Friendster Awarded Another Patent

Friendster, which was once upon a time one of the fastest growing social networks, recently announced that it was awarded another patent. The social networking patent is called “Method for Sharing Relationship Information Stored in a Social Network Database with Third Party Databases”.

This is the fifth social networking patent Friendster has been awarded. The first such patent was awarded in July of 2006.

Said Richard Kimber, Friendster’s CEO: “Friendster has continued to build and own a significant patent portfolio, since launching in 2002 as the first online social network.”

Today, Friendster has more than 110 million members. Though it’s regarded as a social networking pioneer, most analysts agree that Friendster has been passed up by MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. That said, Friendster will keep trying to gain more and more patents.

“Our five patents address many key components of social networking, including establishing connections, sharing and distributing content, managing connections over time, assessing compatibility between users, and sharing information with third party databases. We anticipate receiving more patents in the near future,” said Kimber.

Friendster (Image: Flickr)