MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 3 /PRNewswire/ — Friendster today announced that it has named former NBC Entertainment president, Scott Sassa, as CEO, effective immediately. Scott will be responsible for leading all areas of the company. Scott will help Friendster expand the company’s services and user base, and build Friendster into a successful and profitable business.
With another rock star joining the Friendster team and a link into the entertainment industry we’re sure to have an entertaining show as Friendster carves out a new hole in the internet personals world.
How will this effect the traditional online personals sites? What services will Friendster launch to bring in revenue?
Jonathan (quoted in the press) was planning to charge users if they wanted to communicate and ‘connect’ with others in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th degrees of separation. No sign of that.
They’re obviously holding off with the charges in order to carry on penetrating the market and guard against the plethora of copycats.
What do they have in the works? Friendster needs more heart. The curiosity factor is waning. Lead the way Friendster. Before sexy http://www.myspace.com steals your thunder.
I think what is happening in this space is that these companies are worried about losing critical mass if they start charging. I think a fee on the friendster service would start the death toll. What would be a better approach is along the lines of a Yahoo or MSN approach in which certain “premium” additions are offered on top of existing free service.
I also see the reasoning behind bringing in a traditional media CEO- So that they can develop their advertising. Online advertising rates are rising rapidly, and any site with serious traffic such as Friendster needs to capitalize on it.
-Mike Stocker
Sr. Media Buyer
NetBlue