Multiply
Filipinos: Screw Multiply, Use Friendster
While bottom-tier social network Multiply stepped into deep shit by partnering with ABS-CBN, OpenSocial-enabled Friendster is expanding its Philippine office. Friendster serves 10.7 million Filipinos — and despite their history of technical glitches and patent trolling, I like the way they show how people are connected. They’re smart enough to use OpenSocial, they didn’t lure users through illegal filesharing, they didn’t lure users through nontransactional online “storefronts”, and they didn’t become party to a petty network war. Friendster already avoids a lot of the mistakes Multiply makes.
That’s because Friendster focuses on its core business of social networking — from expanding in key markets to adopting the right technologies. Even its patent-trolling is on focus. Multiply, meanwhile, goes half-baked on everything — from ersatz filesharing and content management, to ignoring de facto industry standards, to relying on some silly TV station to sell ad space.
Here’s the bottom line for Filipino social networkers: Multiply is slow to adopt standards, dependent on a TV station, and unfocused as a social network. Friendster adopted OpenSocial early, maintains its own office in a key market, and remains focused as a social network. Multiply serves around 2 million Filipinos, Friendster serves 10.7 million. If you want to connect with Filipinos, then screw Multiply. Use Friendster. That goes for users, developers, and advertisers.
(Of course, to connect with your American friends, use MySpace. Story via Hans Koch.)
Multiply User Calls for Boycott
Multiply Platinum Account holder Shawn calls for a boycott of the social networking service over its abrupt and disrespectful removal of music features.
To all my friends and contacts:
Multiply makes its money through advertising. As people click on pages and links, Multiply gets money from the advertisers’ links and ads that are displayed on your pages.
There is a movement afoot to boycott Multiply for one entire day, that being this Friday, January 18th. This is to protest the recent changes made to forbid the sharing of music and also the limiting of music uploads. I am a customer as are you all. We deserve to be treated with respect.
While I understand that Multiply has a right to conduct its business as it sees fit, the manner in which it has made the changes is very poor customer service and frustrating to those of us who have invested many hours setting up our sites.
Let us send a message to Multiply: treat us like shit and we will affect your business model. We are your customers whether you want to treat us that way or not.
I will not be on next Friday from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM (at a minimum). Would you care to join me?
(And for those who live in a different time zone, just do your own 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM. Let’s make it go round the world.)
If the problem with the music features was illegal file-sharing, Multiply could’ve processed DMCA takedown notices the same way YouTube does, weeding out piracy while keeping Multiply musicians happy. Instead, they globally cripple their features at their customers’ expense.
See, this is why Digg partners with CBS and The Wall Street Journal while Multiply scavenges deals with some third-world TV station. Even in the face of corporate copyright pressure, Digg actually has some goddamn respect for its customers.
The business of consumer-generated media requires the balls to stand up for consumers generating media. Clearly, Multiply does not have the balls for this business.
Between MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster, I have little time or tolerance for the no-platform, non-OpenSocial Multiply. In fact, I’ve stripped my Multiply page of all content. Supporting Shawn’s boycott will be a piece of cake for me.
(Via Lusanto.)
