thearchivist.funFriendster announces it will delete user content and become a game site
On Tuesday, 26 April 2011, CNN Money reported that Friendster would be redesigned to give it a new identity, appearing to position itself as a casual gaming destination. Its traffic and active-user count had almost flatlined, the report said. The change came with a deletion. Account profiles, photos, messages and blog posts would be deleted on 31 May. A basic profile and friends list would be kept. Friendster offered an exporter app that could download content or move it to sites such as Flickr and Multiply. The case is useful because it shows a notice in which the company decided what counted as core data. Photos and messages went; the shell of a profile and a list of friends stayed.
Context and provenance
The kept data and the deleted data are the interesting pair. A friends list without the posts it connected is a graph without a story. Researchers working from any later copy should check which of the two they actually have.
Friendster pages from before May 2011 and after it are different kinds of evidence. The announcement says photos, messages and blog posts were to be deleted while basic profiles and friend lists stayed. If you rely on an archived profile, check which of those elements it still shows before drawing conclusions.
Transmission timeline
- 2011-04-26
Friendster announces its redesign and the coming deletion.
- 2011-05-31
Profiles' photos, messages and blog posts are scheduled to be deleted.
Why it matters
Friendster's pivot deleted the content of its accounts while keeping the skeleton of its network.
What remains uncertain
The year is taken from the source URL. Friendster's later history (including its 2015 closure) is not covered by this source and is not claimed here.
Sources and evidence
- CNN Money: This is the way social networks end — with a pivot
Redesign toward casual gaming, 31 May deletion of profiles, photos, messages and blog posts, retained basic profile and friends list, exporter app.
Editorial review: 2026-10-22. New evidence may change this account.