their web site and apply for that RockMelt invite yourself. In the meantime, I shall visit Facebook using good old Firefox. 😉

So tell me, do we really need a re-imagined browser?

Facebook Friendship Pages: The Magic of Friendship or a New Stalking Tool?

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Yesterday, I got a Facebook notification that my cousin had “liked” what I posted on her wall the other day. Naturally, I clicked on the notification to check her wall out. One thing stood out immediately – a new link labeled See Friendship. I think what used to be there was See Wall-to-Wall.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I went ahead and clicked on the link. I swear, despite the initial misgivings about the use of the term friendship, I kept an open mind. This is what greeted me, and I just didn’t like it.

I guess the guys at Facebook have been really busy in the past weeks, haven’t they?  For some reason – specific reasons, actually – this Friendship Page thing just rubs me the wrong way.  Before I go into those reasons, let’s hear it straight from Wayne Kao, the guy behind this feature.  In a blog post, he narrates how he came up with the idea:

One of my favorite Facebook moments is browsing photos from friends in the News Feed after they’ve begun a new relationship, gotten engaged or gotten married. It gives me a fun and meaningful glimpse of the friendship between two people I know.

I realized that a similarly magical experience was possible if all of the photos and posts between two friends were brought together. You’d remember that first Wall post with your best friend or the funny photo from a night out. You may even see that moment when your favorite couple met at a party you all attended.

I guess there’s nothing really wrong with that. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s kind of cheesy! Still, some people wouldn’t mind having this kind of information accessible to them.

The use of the term friendship also doesn’t sit well with me. It’s a personal thing, so I really shouldn’t gripe about it, but couldn’t they have found another word?

What really bothers me is this: “You’ll be able to see a friendship page if you are friends with one of the people and have permission to view both people’s profiles.”

If you take a look at the right side of that screenshot, you can see Browse Friendships.  In short, you can view other Friendship Pages of people in your circle.

What this tells me is that they seem to have taken the compilation of information to a whole new level!  It freaks me out, even though I make it a point NOT to post anything on Facebook that I don’t mind anyone else seeing/knowing about.  Still, you never know.  Indeed, I am not the only one reacting this way – there is already a Facebook Page dubbed Opt Out of the FB Friendship Feature.  I am pretty sure there is a group that love the feature already, but I wish that we had the option to disable it as well.

Yeah, Facebook Friendship Pages can either showcase the magic that you call your friendship, or it can be one of the most convenient stalking tools online.  As for me, I don’t need Facebook to make me appreciate the magic in my friendships.  Please give us the opt out feature?

My Facebook Groups Experience: Head’s a-Spinning

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A week or so ago, we heard about Facebook Groups, one of the new features rolled out by the social network.  Some people were excited, some were skeptical, while others simply didn’t care.  To be honest, I read a bit about it and then totally threw the idea out of the window. I just couldn’t be bothered.

Over the weekend, I received two notifications that caught my eye – I was added to groups by friends.  I didn’t really pay any attention until this morning, and I what I experienced made my head spin.  Seriously.

This is one of the groups I was added to:

So what’s up with the “Secret Group” tag?  When someone creates a Group, he or she can set it to secret so as to hide it from everyone else. Duh. Seriously, though, this setting is perfect for those who are really careful about their privacy.  People who are not in the group cannot “see” it anywhere, and they have to be invited by someone else who is already in that group.  This brings up an interesting flaw: if anyone can add friends to the group, doesn’t this defeat the purpose of keeping security tight?  I think that to make this more efficient, only administrators/creators should be able to “approve” membership.

Another thing that made me go “wut?” was the way people in groups can interact.  The Group’s page is pretty much like any other page or wall on Facebook, but when posting comments, there does not seem to be a button to click – just hit ENTER.  More so, there isn’t a way to delete your comment.  What if you made a grammar mistake??? Seriously, what if you want to change what you just posted?  You can, however, unsubscribe to a specific post if you don’t want to receive notifications regarding it anymore.

Last thing I tried was the chat.  It’s basically a group chat, with all the online members receiving the messages.  I think it is still buggy (when is Facebook Chat not buggy anyway) as it does not show the members who are online.  When I sent a message, though, they received it and a chat session was begun. (Bear with me with all those black boxes, please.)

So why is my head spinning?  I guess because no one in the Group really understood what it was for.  We do have a binding factor, but as of the moment, no one can figure out what we can use the Group for.  We will figure this out somehow, but I don’t see the need for it right now.

Anyone care to share their Facebook Groups experience?  Is it working out for you guys?