Category Archives: friendster

fakester genocide

In one of the responses to my survey today, i received a great note from someone bemoaning the “fakester genocide” on Friendster. S/he argued that it was through these fakesters that s/he found known (old and current) friends or familiar strangers. For hir, the primary use of Friendster is to connect with actual friends (and dating happens to be a fun side element).

Aside from the clear usage model for this user, i love the term “fakester genocide” in reference to the deletion of artificially generated characters. In my head, this truly conjures up an image of a child horrified of the genocide of the imaginary people, or the stuff animals.

Overconnected: On Friendster, It’s Not Who You Know, It’s How Many

Overconnected: On Friendster, It’s Not Who You Know, It’s How Many (Sean Nealson in The Stranger)

“Friendster is just another piece of driftwood in the weblog ocean, akin to the countless personality tests, polls, and petitions that are wildly popular one day, spread like viruses, and are soon forgotten, quickly supplanted by the next meme of the moment”

Sean Nealson’s negatively slanted Friendster article focuses on the efforts to amass friends and search for acquaintenances. He compares LiveJournal to Friendster and provides endless fun quotes:

“Where a blog offers the chance to expand on one’s self, Friendster reduces the self to a trading card, suitable for collection.”

Friendster: “the newest trend in online extroversion, like LiveJournal for grownups” … “this is a pyramid scheme without the money, or the advancement, or the pyramid, for that matter. It’s just a scheme”

Continue reading

Making Friendsters in High Places

[from the connected selves blog]

Wired ran an article today about Making Friendsters in High Places, including quotes by moi (and referencing the eBay phenomenon and Ross’ comparison of different tools).

I must say that i think it’s fascinating to hear people reference each other as Friendsters. “Oh, you’re danah’s Friendster.” This shows how it is not really a listing of your friends, but some other not-entirely-defined set of people that you sorta know in some context or another.

Continue reading