Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
SMILE with Friendster Final Logo
Finally! I have my event logo! Yippie!
SMILE (Socialize, Mingle, Interact, Link, and Engage) with Friendster is a socializing event for Friendster users and the people who are interested to join Friendster. It focuses on interaction between individuals as well as to get to know new people.
This will be the main event composed of activity booths and activity game booths, contests, prizes, band performances, celebrity guests and food station. Experience the SMILE Friendster brings to every Filipinos.
Slogan: "Coz everything starts with a smile!"
A smile is an expression denoting pleasure, happiness, or amusement. Happiness is most often the motivating cause of a smile. A flash of smile to another person can mean that the other person is interested to know you, likes you, thinks you're funny (in a good way), or can be a start of a good conversation. Its a good way to start interacting with the other person.
Virtually Filipino
MANILA, Philippines - It’s a fact: Pinoys love online social networking, with the most popular network in the Philippines being Friendster, hands down. The Friendster boom led to Filipinos creating accounts on other international social networking sites such as 
Almost all Internet users in the Philippines have a Friendster account. A study released by Universal McCann entitled “Power To The People—Wave3” established the Philippines as “the social networking capital of the world,” with 83 percent of the Filipinos surveyed reporting that they are members of a social network. They are also regarded as the top photo uploaders and web video viewers, and second in number of blog readers and video uploaders.
Filipinos have chosen certain online communities in addition to Friendster for a variety of reasons. Some have gravitated to MySpace because of the customizability of the pages. Others use Multiply to easily display and share photo albums with friends and family. Facebook is the fastest growing online social network in the Philippines. Filipinos who want to engage in a primarily Filipino social network with localized content are moving towards GrooveNet. Many Filipinos maintain accounts on these networks simultaneously and update them regularly.
This has also heralded the rise of online 3D virtual worlds, considered a more unique and even faster way to meet people and socialize online in real-time. Among the 3D virtual worlds, Second Life and There have caught the attention of Filipinos.
Second Life started out of California and opened its online world in 2003. A free client program, which can be downloaded from the Second Life website, enables users to interact with each other through avatars, virtual representatives of yourself in this 3D world, and engage in all sorts of activities, including commerce. Since its launch, Second Life has had over 15 million sign-ups and is currently the world’s overall most popular virtual world. However, it is difficult to say if there are more Filipinos in Second Life or in There.
Also founded in California around the same time as Second Life, There was launched locally by GrooveNet. There is also a free 3D virtual online community where members use their personal customizable avatar to chat with friends, meet new people and explore a massive online 3D world. In addition to chatting, It has various games, including paintball matches, buggy races, trivia and other contests.
There also has a dynamic in-world economy where members can design, trade and sell clothes, vehicles, furniture and any other 3D virtual items in its online virtual world. It provides a medium for users to show off their vast artistic and design talents, as they create virtual clothing, cars, even houses. There’s even a Developer Program for new and experienced designers, but any beginner can customize their online avatars to match their appearance, with over 500 customizable options for facial, body, and skin tone characteristics.
One of the most compelling features of both There and Second Life is the Voice Chat which enables the user to engage in Voice Chat with other members. As you speak, your avatar’s mouth, arms and hands move, giving you a more realistic experience while expressing yourself. Second Life and There are both connecting their avatars to their members’ profile pages, which ties in the traditional concept of online social networking to the virtual world. Each member’s profile page will not only represent that individual, but his or her avatar inside of There and Second Life. Once in-world, simply click on another member’s avatar and a web browser launches his profile page.
Both There and Second Life have Filipinos developing digital content for these virtual worlds. There is even a Cebu-based company called Avatrian which designs and develops products and services for 3D online digital worlds, with Second Life in focus. Avatrian primarily offers content creation services for companies and individuals seeking to establish a presence in Second Life. Avatrian believes virtual worlds and the activities within them are another form of reality, a new form that redefines the very concept.
This dynamic approach has earned Avatrian an innovative reputation, and these Filipino developers at Avatrian actually make real money aside from having a good creative experience.
“What started off as a just a group of Filipinos curiously tinkering around and exploring this virtual world grew into a serious and profitable venture which not only allows the Avatrian team to explore the creative potentials of this new environment, but also to actually earn a real living from it,” Avatrian Creative Director, Rodion Herrera, explains. “What we’ve done in the past 16 months has, in turn, also enhanced our ‘real selves,’ because the nature of immersing one’s self in a virtual world gives a creator or artist an additional unique vantage point of looking at creativity and its future, as the digital world of the internet and metaverse expands.”
