Competitors of Friendster

Multiply
Multiply is a social networking site which shares all kinds of media: photos, blogs, videos and music - with their "real-world" network. It was launched in March 2004 and has over 9 million registered users, according to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiply. It is open to people 13 years old and above.

An individual can have his own personal website using Multiply.com. Members can share and discuss things that they are interested in with other people, more like of a social networking. In Multiply, members are notified when their friends have posted new uploads. Users are encouraged to specify the nature of their relationship with one another, making it possible to share content with their entire network of closely-related people, including friends, family, and professional contacts. It has unlimited storage space. Members can customize their own profile background and theme.

Facebook
Facebook is an online social networking site and was launched on February 4, 2004 by Mike Zuckerberg. It was owned and operated by Facebook Inc. It is a free access, anyone can join one or more networks such as school, region or employment. Facebook was invented to connect and interact with other people. Individuals can upload photos, update profiles and post messages to other members. Facebook is open to any individual ages 13 years old and above. There are 69 million active members worldwide and it is the leading social networking site in Canada, UK and Australia, source: http://www.facebook.com/about.

The features that are included in Facebook are the wall, where in members can post messages to other members of the site; there is pokes, where in you can send a virtual poke to other members; instant messaging or chat; members can also promote events; individuals can also upload photos or videos; there also games or quizzes that members can play for fun; and write their current status to let other people know what they’re up to. Applications in Facebook includes Gifts, where in members can send virtual gifts to other members; there’s a market place for the members to post their ads; and the maximum photos the members can upload is 60 albums.

MySpace
My Space, a social networking site offering interactive features such as personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos. Its target market are mostly teens and adults worldwide, ages 14 years old and above. According to Wikipedia about MySpace, It has 230,000 new registrations per day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace. It was founded by Tom Anderson on August 2003.

Social Networking Sites in the Philippines

Social networking is one of the most active type of social media in the Philippines. Filipinos are said to be the most active users of social networking sites such as Friendster and Multiply. Social networking has become part of Filipinos' cyberculture.

Friendster is a social networking site introduced in 2003. It slowly gained users from Southeast Asia starting in the Philippines. Jonathan Abrams founded Friendster in Mountainview, California, United States in March 2002 and was privately owned. Based on Alexa, Friendster ranked 2nd most visited website in the Philippines. It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of internet users in the Philippines have Friendster accounts. David Jones, vice president for global marketing of Friendster, said that "the biggest percentage of users is from the Philippines, clocking in with 39 percent of the site's traffic.”

Statistics
A study released by Universal McCann entitled "Power To The People - Wave3" declared the Philippines as "the social networking capital of the world," with 83 percent of Filipinos surveyed are members of a social network. They are also regarded as the top photo uploaders and web video viewers, while they are second when it comes to the number of blog readers and video uploaders.

With over 7.9 million Filipinos using the Internet, 6.9 million of them visit a social networking site at least once a month. Friendster is the most visited website in the Philippines, as well as in Indonesia. David Jones said that in March 2008, Friendster recorded 39 million unique visitors, with 13.2 million of whom were from the Philippines. Meanwhile, Multiply president and founder Peter Pezaris said that the Filipino users of their site comprised the largest and most active group in terms of number of subscribers and of photographs being uploaded daily. About 2.2 million out of more than 9 million registered users of Multiply are Filipinos. Also, 1 million photographs are uploaded by Filipinos to Multiply every day, which is half of their total number worldwide.

Sixty percent of Filipino users of Multiply are female, while 70 percent are under the age of 25. In comparison, Filipino Friendster users are between the ages 16 to 30, with 55 percent of them female.

