June 25, 2004

Friendster is desperate; viral marketing failed

Friendster realizes that it has lost the attention of its earliest adopters. This morning, Friendster sent a message to a select number of people that they labeled as "SuperFriends." It's a usability survey where they are asking for users' advice on an email campaign. There are four different potential emails that they sent out as screen shots. Here's a sample one:

Subject: Friendster Now

So you're working. Who cares? You have a lifetime to work. What you'll really regret coughing and wheezing on your deathbed is not looking up all the old high-school friends, college buddies, summer camp alums, Burning Man acquaintances and ex'es who are just hoping you reach out and find them. And discovering new hiking partners, book groups and jam band fans. And setting up that person you really would date yourself if you were single. There's oh so much to do.

Seriously, you should go to Burning Man. It's pretty cool. The jam band stuff we understand if you're not into. We just needed an example there.

Thanks.

www.friendster.com

Oh, to make sure you keep getting these vaguely sarcastic emails, please add Friendster to your email address book now. If for no other reason than it will look cool to have Friendster in your address book.

The tone of these messages is desperate, begging for attention of the original early adopters - the ones that Abrams told me were ruining his system. One focuses on Burning Man types; one mocks the old Power Point COO; one charges non-users with harming children; one is a desperate love poem. They're hyper American-centric, SF-centric, white collar, wannabee hipster, intentionally attempting sarcasm (and clarifying that below) and complete with 80s references.

I guess Friendster isn't happy with the majority of its users being young and from Asia. Does this mean that Friendster has its tail between its legs about its early egotistical behavior? Apparently, viral marketing isn't working well enough anymore.

Anyhow, you *have* to read the full message that these SuperFriends got (included in the full message). It has had me ROFL for hours.

Below is the message that Friendster SuperFriend's received. The text was followed by four email screen shots; i have transcribed those for ease of access.

Hi,

As a SuperFriend, we would appreciate your feedback on a new email
campaign. Friendster will soon be sending emails to two groups of
Friendster members - active members who use the site and inactive
members who have not recently used the site. We created two email
versions for each group and want your opinion to help us decide which
versions to use.

Please refer to the two versions for each group and reply to this email
(at usability@friendster.com) to answer the related questions. As
always, we greatly appreciate you taking the time to tell us what you
think on behalf of the Friendster community!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

For the Active member email:

*Which of the two versions do you prefer? (version 1 or 2) _____

*Is the email appropriate to send to active Friendster members? (yes/no)
_____

*Would you be likely to click the link and go to Friendster if you
received this email? (yes/no) _____

*After receiving this email, would you assume the Friendster website had
an updated design? (yes/no) _____

*Would you be open to receiving similar emails from Friendster in the
future? (yes/no) _____

*Any additional comments?
______________________________________________________

For the Inactive member email:

*Which of the two versions do you prefer? (version 3 or 4) _____

*Is the email appropriate to send to inactive Friendster members?
(yes/no) _____

*Would you be likely to click the link and go to Friendster if you
received this email? (yes/no) _____

*After receiving this email, would you assume the Friendster website had
an updated design? (yes/no) _____

*Would you be open to receiving similar emails from Friendster in the
future? (yes/no) _____

*Any additional comments?
______________________________________________________

Thanks!
Friendster

Subject: Friendster Now

So you're working. Who cares? You have a lifetime to work. What you'll really regret coughing and wheezing on your deathbed is not looking up all the old high-school friends, college buddies, summer camp alums, Burning Man acquaintances and ex'es who are just hoping you reach out and find them. And discovering new hiking partners, book groups and jam band fans. And setting up that person you really would date yourself if you were single. There's oh so much to do.

Seriously, you should go to Burning Man. It's pretty cool. The jam band stuff we understand if you're not into. We just needed an example there.

Thanks.

www.friendster.com

Oh, to make sure you keep getting these emails, please add Friendster to your email address book now. If for no other reason than it will look cool to have Friendster in your address book.

Subject: Don't Tell Anyone

You're our favorite subscriber. Seriously. I know we here at Friendster shouldn't play favorites, and our chief operating officer (he's the old guy in the office) told us not to do this, but seriously, you just totally rock. The way you reconnect with old friends. The way you've figured out just how small and interconnected the world really is. The way you discovered people with the same interests as you. We suspect you've even gotten a date out of Friendster, or that if you didn't, you could have if you needed to. Easy. With one of those three suspiciously hot people who keep popping up right above your friends list. For other people, we just use those pictures as cruel, aspirational temptation. But for you, they're totally getable.

Hey, don't tell anyone we told you all of this. That old guy in the office will just start lecturing us again and pulling out charts and graphs and PowerPoint displays. He's such a loser.

Thanks.

www.friendster.com

Oh, to make sure you keep getting these vaguely sarcastic emails, please add Friendster to your email address book now. If for no other reason than it will look cool to have Friendster in your address book.

Subject: The Suffering You've Caused

We totally miss you. By "we" we don't so much mean we here at Friendster. No, we like you and all, but really, to be honest, we're not all that close. No the "we" here are your real friends, the one you reconnected with through Friendster but have been ignoring as of late. They're the ones who are suffering. They're the ones who are crying late at night, screaming your name as they wait for you to contact them. Not to mention all the old high-school friends, college buddies and ex-es who are just hoping you reach out and find them. And the hiking partners, book groups and Wilco-heads who need you to discover them. It's them, the children, who are suffering. That's right, the children.

So come on back. We've made it easier for you, getting much faster and easier to navigate as we've grown. We won't judge. We're just here to help you. Help you help the children.

Thanks.

www.friendster.com

Oh, to make sure you keep getting these vaguely sarcastic emails, please add Friendster to your email address book now. If for no other reason than it will look cool to have Friendster in your address book.

Subject: We Still Care

We miss you. There, we said it. It feels better. So we're going to do everything we can to bring you back to Friendster, all the way up to that John Cusack boom box Say Anything bit. So before it all comes to that, just come back to Friendster. We've already made it easier for you, getting much faster and clearer as we've grown. Now, in just minutes you can find people you've been wondering about: friends from summer camp, college roommates, high school buddies, cousins, people you used to date, people you wanted to date, these people you know, and don't know, are connected to each other and what a beautifully small world it really is. Or date, or help a friend find a date. We don't care. We just want you back in our lives. And we can tell you that you want the same thing. We can see it... in your eyes. The light, the heat. Your eyes, we feel complete. See, we told you.

Thanks.

www.friendster.com

Oh, to make sure you keep getting these vaguely sarcastic emails, please add Friendster to your email address book now. If for no other reason than it will look cool to have Friendster in your address book.

Category: friendster

Posted by zephoria at June 25, 2004 4:16 PM | TrackBack