Thank you to Ogilvy and MOL for inviting me over to the event last week which was held at the Museum Cafe in Greenbelt 4 in Makati City. I want to expand a bit on what me and Jayvee have talked about during the event and what he said in his post about the announcement.
- MOL clearly wants to gain back it’s investment in once social network giant Friendster but i am still confused as to why re use the brand name for something that resembles Kongregate or Y* than its previous role as a social network. Why not get rid of all the baggage associated with the brand?
- I like the features that the new Friendster is showcasing except that the feature set comes straight out of 4 years ago. A bit of too little too late? But i think the next one is the most important feature that can make or break this new platform
- The games. Friendster needs KILLER games to make their new platform float. jayvee and I were joking that if somehow someway MOL has paid Diablo 3 publisher Activision Blizzard for a web based version of the upcoming Diablo 3, then SIGN ME UP PRONTO. Just like Halo, Mario, God of War, Angry Birds have defined their respective gaming platforms, Friendster needs a game or bevy of games to push it beyond the competition.
- Speaking of their competition, Social gaming locally is dominated by Facebook games. Another competitor is the Level Up! and E-games merged company that is still controls the internet cafe gaming segment of the market.
I wish Friendster and MOL the best of luck in this endeavor and i hope they get more games that showcase the platform instead of the usual clones and rough web games. MOL has unparalleled experienced in getting people to pay online (and providing the system for them) so they can dig deep in their pockets for this if they are really serious in making it a big big name again.
Now, regarding my deleted testimonials….