Second Life may have more global members than There, and possibly more virtual objects created by Filipinos. There has its own virtual island called There Philippines, where one finds a lot of Filipino members putting up virtual houses, property and other objects while chatting away in Tagalog and Bisaya. Together, GrooveNet, There and its Pinoy community have literally put the Philippines on the “virtual map.”
Whether on Friendster, Facebook, Second Life or There, Pinoys continue to engage and thrive in online communities. The presence of Filipinos in online virtual worlds such as There and Second Life continues to grow, with Pinoys demonstrating their passion for the internet, online communication, sharing content and their artistic abilities, even by creating digital content.
Gregory Kittelson is an American national who has been living in the Philippines for six years. Gregory helped build two local start-up IT companies in Manila, FBM Software and FBM e-Services. In addition, he co-founded two Internet companies in the Philippines, Digital Media Exchange (Mobius) and GrooveNet. He now has a consulting company, Kittelson & Carpo Consulting focused on assisting foreign companies setting up outsourcing businesses in the Philippines.
Friendster Launching Support for Facebook Platform APIs
The Friendster launch is a big opportunity for Facebook application developers interested in Asian markets. Facebook developers will be able to easily port (most parts of) their Facebook applications over to Friendster with very little work, gaining access to Friendster’s audience of 57 million users. According to comScore, Friendster’s user base only has a 22% overlap with Facebook’s, so Friendster offers access to an audience largely untapped by most Facebook developers.
In addition, Friendster is less restrictive about which parts of the application can be monetized. Developers can put ads on any real estate they control, including the profile page.
Facebook Platform API categories that will be supported as of launch tonight include: users, friends, notifications, photos, FBML, FQL, authentication, requests, and profile. The news feed API will not be supported, but it will be in the future. Friendster’s Director of Marketing Jeff Roberto says that Friendster intends to keep its Facebook Platform implementation up to date with Facebook’s, but it will just take a little more time to initially get in sync.
“Our vision with the developer program is to build a very open platform and to make it easy for developers who have built on common standards like Facebook and OpenSocial to deploy on Friendster,” Roberto says. “We will maintain our Friendster APIs, Facebook APIs, and OpenSocial APIs.”
Friendster becomes the second major social network to license the Facebook Platform API under the Facebook Open Platform (fbOpen) initiative. Late last year, Bebo launched its platform using Facebook APIs, shortly before being acquired by AOL.
Friendster Supports Google Devfest and OpenSocial Developer Application Contest in South East Asia
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA and MANILA, PHILIPPINES– November 6, 2008 – Friendster, Inc., a top-20 global website based on traffic and the #1 social network in Asia*, today announced that it’s supporting developers throughout South East Asia by its participation in the Google DevFest tour and OpenSocial developer application contest in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Friendster’s support of DevFest and OpenSocial will help recruit more regional and local developers in Asia. Developers will learn how to build applications for over 85 million registered Friendster users globally and 62 million in Asia, the largest group of internet users on a single social network in Asia. Friendster applications built on OpenSocial APIs can also be deployed on other OpenSocial-enabled websites reaching hundreds of millions of Internet users worldwide.
Friendster recently launched support for OpenSocial as part of the Friendster Developer Program so individual developers and companies can easily use OpenSocial APIs to deploy their applications, or “apps,” on Friendster. OpenSocial applications on Friendster enrich the user experience by providing hundreds of new and interesting features for Friendster members to use and share. New features are added on a weekly basis.
These hundreds of new features created by third-party developers include music, games, 3-D avatars, virtual worlds and experiences, group chat, videos, photos, sports, TV shows, entertainment, and news and information. For the Friendster user, applications provide another way to connect with friends by using and recommending new applications. Developers interested in building applications for Friendster using OpenSocial and/or other APIs available via the Friendster Developer Program should visit: www.friendster.com/developer
“The first three events at Singapore Management University, Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, and Ho Chi Minh City’s University of Technology exceeded our expectations and were completely filled to capacity”, said Jeff Roberto, marketing and PR director at Friendster. “We’re looking forward to the final event this week in the Philippines as hundreds of South East Asia developers are showing up for each DevFest event, and their interest in developing OpenSocial applications for Friendster is at an all-time high. This is great news for Friendster, Friendster users and the other sites supporting the OpenSocial initiative, with many new and exciting applications launching shortly,” he said.
OpenSocial Developer Application Contest
To support the developer community and encourage innovation on the OpenSocial platform, Friendster and other OpenSocial partners from the DevFest tour are organizing an OpenSocial Application Contest for local developers to use their coding skills and creativity to build OpenSocial applications.
