Friendster returns, focuses "real-world" connections w/ no ads

Programmer Mike Carson revealed he bought the Friendster.com domain to revive the social network over a decade after it went dark.

Friendster logo

Friendster with "real-world" connections

Carson said that he had acquired the domain for USD 30,000 after negotiating with its previous owner and secured the Friendster trademarks in 2025.

According to Carson, he revived the platform to build a positive and ad-free social network with "authentic friendships" formed online.

The app on iOS

Some of the features of the app include "Phone tapping to connect" (users must physically tap phones to add each other as friends), "Friends of friends" (to see the message of friends of your friends to encourage meetups), and "Fading connections" (if two friends don't tap phones for a year, the link weakens).

Apart from being ad-free, the revived platform promises "no data selling" and "no algorithms."

Carson also said that while he doesn't really care about making money from Friendster, he would like it to eventually pay for itself. In the future, he will probably offer premium features.

He added that he is doing this as he was inspired by OkCupid, where he met his wife.

The social media platform is now live on Apple devices (iPhone and iPad), which can be downloaded via the App Store.

Source: Medium