The New Friendster Ad, Causing Head-Scratching Since Last Week
By Rico, 9:09 am Mon Dec 7 2009 - Editorial, Featured - 12 Opinions
Sorry Friendster. I know you’re trying to differentiate yourself from the Facebook juggernaut, to reclaim your lost social networking glory. But your ad promoting the site’s revamp shows you’re playing catch-up.
See the ad for yourself:
You’re claiming to be something that’s “simple, personal, and fun”. But Facebook already has those covered, which is why that site is on the ban list of corporate admins worldwide.
What about those screenshots? From the stream of contact updates, it looks like you’re trying to copy Facebook, something that wasn’t lost on those who commented on your ad. Boasting about games like The Farmer and a gift-giving function—already available on Facebook—doesn’t really help your case.
And did we really have to wait this long for you to finally improve your media-sharing capabilities? People have posted entire albums (the visual and audio kind) on Multiply for years now. And they do too on (you guessed it) Facebook.
To be fair, I haven’t tried out the revamped friendster.com. Still, you should reconsider pulling the ad, as it doesn’t do a good job of winning converts. Based on my first impression, I really don’t feel like visiting the new site now. I’ll try it out eventually, if only to satisfy my curiousity—when I have the time.
Tried
2:02 pm Mon Dec 7 2009
maybe the vid wont get u there, but heck, i expect anyone talking abt it to check it out.
bob
6:06 pm Mon Dec 7 2009
the lady on the fs profile’s my former officemate/classmate. i never thought she’d share that profile. hehe. well, yeah, fs cannot topple fb anymore. their gap’s waayyy too far already.
scorched
1:01 pm Tue Dec 8 2009
bat parang bangenge yung nasa photo XD
Eric
12:12 am Wed Dec 9 2009
You should see the website first before you comment to give your comment more credibility, I am not so much of a friendstrer fan but i am a user… yan ang hirap sa mga tao dada ng dada di pa nasusubukan, siguro frustrated creator ka ng website at naiinggit ka lang!! you have nothing to say so shut up! Ehemplo ka ng alimangong mentalidad!
Rico
9:09 am Wed Dec 9 2009
Whatever Eric, I signed up for an account yesterday (friendster.com/ricomossesgeld), and it looks very much like Facebook to me!
Also see: Is Friendster Copying Facebook?
Covert Ops
9:09 am Thu Dec 10 2009
“The Farmer”?!?! duhhhh!!!
TechFilipino
10:10 am Thu Dec 10 2009
I really have to agree with you there. They need to differentiate rather than copy, they need to find a niche and dominate just like hi5 with micro payments.
Tech
6:06 pm Thu Dec 10 2009
People saw this coming.
Also see: http://skiverz.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-facebook-is-catching-up-with.html
Rico
9:09 pm Thu Dec 10 2009
Can you say “Farmville”?
LOVE
4:04 pm Fri Dec 11 2009
I have nothing against with those people who are FB/FS loyalists.
But instead of comparing, why would you rather choose to appreciate the INNOVATION?
After all, I know, you had that both accounts and you use it depending your needs, moods, thoughts, purposes, etc.
Win an iPad from Friendster
10:10 am Tue May 18 2010
[...] Weird ads aside, here’s a genuinely interesting promo from the social networking has-been. [...]
No one
10:10 pm Mon May 31 2010
Fail nga! SNS “has been” I like that. I feel sorry for the money they pay their marketing people