Prizes will be awarded to developers in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam whose applications are picked by a panel of judges, which includes representatives from Friendster. For each country, the top winner will receive a Nintendo Wii and three additional winners will get an Apple iPod Touch. In addition, the winners will have their OpenSocial applications promoted by Friendster and other OpenSocial partners from the DevFest tour to drive widespread user adoption on Friendster and other OpenSocial-enabled websites to hundreds of millions of Internet users worldwide.
Developers can register and submit their OpenSocial applications from November 15, 2008 to January 10, 2009. Entries are limited to three per person and will be evaluated on: creativity and user appeal; internationalization; use of other APIs; and use of App Engine for hosting files. Winners will be notified by January 26, 2009 and the contest results will be announced by February 6, 2009.
To register and to view additional information about the OpenSocial Application Contest, developers can go to: http://code.google.com/events/apacdevfest/contest
Friendster Leads in Asia and is a Top 20 Global Website
Friendster is the #1 social network in Asia, with over 62 million registered users and over 45 million monthly unique visitors from Asia.** In Asia, Friendster has more monthly unique visitors than any other social network. Plus, Asia is the largest market of Internet users (Asia has 38% of the world’s Internet users while the U.S. has only 22%), and Asia is the fastest growing region in the world. Friendster has a loyal and growing user base throughout Asia in the following top 10 countries for Friendster: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.
Friendster is a top 20 global website and the 3rd largest social network in the world in terms of traffic, serving 19 billion page views a month. Friendster is 1st in “user engagement” among the top five global social networks with users spending an average of 185 minutes per visitor per month on www.friendster.com.*
Friendster unveils new, friendlier features
In a round table discussion, Jeff Roberto, marketing director of the Friendster, unveiled before the media the latest features that makes the social networking friendlier than it has even been.
Roberto, in an interview with GMANews.TV, clarified that their upgrades are not driven solely by competition.
"Not all of it though. Not all other sites focus on the same languages, for one. Not all other sites are launching the same set of mobile features and launching them in the same order. So, part of it is driven on based Friendster's big markets and part of it is based on what other sites are doing," he said.
Among the Friendster features include:
* Integrated blogging experience
From its complicated, plain-and-dull blogging service, Friendster rolled out a new blogging scheme which is easier and more convenient to use.
Teaming up with WordPress-powered blogs, Roberto says Friendster blog now offers easy to navigate system that could help users unleash the writer in them.
However, not without pitfalls, some users still see Friendster blogs as slow in terms of uploading and editing blog posts compared to other sites.
* Friendster Developer Program
As an “open site," Friendster gives the developers leeway to enhance their creativity in terms of creating apps and widgets.
"We are open to all developers, and their applications help Friendster bring more traffic to our web site," says Roberto.
He added that Friendster Developer Program is unique because it allows advertisements, unlike in other social networking sites, to be placed anywhere on the profile page, which Roberto said is the most visited page of Friendster next to photos.
* Friendster mobile
It’s Friendster on the go!
This feature helps the user immediately tell the world what’s going on with him.
Roberto explains that Friendster mobile is an effective way of communication even if you are away from the computer. It’s a feature designed to keep users updated by retrieving updates, checking on what’s latest with their friends, approving requests and comments, uploading pictures, posting shout-outs and bulletins, and of course reading e-messages.
* Friendster text alerts
Like most text alerts, this feature comes with a fee.
Users pay per SMS received. Friendster's SMS registration page outlines the fees associated for users here in the Philippines on Globe, Smart and Sun.
* Fan profiles
It’s a program enhanced with promotional features, explains Roberto. Friendster Fan Profiles is a way for artist, bands, non-profit organizations, and even politicians to promote themselves through the site – for free.
It is also a way of “self-expression" by showing your contacts what organizations, celebrities, artists, and politicians you are fan of.
* Languages
With nine different languages, plus English, Languages feature helps the social networking site promote a “multi-cultural exchange and communication" among users globally. - GMANews.TV
Source: AIE BALAGTAS SEE, GMANews.TV
Friendster Expands Its Team, Offcies and Partners in Asia
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Friendster, Inc., a top 20 global website based on traffic and the #1 social network in Asia, today announced that it has further expanded its team, offices and partnerships in the Asia Pacific region and that it will continue growing its team and partners in Asia throughout 2009.
