Sixty-six Percent of the World's 1.2 Billion Internet Users Can Now Use Friendster in Their Native Language
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Friendster, Inc. ( http://www.friendster.com ) today announced that Friendster.com is available in two additional major languages -- Japanese and Korean -- allowing Friendster users and visitors a choice of languages to navigate the site, enter content and use Friendster's complete set of social networking features. Friendster now supports five of the top languages on the Internet -- Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and English. These languages represent 66 percent of the world's Internet users, or approximately three quarters of a billion Internet users in total.
As the 12th largest Web site in the world based on traffic and the #1 online social network in Asia, according to comScore Media Metrix, supporting both Japanese and Korean will help Friendster maintain and extend its leadership position in Asia.
Friendster has implemented multi-language support on a single domain -- Friendster.com -- to promote communication and interaction among users who speak different languages. A large percentage of friend networks on Friendster cross borders and continents, requiring multi-language support to be implemented in a single, global Web site. While other social networking sites create separate sites for different countries or languages, Friendster is the first global online social network to employ this single-site approach to allow and encourage multi-cultural exchange and communications -- regardless of language -- among users around the world. Additionally, Friendster users can enter content in any language throughout the site as they use Friendster's complete set of social networking features.
"Friendster has hundreds of thousands of users in Japan and Korea using Friendster in English today. Friendster has a large number of bilingual users who would like the choice to enter their content and use the site in either Japanese or Korean, and countless users are looking forward to inviting their friends and family who speak these languages to join them on Friendster," said David Jones, vice president of marketing at Friendster.
Top Ten Languages Used on the Web(1)
(Number of Internet Users by Language)
TOP TEN % of All Internet Users Internet Language Growth
LANGUAGES Internet by Language Penetration on the Internet
ON THE Users (Millions) by Language (2000 - 2007)
INTERNET
English 31.2% 366 17.9% 158%
Chinese 15.7% 184 13.6% 470%
Spanish 8.7% 102 22.9% 311%
Japanese 7.4% 86 67.1% 83%
Korean 2.9% 34 45.6% 79%
Languages on 66% 772
Friendster
French 5.0% 59 15.3% 385%
German 5.0% 59 61.1% 113%
Portuguese 4.0% 47 20.2% 525%
Italian 2.7% 31 52.9% 138%
Arabic 2.5% 29 8.5% 940%
Rest of World 15.0% 175 12.4% 440%
Languages
WORLD TOTAL 100.0% 1,173 17.8% 225%
Users can permanently or temporarily set their language of choice via links at the top right of every page of the Friendster.com Web site or via the "Settings" link.
Friendster is the #1 social network in the Asia Pacific region(2) and the #3 branded online social network in the world. Today, Friendster has over 56 million registered users globally and 28 million monthly unique visitors as of October 2007(2). In the Asia Pacific region, Friendster has over 41 million registered users and 25 million monthly unique visitors(2). Friendster is a top-100 Web site in 18 countries on four continents, with active users in more than 75 countries.
About Friendster
With more than 56 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading global online social network. Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that are important to them. Online adults, 18 and up, choose Friendster to connect with friends, family, school, social groups, activities and interests. Friendster prides itself in delivering a clean, user-friendly and interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around the world. Friendster has a growing portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking, with more expected over the next several months. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Friendster is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and individual investors. For more information, visit: www.friendster.com.
(1) InternetWorldStats.com, June 2007
(2) comScore Media Metrix, October 2007
