Dear Zoewong,
Friendster.com is a website that owes its rapidly growing popularity
to a simple but effective formula. This networking that assimilates
real-life social groups into a large virtual network lets people
network only with their friends' other friends - and those people's
friends as well.
Users join Friendster by invitation from a friend or associate.
Becoming a member requires filling out a profile that lists only
users' first names, gender, status, date of birth, country, postal
code and what they seek from being on Friendster. Subscription is
currently free.
Users can add more information and a picture of themselves if they
want, and can expand the network by inviting other friends to join.
Then users can flip through the profiles of people up to four degrees
of separation away.
The service is fun and easy to use, and the invitation feature not
only creates a rich web of contacts, it's also the key to Friendster's
viral growth. In addition, the system of validating social
relationships provides a kind of virtual 'vouch' that protects
participants from random contacts.
Getting information on someone is quick and easy. You have a picture,
full bio, and information about who connects you at your fingertips.
According to Jonathan Abrams, its founder, this is one of the reasons
the site is so successful.
"In real life, people meet each other through their friends," Abrams
said. "I felt a demand for these type of services and wanted to help
people meet new people, but there was room for a new approach."
In short, Friendster acts like a toy rather than a resource: It
doesn't want to make you successful, it wants to make you happy. It's
effectively unchaperoned; it doesn't try to introduce you to anyone
unless you ask to be introduced. Its atmosphere has more in common
with a neighborhood barbecue than a singles bar or a career fair. One
of its most fascinating features, though, is the way it makes
overlapping social circles visible, mapping out exactly how you're
connected to any other user within four steps of you. Also, one who
has lost touch with someone he had met previously, may be able to
locate him on Friendster; using this site to re-establish contact.
The rise of Friendster and other social networking sites like
LinkedIn.com, Ryze.com and Everyonesconnected.com stems from the
Internet's power as a grassroots, peer-to-peer network.
Yes, joining Friendster will definitely be a growing trend in Asian
countries. In fact, it will be a growing trend in countries all over
the world, not just Asian countries, except third world countries
where technology is limited. Given the modern-day escapism technology
can provide for busy people, there is a need for easily-accessible
avenues for socializing. However, there will soon be a subscription
fee, so it is difficult to ascertain the long-term success of
Friendster.
References:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestlife/2001427002_after080.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2003-08-03-friendster_x.htm
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtell/story/0,24330,3459279,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59650,00.html
http://slate.msn.com/id/2085714/ |
Clarification of Answer by
aresearcher-ga
on
03 Sep 2003 21:51 PDT
Dear Zoewong,
Stating your intentions and goals for asking this question would help
to direct our search in a more specified manner. Otherwise, there is a
possibility we are just blindly hitting around at redundancy.
The purpose of Friendster.com is not limited to dating. This is
precisely why Friendster is so popular. It is because it provides a
safe haven for people who just want to expand their circle of friends.
As its namesake suggests, the service caters to people who are
interested in joining the site for mere friendship or aquiring an
activity partner (an activity partner is someone with whom you can
play squash or go shopping with). If you aspire to benefit from such
social networks for more advantages than friendship, it depends on
your skills and ability to expand your network and to establish
rapport with your newfound friends.
The rise in popularity in online dating is hardly surprising. It's a
consequence of our changing lifestyles today. Single people
increasingly have a need for some sort of formal intermediary in the
dating process. The hectic pace of life leaves little time for
searching for romance or making friends that last. The same pressures
are taking their toll on marriages, with divorce causing many people
to have to re-enter the singles scene after years of absence. In the
midst of this evolution, AsiaMatch.Net is the fastest growing online
matchmaking service with a primary focus on Asia and Europe.
The reason Asian online dating is so successful is there are millions
of lonely single Asian women and single men that already have detailed
profiles, and check for new members each day. Many online Asian
singles these days are very busy with careers or education or are
tired of the club scene for meeting other single people. The trend
these days is that many singles are turning to online picture
personals to find a suitable companion that share interests and
desires. The business model of online dating and matchmaking services
has been rated as one of the best business ideas of 2000 and beyond by
'Business Start-Ups' magazine. Certainly, venture capitalists and
corporations on the prowl for hot acquisitions are banking on it by
putting their money where people's hearts are.
Some top Asian online personals dating services for your perusal:
Asian Personals
Asia Friend Finder is the most popular worldwide Chinese personals for
people looking to meet others for romance, dating, friendship and
more.
For more information, visit: http://asiafriendfinder.com/go/f106767
(You will need a browser that supports viewing Chinese fonts for
this.)
Korean Personals
With thousands of registered members and hundreds of new singles
joining each day, Korean FriendFinder is for active singles who want
to meet others for romance, dating and friendship.
For further information, visit: http://koreanfriendfinder.com/go/f2110
Filipino Personals
Filipino Friend Finder is for active singles who want to meet others
for romance, dating, friendship and more.
Visit: http://filipinofriendfinder.com/go/f2005
Heart Of Asia
A very large and fresh database full of ladies from all over the Asian
countries seeking love and romance abroad. The site updates twice a
week, and there's always plenty of beautiful ladies to browse for
free.
Visit: http://www.heart-of-asia.org/RomanceNetwork/index.cgi?page=index&dealer=itscupid
Chinese-Lady Personals
One of the original Chinese dating services on the Internet. They have
agents in all the primary cities in China.
Visit: http://www.chnlove.com/
Cherry Blossoms
These people have been in business for 30 years. They have a truly
immense searchable database of ladies from all over the world
including the Philippines, China, Indonesia, and the other countries
of Asia and the Pacific. Constant frequent updates.
Visit: http://blossoms.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi/start.html?adid=WP1008|161.142.100.80
At this current time, there are insufficient internet resources on
online dating trends among Asians. For the fee offered by you, the
amount of work/effort required doesn't tally and isn't worth it. A
researcher would have to conduct demanding hands-on field surveys and
interviews in each respective Asian country, as this is a yet-to-be
explored, much uncharted territory. It's difficult to present you with
articles on how Asian online services are doing. However, there is
much evidence of the growing need for today's independent, tech-savvy,
career-oriented Asians to find their soulmates, and a highly appealing
way is through online services.
References:
http://goldsea.com/Poll/Dating/dating.html
http://www.adult-dating-services-adult-personals.com/asian_personals.html
http://asiafriendfinder.com/go/f106767
http://www.alovelyasian.com/
http://www.thaisoulmate4u.com/
http://www.one-and-only.com/oando/registration/aboutus.asp?SID=4A19A2C2-5DCC-4CA5-909B-3D99F062CA8C&TrackingID=2951&Theme=3
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/8250/arabian.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/8250/affect.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/8250/aikochan.html
http://home.pacific.net.hk/~anata/home.html
http://is6.pacific.net.hk/~romance/home.html
http://is6.pacific.net.hk/~korea/home.html
http://www.asiamatch.net/asiamatch/about_us.htm
http://www.click2asia.com/
http://weeklywire.com/ww/02-28-00/boston_feature_2.html
http://www.syerah.com/Chronicle/July%202003/July%205.htm
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