Friendster has opened up new offices in Singapore and Sydney, Australia. The Sydney office is where Richard Kimber, Friendster's CEO, is based along with new members of Friendster's marketing, sales and business development teams. The new Singapore office will also host sales, marketing and business development teams. Additionally, Friendster has a new U.S. global headquarters in Mountain View, CA which houses members of the executive staff along with employees in all departments. Friendster will continue to maintain and expand its office in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines. In operation since 2006, the Philippine office primarily houses engineering and operations, but it will expand to accommodate more direct sales and marketing staff in 2009. Since 2008, a majority of Friendster's employees are now located in the Asia Pacific region, and at least 80% of Friendster's new hires in 2009 will be based in Asia.
Narciso Reyes, Friendster's first-ever Philippines country sales manager, will head Friendster's sales efforts in the Philippines and will be based out of Friendster's local office in Makati City, Metro Manila. Reyes will focus on building new advertising campaigns and relationships with local advertisers and their agencies and recruiting a local sales team. Prior to joining Friendster, Reyes held senior sales roles at Google, Doubleclick and LycosAsia. He has more than 10 years' experience building successful online campaigns for leading brands globally.
In addition to Reyes and a growing direct sales team throughout Southeast Asia, Friendster has also expanded its reseller partnerships to a total of four agencies in the region that will help with local advertising sales efforts. All four resellers will complement Friendster's growing direct sales team.
Pixel Media, a leading advertising sales network in Asia, has been appointed the exclusive sales partner for Friendster in Singapore, where Friendster has 1 million monthly unique visitors.* Additionally, Pixel Media has been and will continue to be the exclusive sales partner for Friendster in Malaysia where Friendster has over 3.6 million monthly unique visitors.* Pixel Media will work closely with advertisers and agencies to deploy effective interactive marketing campaigns on Friendster in both countries.
In Indonesia, Admax, a leading website representation and digital advertising network of premier local and international sites in Southeast Asia, has been named the exclusive reseller for Friendster. Admax will work with local advertisers in Indonesia to launch their campaigns on Friendster, giving them access to Friendster's over 5 million monthly unique visitors in Indonesia,** a top-3 website and the #1 mobile site in the country.***
In the Philippines, Friendster has two reseller partners -- Havoc Digital and Yehey!. Friendster recently added Yehey!, a top Philippine portal and search engine, as a reseller. Havoc Digital has been a reseller partner of Friendster since August 2005. Friendster will work with both Havoc Digital and Yehey! to build award-winning, successful campaigns for advertisers in the Philippines where Friendster has over 13 million unique visitors** -- virtually the entire online population of the Philippines -- and where Friendster is a top-3 website and the #1 mobile site in the country.***
"The expansion of our team, offices and sales partnerships in Asia not only sets 2009 up to be an exciting year, but helps us pursue the necessary monetization opportunities available to Friendster in our core Asian markets," said Richard Kimber, CEO of Friendster. "As we move deeper into 2009, we will continue to build upon our direct sales, product, engineering, operations, marketing and finance teams to execute on our strategy and unwavering focus on Asia Pacific."
Leading the recruiting efforts for all offices worldwide is Xpand Group, a leading digital media recruitment services company in Asia. Xpand's clients include many of the world's leading corporations, financial institutions, technology vendors, digital media companies and systems integrators/consultancies. To view all open positions that Friendster and Xpand are recruiting for, please visit http://www.friendster.com/jobs/index.php.
Friendster Leads in Asia and is a Top 20 Global Website
Friendster is the #1 social network in Asia, with over 75 million registered users from Asia.** In Asia, Friendster has more monthly unique visitors than any other social network. Plus, Asia is the largest market of Internet users (Asia has 41% of the world's Internet users while the U.S. has only 19%), and Asia is the fastest growing region in the world.* Friendster has a loyal and growing user base throughout Asia in the following top 10 countries for Friendster: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.
Friendster is a top 20 global website in the world in terms of traffic, serving over 19 billion page views a month.* Friendster is also the leader in "user engagement" among the top five global social networks, with users spending an average of 190 minutes per visitor per month on http://www.friendster.com.*
About Friendster
With more than 95 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading global online social network. Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that are important to them. Online adults, 18 and up, choose Friendster to connect with friends, family, school, social groups, activities and interests. Friendster prides itself in delivering an easy-to-use, friendly and interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around the world via http://www.friendster.com or m.friendster.com from any Internetready mobile device. Friendster has a growing portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking, with more expected over the next several months. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Friendster is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, IDG Ventures and individual investors. For more information, visit: http://www.friendster.com.
*comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide and Singapore and Malaysia Country Data,
October 2008
**Google Analytics and Friendster Internal Data, November 2008
***Opera Mobile Report, October 2008
SOURCE Friendster, Inc.