Filipino Internet Usage
Internet is very popular in the Philippines. Any person can browse through the Internet and can learn new things that can increase their knowledge. Filipinos use the Internet to communicate with their families and friends that migrated or working abroad. They go online to meet foreigners as potential love interest, hoping to get Green Card. Students use the Internet for educational purposes when doing research works for school. Working people also use the Internet for business purposes like transactions online, foreign investments, telecommunications, and the like. Others write blogs on their blogsites sharing experiences, thoughts or new learning. Mostly, people in the young age group take so much time uploading pictures or videos, downloading music or podcasts and customizing their profile in social networking sites.

According to Universal McCann Report Wave 3 as of March 2008, the following are statistics that track growth on social media as far as blogging, social networking, and social media growth in the Philippines is concern:

There are 3.7 million active Internet users:
- 90.3% or 3.3 million read blogs
- 64.9% or 2.3 million have started their own blogs
- 83.1% or 3 million created a profile on a new social network.
- 86.4% or 3.14 million uploaded photos in a photo sharing website.
- 60.5% or 2.2 million have uploaded videos on a video sharing website.
- 98.7% or 3.6 million watch video clips online.

Source: http://philippineinternetreview.blogspot.com/2008/05/23-million-active-filipino-internet.html

Online Communication
Through social networking sites like Friendster and Multiply, online advertising became popular to have profitable local market. Mobile phones were also used as tool for advertising. It is more widespread than of advertising via online since the country has limited Internet access. Multiply Philippines is developed in partnership with ABS-CBN Interactive to grow its user base in the country, as well as tapping into its local advertising and mobile services.

Application in Filipino Culture and Society
The popularity of social networking in the Philippines can be traced in the Filipinos' culture of "friends helping friends."

Social networking has extensive uses in the Philippines. It was used to promote television programs like Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus with its two profiles on Multiply. A call center company posted job openings on its Multiply community site and was able to attract recruits. The power of social networking was tested in the country's 2007 general elections when senatorial candidate Francis Escudero created his own Friendster profile to bolster support from Filipino users. He eventually won a seat in the Senate. Local celebrities and politicians have since created their own profiles on Friendster as their medium to communicate with their fans and constituents.

Friendster was also used as a tool for police investigations. Local police in Cebu City where able to track down the suspects for the robbery and murder of a female nursing student on March 2008. After receiving information and tips from the public and other police operatives, the local police searched through the suspects' profiles in order to get a closer look at their faces. The police printed the pictures of the suspects and launched a series of police operations, which led to their arrest. Meanwhile, Manila Police District arrested a suspect for the murder of two guest relations officers in Tondo on January 2007 after they were able to find the suspect's whereabouts through his Friendster profile.


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_in_the_Philippines

Event Organizing: What you have to know

For my reference on my thesis, I conducted an interview with Ms.Jan Reyes, a freelance Event Organizer. Questions are provided that will help me understand the event organizing. Interview was conducted through e-mail.

1. What are the important things to consider when planning for an event?
The very important thing that you need to know is the budget because you will run the whole event depending on the given budget. Next will be its objectives and its market.

2. What are the rules and regulations in creating an event?
Actually, there's no rule in creating an event. You just need to be creative and organize for you to produce a successful one.

3. How do you come up with a good event flow? Do you follow a pattern?
Yes. There is a process to be followed in planning an event called "The event planning process". It starts with the Idea proposal to be given by the client or from the events team. After that you will undertake feasibility study and evaluate results. Aims and objectives should also be made. Then the implementation requirements, implementation plan and lastly, monitoring and evaluation.

4. What is the best way to get into the minds of your target market?
You need to play SMART. It means, your event should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed so that it will fit to your target market.

5. How can you spice up an event without ruining the essence of the theme? Can you give examples?
You just need to be unique. An ordinary event will turn out great if you think outside of the box. You may put elements that are new to the crowd like black lights, life size balloons, chocolate carving. etc.

6. What is the most successful event you have been to and why?
Every event for me is successful because i always have good evaluation. =)

7. What are the trends on events do we need to watch out for?
There are no trends, only new ideas. =)

8. What activities can you suggest in a socializing event like Friendster?
Dating event, Rave party, Concert/gig...