'Testi naman diyan!': Is Friendster making a comeback?
“Testi naman diyan!”
Ahh, Friendster—the OG social media platform that kept us excited in the 2000s with flattering testimonials, our favorite songs playing on different profiles, and even striking designs that we can change and customize back then from time to time.
Rumors of its comeback started on social media after a website with the domain friendster.click went live on Saturday, Nov. 26 and briefly accepted sign-ups with no official announcement from Friendster itself. It’s still up as of this writing, although it has a poor loading speed and it looks quite plain, with only a few sections such as blogs, members, groups, and forums.
As of late, it has gained over 6,000 members, including a lot of Pinoys who have joined the craze. Following the massive number of interested members, however, the site had to close its registration “until further notice” because it says it has to "upgrade its system."
While we understand why it got people excited as it undoubtedly resembles Friendster's overall vibe (it even has similar features like testimonials), we can't help but get skeptical about it because it doesn't use a top-level domain like .com, which is usually intended for commercial use. Since no official announcement has been made by the company about its comeback, it would be best to be careful if you're planning to sign up to be a member of this "place for friends" as it collects data and records on-site activity.
It’s been seven years since Friendster ultimately shut down in 2015, after being turned into a gaming site in 2011. We reiterate that no official announcement has been made by Friendster about its comeback, but we’re one with many Filipinos who are hoping it’s legit so we can relive the good old times on the OG socmed platform again.
UPDATE (11/29): The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has warned against this “new” Friendster site, saying that it could “possibly be used for phishing.” More details here.