Friendster Users Can Now Send Money Via Gcash

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11th February 2009, 11:44am - Views: 1202









Friendster Users Can Now Send Money Via GCASH


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --


  Millions of Friendster Users Can Now Send and Receive Money from Family and 

                          Friends - An Industry First


    Friendster, Inc., a top 20 global website based on traffic* and the #1 social network in Asia, today

announced that it has launched support for users located in the Philippines and abroad to send and receive

money on Friendster via the GCASH payment solution. This launch makes Globe Telecom the first partner to

enable money transfer on Friendster, through its wholly-owned subsidiary G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), and their

flagship GCASH mobile commerce platform.


    Friendster is the first major social network to enable money transfer via partner platforms. Today, more

than 13 million active members in the Philippines and over 95 million registered users around the world can

utilize this new feature to conveniently, quickly, affordably, and securely send and receive money from

family, friends, and business associates anytime and anywhere.


    From the Friendster web site, to initiate the process of sending money to another user, a user simply

associates their Friendster account with their GCASH mobile phone number. Users can send money to any

other Friendster user who is also a GCASH subscriber, where the transaction is securely completed using

SMS text messages from the authorized mobile phone and the mobile PIN provided by the owner. 


    Friendster users with a Globe mobile number can begin sending money by registering their mobile number


GCASH, users must also enable their mobile number by registering for the GCASH service on their phones.

Information on registration is available on the GCASH website at http://www.g-cash.com.ph. 


    Once a mobile number is registered and enabled, users can send money to anyone in their friends list by

simply viewing the profile of the intended recipient and clicking the "Send GCASH" button. Users then enter

the amount of money to transfer which initiates a confirmation SMS text message to appear on the sender's

mobile phone. The sender confirms the money transfer using their mobile PIN. This confirmation process

ensures that only the owner of the GCASH account can authorize the funds transfer. After the text message

confirmation is received from the sender, money is transferred to the recipient's mobile phone GCASH

account, completing the transaction. Transaction fees are P2.50 per transaction for Globe subscribers.


    "By enabling online money transfer, we've made it significantly easier for users in the Philippines and their

family and friends all over the world to securely send money easily, affordably and quickly," said David

Jones, vice president of global marketing at Friendster. "With over 90 percent of internet users in the

Philippines on Friendster and many Filipinos around the world, including overseas foreign workers, also on

Friendster, millions can now transfer money with ease directly from their preferred social network," he said.


    "We are excited to be the first mobile partner in the Philippines to launch and enable money transfers

through GCASH on Friendster user accounts," said GXI President Rizza Maniego-Eala. "This strengthens

our goal of building seamless connections between mobile and online money transfers and payments.

Having Friendster as a partner reinforces our vision of providing Filipinos with more innovative, relevant and

easy to use mobile financial services," she added.


    Friendster Leads in the Philippines

    In the Philippines, Friendster is the #1 social network, the #2 website and the #1 mobile site.** Friendster

is an order of magnitude larger than competitors in the Philippines. Friendster had over 13 million monthly

unique visitors from the Philippines in December 2008,*** which is 93 percent, or virtually all of the 14 million

Internet users in the country. A typical user spends 30 minutes a day on Friendster and visits Friendster

several times a week, communicating with friends and sharing and consuming content through a suite of

features, which also creates a great platform for local advertisers.


Science Information Technology Friendster, Inc. 2 image

    Friendster Leads in Asia and is a Top 20 Global Website

    Friendster is the #1 social network in Asia, with over 75 million registered users. Plus, Asia is the largest

market of Internet users (Asia has 41 percent of the world's Internet users, more than double the 19 percent

from the U.S.), and Asia is the fastest growing region in the world.* Friendster has a loyal and growing user

base throughout Asia in the following top 10 countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan,

Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.


    Friendster is a top 20 global website in the world in terms of traffic, serving over 16 billion page views a

month.* Friendster is also a leader in "user engagement" among the top five global social networks, with

users spending an average of 147 minutes per visitor per month on www.friendster.com .*


    About Friendster

    With more than 95 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 an easy-to-use, friendly and

interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around the world via

www.friendster.com or m.friendster.com from any Internet-ready mobile device. Friendster has a growing

portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking, with more expected over the next several

months. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Friendster is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield &

Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, IDG Ventures and individual investors. For more information,



    *comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide Data, December 2008

    **Opera State of the Mobile Web Report, December 2008

    ***Google Analytics and Friendster Internal Data, December 2008



SOURCE: Friendster, Inc.


    CONTACT: Lerin O'Neill of The Hoffman Agency

             +1-408-975-3037, or mobile, +1-408-832-7083

             press@friendster.com


             for Friendster

 

   AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for

worldwide clients.

   Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.


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