It was ten years ago when internet was really crappy (I know it's still slow but let me tell you it was way worse back then), the era when the circling YouTube dots irk us especially when it forces us to watch ads first before the actual content (yes, YT spoils our viewing experience even before! But the ads takes a lot of time to load!)
Ten years ago was also the time of j3j3m0n posting of testimonies ("comments" in Facebook terms) and uploading of pixelated pictures coming from old Nokia or Sony Ericsson phones.
It was ten years ago when we bade goodbye to the website that started it all.
The terminology "social media" was not even coined by anyone at that time, but this website gave the precedent to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to Filipino netizens.
With the toxicity over the socmed sites that we have, it is natural for the peeps that got acquainted to internet many years back to crave for something that is wholesome.
Netizens of today, let me call back in the site that we loved. Everyone, meet Friendster.
I have heard of Friendster as early as 2002. My brother used to have it and you are "in" if you really have one. There's some level of coolness when they talk about it. I was just in lower elementary level and I do not have any idea on how to successfully go to a website back then, don't mention about joining Friendster.
I first had Yahoo Messenger in 2004 (well a precursor of Facebook Messenger but it is way cooler!) because I thought it was more essential than having a Friendster account; moreover, most classmates and friends all have YM, not Friendster. So I resisted for a few more years.
The necessity came in 2007 when I had a thing on a girl and I found out that she had a Friendster profile. The next sentences will expose my innocence on how to actually use Friendster HAHAHA. I sent numerous testimonials to that girl and told her that I liked her for some time and I hope that she replies. But then I used the Friendster profile of one of my closest friends and at that time my friend seemed to not mind at all. Again, we did not know how Friendster works. We even tried to "hack" my crush's profile by replacing the Friendster ID (a series of numbers) of the main page's URL with my crush's but HAHAHA it did not work.
Weeks passed and I got no replies from that so I resorted to creating my own Friendster account and sent the same testimonials to her. I was perplexed because I cannot see my testimonials on her profile. Little did I know that my crush had the testimonials reviewed first, then she decides which of them get published (I found out that thing months later HAHAHA).
That's how I got into socmed. Because of mere infatuation.
Classmates, friends and even teachers, though were meeting physically in school, became virtually connected. Aside from posting testimonials on each other, we can modify the appearance of our profile! That is something Facebook and Twitter cannot offer until now. We can change the background and the theme color by copy-pasting the codes from another site, and the most awesome of the modifications is we can even put music player on our profile and have your favorite song automatically played on background while you browse somebody's profile (NAKAKAMISS KA IMEEM!!!)! The testimonials also were very unique because they can be colorful, glittery or even animated!
The most exciting part of Friendster for me is the "Profile views" link. I religiously took time to see whether my crush has seen my profile that day or not. I forgot if she did HAHAHA but I did visit hers once in a while.
Friendster became my primary socmed site for a time, until Facebook rose to popularity because of Farmville. There was a shift among Filipinos, I included, and we became patrons of FB almost overnight. That was the time Friendster came to realize they need to revamp their site. That's why they also added games.
I maintained my Friendster profile until I got to China. Unlike Facebook, it is not blocked in that country. But unfortunately, people just got hooked with Facebook more than ever, my classmates in China who came from different countries abandoned Friendster in favor of Facebook as well. It was apparent that Friendster was losing its base in Asia. By 2011, Friendster gave up the fight and decided to become a "social gaming" site.
They notified us to retrieve our photos and a copy of friends' testimonials before the big brand shift. I did and I still have some of them with me uploaded on my Facebook.
One time, I stumbled upon a YouTube video on how to "retrieve" your Friendster profile. I tried the steps but there were no results. Sad.
I miss Friendster. I really do. It was a testament to my high school memories, all those low quality pics, the screenshots that I have of that profile, they're all that was left. I miss the innocence of netizens just connecting with each other. No bashing, no hatred, no cancel culture. I think most people my age also feel sentimental. Oh Friendster, like a long lost friend, you will always be missed!
1 Comments
Today, Toktikss are now ruling the world, lol jk
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