Friendster가 돌아왔어요! 하지만 오프라인 친구와만 연결할 수 있어요.

Source: Mashable Tech

Do you remember Friendster?

The early‑2000s social networking platform has now returned roughly 24 years later with a whole new gimmick: users can only connect with real‑life friends.

The founder of the new Friendster, Mike Carson, promotes the relaunched platform as being free of ads and algorithms. The app currently exists only for iOS. After downloading and setting up an account, users see a completely blank space—there are no posts, no suggestions, and no way to follow anyone unless they meet in person.

To follow someone on Friendster, both users must physically tap each other’s phones while the app is open. This is the only way to connect on the platform, ensuring that connections are strictly offline.

What happened to Friendster

Early years

Friendster was officially launched in March 2002 by its founder Jonathan Abrams and is largely considered the first major online social networking platform. Shortly after its launch, other networks like MySpace quickly took off, and Friendster struggled to maintain a foothold with American users.

Shift to Asia and eventual shutdown

The platform found a significant user base in Asia and was eventually sold to a Malaysian company. In 2011, Friendster pivoted to become a social gaming website, and it was completely shut down in 2015.

Revival

Carson, the new owner, noticed that the Friendster.com domain was once again resolving to a website filled with pop‑up ads in 2023. He reached out to the domain’s owner, who had won the domain at an expired‑domain auction for $7,456. Carson struck a deal, purchasing Friendster.com for $20,000 in Bitcoin, along with another domain that generated $9,000 per year.

In a blog post discussing his acquisition, Carson outlined future features:

• Friends of Friends – allows users to connect online if they share a mutual offline friend.
• Fading Connection – nudges users when they haven’t been in the same room with a connection for more than a year: “Not a punishment — a gentle nudge that real friendships are kept alive in person, not online,” Carson explains.

After downloading the app, the emptiness can feel daunting, but the concept is intriguing—if it can attract enough users willing to start with an empty slate and build real‑life connections.