Cherishing Friendster Memories

News about Friendster closing down (or reformatting to a strictly gaming site) by the end of May has been circulating since last week. Because of that, some people I know suddenly remembered their login name and password in Friendster and decided to check on their accounts—and perhaps, reminisce the old times by going through the testimonials posted by their friends or browse through old photo albums saved in the said site.

I must admit, I was one of them. I was even a bit panicky when I learned of the news which a friend shared in Twitter.

In all honesty, I love Friendster. Sure, Facebook is more pumped up, more interactive and you can post as many albums as you can, but it’s with Friendster that I find connecting with friends more heartfelt. The ‘testimonials’ part was a total rockin’ idea. It may look ‘baduy’ now but admit it, when you try reading your testimonials now in the time of Facebook and Twitter, you find yourself smiling on your own. You know that those things that your friends said about you during the Friendster days really reflected the person you were back then. Likewise, testimonials also say something about how you deal with people and situations during your younger days.

And yes, they made you smile because like any normal human being capable of being emotionally touched, you are also fond of remembering your good younger years when life was more pure fun and laughter and less pressure.

I’m really saddened by this news about Friendster closing down. Friendster was part of my happy college days. It was witness to how euphoric I was when I first met the man who made a big difference in my existence. And just the same, Friendster was also witness to how desolate I was when I lost that man to death two years after. Friendster was my first piece of sanctuary in the cyber world. It was my first sounding board online.

Up until now, when I feel down or like I’m not being in sync with my real self, I always go back to Friendster. I would browse through my friends’ testimonials posted on my page and after a while, I would feel better. Indeed, Friendster has this power of putting you back to the blissful episodes of your past by reading those comments.

And I will forever be grateful to that person who introduced Friendster to our generation. Thanks to you, whoever you are! If not for your brilliant idea, there won’t be Multiply, Facebook, Twitter, or even Hi5, Tagged and still many other social networking sites. You and MySpace’s creators really rock big time!

Since I’m trying to clean out my Friendster account before it finally closes down, I got some of my favorite testimonials and created a slideshow. This is so I could still have something to go to and see of ever I’ll have my detached moment again (I hope not).

To view this photo slideshow you need to have Flash Player 9 or newer installed and JavaScript enabled. This flash photo slideshow gallery was created with PhotoSnack in a couple of minutes.