Lessons for journalists from the demise of Friendster

The phrase “social media” had barely been coined, let alone popularized, when Friendster hit the scene in 2002. The first big social network was ground breaking … until it wasn’t. Now, as the once great site hangs on for life, it’s unplugging the relics of its early life, deleting the memories of its original user base as it reimagines itself and role online.

For years the site has been fighting a — let’s admit it, losing — battle, first to MySpace, then to Facebook, to Twitter, to Flickr, to YouTube, to FourSquare, to ? … well there’s the rub.

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