Friendster has received its third social networking patent–this one describes a technology that allows members of a social network to manage their connections. The patent was officially awarded on March 6, 2007. Friendster is an online community that connects people through networks of friends.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Friendster a new U.S. Patent titled, “System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network” (U.S. Patent No. 7,188,153 B2). This is the third patent that they’ve received in the past nine months.
Specifics disclosed in the patent include adding friends, personalizing your profile through arranging, ordering and classifying connections made in an online community, and managing these connections at will.
In July 2006, Friendster was awarded its first U.S. patent that illustrates and describes how people are connected in the context of an online social network. The July 2006 patent is titled, “A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks” (U.S. Patent No. 7,069,308).
In October 2006, Friendster received a U.S. patent which discloses the process of enriching other user’s profiles with text, video, pictures and additional content. The patent is titled, “Method of Inducing Content Uploads in a Social Network” (U.S. Patent No. 7,117,254).
With more than 40 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading 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. Friendster’s trusted network, which emphasizes genuine, real-world friendships, is popular among people of all ages, but is particularly popular among young adults.
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: http://www.friendster.com/.
