Friendster, which opened to the public in March and is still in beta, will hit 1M users this week, and is expanding at a rate of 20% a week. Danah Boyd, a U.C. Berkeley Ph.D. student researching online social networks, said Friendster is beginning to have an “unbelievable impact” on its target demographic, urban-dwelling 25- to 35-year-olds.
“You go into a club and people are talking about it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people (talking) about it in a social situation.”
Boyd said the word “friendster” is entering common usage. Just as “googling” has become synonymous with Internet search, she explained, “friendster” is now used to describe a person that someone meets or knows through the network. A friendster is not exactly a friend, but rather an online acquaintance about whom a lot is known, thanks to the degree of disclosure in their social resume, which, of course, may or may not be true.

As my friend Fabian can testify, Friendster is everywhere in the US tween group. Before long, it will likely enter Europe in a big way, and prepare the minds here for social networks.

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