Did Web-assisted social networking die?
In the Fall of 2003 the idea of Web-assisted social networking, in the form of Friendster and Orkut, was still sufficiently fresh in folks’ minds that we were able to use Friendster as an example for a class (see http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/6171/2003-fall/friendster ). Going through the email that accumulated during the Alaska trip I noticed that (1) I had one new Friendster request, and (2) a spam email from Friendster noting that I hadn’t logged in for a year or more and inviting me to return. So I logged in and the site is now pretty responsive but very few of my friends had logged in within the last 12 months. I’ve not heard anything from Orkut in at least a year.
Do we pronounce Web-assisted social networking dead? Or is it just that nobody wants to be friends with me? 
