Facebook, Friendster Signal Changing Tide

The world of social networking is changing, but don't worry, it's not permanent. It's more of a tide than anything that reaches and recedes from all things. MySpace is changing, Facebook is catching, and Friendster is resurrected.

Facebook, Friendster Signal Changing Tide
Friendster's graph server, which made it impossible to manage four quadrillion factors (we're assuming Venture Beat is using not using that number as hyperbole), has been revamped to more easily show how users are linked to their friends, and by what degree of separation, similar to a feature used on LinkedIn. But the main result of this revamp is that users are better able to track what's going on with their friends, thus increasing page views per user.

While that may seem like cheating, it's growth nonetheless, and of the others in the top seven networks – HI5, Tagged, and Piczo – Friendster is the only one not stagnant or declining over the past half-year. 

So what happens next? Who knows for sure? It seems Murdoch is thinking of jumping ship, perhaps just for a better opportunity, or it could be he detects the changing tide. Maybe Facebook is catching up too fast. Maybe Friendster is poised to sue the whole lot of them.

Or maybe it's just the natural, social flux of things.