I'll admit it. I have Friendster nostalgia. It is the first social network I started using, back in 2003, and admittedly, I went on several Friendster dates. :)
But then, using it was like watching paint dry... it folded under its own weight, and got swamped by MySpace's speed and flexibility.
But the thing is, we may have forgotten Friendster, but few of us deleted our profiles on it. Friendster is still a huge social network... lying dormant... waiting.
Somewhere, there's a magic spell or a feature that will awaken the beast so that people find a reason to go back to it. Today, NewsCorp may have uttered the first words of that incantation by blocking Photobucket videos.
If I was at Friendster, I would put the PR and marketing pedal to the floor and announce support for Photobucket videos and play the "NewsCorp is big and evil" card to the max. Go scrape up a couple of viral videos, too.... whatever it takes. It's a chance to steal some thunder and capitalize on users' continued frustration with MySpace's control tactics on a site that gets more and more spammy everyday.
And while we're on the "if I was at Friendster" subject, it's pretty obvious to me that Friendster, in its current condition isn't really going to make an attractive purchase to anyone.... so why then, do they insist on maximizing revenue by making the site uncomfortably commercial? They're mixing True dating site profiles in with regular search results and Google Adsense ads wind up in the must awkward of places. It's a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. How much revenue could they possibly generate from their current userbase? Even if they do manage to break even, who would want to buy a barely profitable has-been?
Strip out the ads, get some killer features in there, and go on the marketing offensive... because now is the time to get in front of the "MySpace sucks" parade and lead it.