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The Tech Archived · VIDEO ESSAY

What Happened to Friendster? Why the Social Network That Invented Facebook Disappeared

Friendster invented social networking before anyone had heard of Facebook or MySpace. At its peak it had millions of users, turned down a thirty million dollar acquisition offer from Google, and held a network effect that looked unbreakable. Then it collapsed. This video breaks down exactly how that happened, not through the usual story of bad timing or better competitors, but through the specific engineering decisions, policy choices, and capital allocation mistakes that transferred the occasion Friendster had built to the platforms that replaced it.

Video by The Tech Archived · Watch on YouTube ↗

About this video

Friendster invented social networking before anyone had heard of Facebook or MySpace. At its peak it had millions of users, turned down a thirty million dollar acquisition offer from Google, and held a network effect that looked unbreakable. Then it collapsed. This video breaks down exactly how that happened, not through the usual story of bad timing or better competitors, but through the specific engineering decisions, policy choices, and capital allocation mistakes that transferred the occasion Friendster had built to the platforms that replaced it.

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