Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Friendster Friends

I opened a friendster account a year ago, two years after I received my first invite. I succumbed to the pressures of my younger siblings, ex-colleagues, and classmates. Perhaps to them, I was lagging behind in internet social networking.

It was in December last year that I started reconnecting. I spent more than an hour browsing my own account, blogged, uploaded pics, and then hopped to my friends’, then to their friends. I noticed many familiar names and faces, people I met and came to know a long time ago. I was amazed at how young people at Church have 300 or more online friends. I asked them if they knew them all and read them all. They replied, “friends, friends lang gud”. Perhaps, it just meant that all that matter is the number of people connected to you and not really the quality of that link.

So I kept on browsing and visited their homepages. I knew I would be leaving a trail when they open their “who’s viewing me page”. So be it! If one day they’ll add me as a friend, it’s fine with me. But I’d be choosy in returning the favor.

Then I also found myself looking at all my sisters’ sites, and then at some cousins’ sites too. I added some as friends, and sent messages to some. Some posted their wedding pics. Others uploaded their baby's pic. A teenage cousin bravely (shamelessly) posted some pics with kissing scenes with his girlfriend. What could his mother say about the pics? The harsh scenario is that, he’d be thrown out from the house. These kids really!

Friendster is one of those sites blocked in our company network. I can only view my account when I’m in an internet café or in some wi-fi zones. I seldom visit my friends’ sites. I don’t read their blogs and bulletins either. They’re not visiting mine, too. I no longer made blog entries and bulletins. Nobody reads them anyway. My friendster friends and I were back with our own separate lives again after the initial encounter. But it feels good that we’ve somehow reconnected. At least in friendster.

By the way, a lola (aunt of my mom) of mine is in friendster too. And we're friends. Tsk tsk tsk.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I rarely open my friendster these days unless some people add me or I get some private messages. I guess I got a bit tired of it since I was already there when it started years ago during its BETA days. But yes. It 's always great to reconnect with people there who you haven't seen for some time. :D

Anonymous said...

I also have a friendster account but I'm not really that active. I'm also surprised at how many friends people have on their links. I don't usually follow the links naman. I don't have the time.

Actually, I have reconnected with old classmates, but not through friendster. We have a high school website, so that's how we got to reconnect.

Anonymous said...

marami na akong rekindled friendships through friendster, kaya i remain active :)

zherwin said...

the thing i like about friendster is the unexpected bumping into long lost friends or your gradeschool classmate, though i am not as active as before, i still visit the site for some updates. :)

vernaloo said...

I'm no longer that active in Friendster too considering it's also blocked in our server. But yeah...in a way it has its benefits.

Anyway last night my sister told me that there is this portion in Friendster that she visited last time. According to her there was an account, a mother, who is selling her kid online. Imagine that? I just knew about it last night..I think it's in the Classified portion. Crazy.

Anonymous said...

I also have a friendster account but I noticed that mga kabataan lang talga mahilig dito. It's a nice way to keep in touch with former friends and classmates.

Wil said...

I agree Friendster is more for people in their 20s who seem to be really active in adding "friends". Although, I know people my age who seem to be active in it, too. hehe

Tinunuy said...

Most youths are hooked up to that internet social networking.

SGRMSE. said...

friendster's just overrated . but yeaa . i guess it's alright for temporary re-connection .

Anonymous said...

Wow, Hip si lola, naka- friendster! hehehe.

tin-tin said...

ako i just open my friendster every weekend na lang. hehehe. more on multiply ako coz of the blogs. parang mas nagiging updated ako with my friends thru multiply than friendster. kaya lang konti lang friends ko na nasa multiply na din. yung sa friendster ko, lahat kilala ko. hehehe ;p

jho said...

Very active ang friendster acct ko kasi it works for me in keeping in touch with my friends.

Anonymous said...

ferdz, i seldom open my friendster. tired na din.

niceheart, we also have a yahoo group sa hs classmates ko. may nag-away na nga eh

Anonymous said...

cess, friendster keep us in touch with those who have not gone beyond it.

zherwin, friendster is very popular among filipinos, from kids to grannies.

Anonymous said...

verns, friendster has its crazy stuffs too. it's weird, selling a kid to strangers.

ladybug, most kids have friendster. medyo huli na nga ako sa friendster, eh. but it's good to be connected.

Anonymous said...

wil, pati lola nga active eh. Friendster is the most common and convenient to plenty of people.

cm, yeah youths and kids.

Arianne The Bookworm said...

i rarely open my friendster now.. tired of updating.. i usually acccess it when i receve an alert about a message from someone i know.. but i must say, friendster has been a powerful tool because it connected me with my long-lost friends.. :)

Anonymous said...

ambak!

i junked my friendster account last year pa. murag padaghanay ra man ug "friends" diha... anyway, it didn't work for me. glad to know for some it worked as a tool for reconnecting w/ friends.

dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...

I also had mentioned about my Friendster account when I responded to a meme.
I guess we have the same impression towards it.
I rarely login into it. I just open an account for the sake of not being tagged as antiquated. I also have a lot of "friends" there but didn't know all of them personally...

Anonymous said...

Its good for finding long lost friends or high school classmates. I make mine private now so only friends can look in. I think it works that way.

I dont thnk I can have 300 friends. 50 puede pa. now, I only have 20+.