If fortune favors the bold, Friendster is pretty much guaranteed to experience all sorts of success. The social network has decided to defy economic trends by opening new offices in two different countries, and is also putting its media pull to the test by placing the announcement up against inauguration coverage.
Richard Kimber
Yes, you may not see too much about this due to Obama mania, but then again, Friendster’s timing helped ensure that bigger companies like Google and Yahoo weren’t simultaneously releasing important products. So, anyway – Friendster’s got new digs in both Singapore and Australia. It’s adding employees in the Philippines, too.
Richard Kimber, Friendster’s CEO, explained the moves in a statement by saying, “The expansion of our team, offices and sales partnerships in Asia not only sets 2009 up to be an exciting year, but helps us pursue the necessary monetization opportunities available to Friendster in our core Asian markets.”
He then stuck to the “bold” theme by continuing, “As we move deeper into 2009, we will continue to build upon our direct sales, product, engineering, operations, marketing and finance teams to execute on our strategy and unwavering focus on Asia Pacific.”
Kimber joined Friendster in August, and the social network received $20 million in funding at the same time. At this rate, Facebook and MySpace might be safe for a while yet, but Friendster’s other competitors could be getting nervous.
