Only around 50,000 users behind of MySpace. So it is pretty close to being a tie and i can picture that Hi5 will be able to surpass MySpace for good this year. why? because the worst hi5 got up to now is that it has very few customization options and also very limited widget support and offerings.
This may finally change because they now have finally launched their OpenSocial based platform. this means that MySpace Apps and from other Social Networks supporting OpenSocial can be ported around in just hrs or no more than 3 days. that is a huge advancement.
Also that anyone will be able to develop widgets and widget apps for Hi5, and hi5 got a user base desirable to any Widget maker and Widget-app maker that wants to put their efforts on OpenSocial
Hi5 needed this, even if they still are too Friendster like for their own good. I mean, Hi5 remains seen with the roots of what founded Friendster. and that that was Dating Sites with the form factors of Match.com and people use hi5 as a way to get dates and find new friends thanks to friends of friends.
In mexico and Latin-American people don't know Friendster at all, the granddaddy of the social networks of today and that is because Hi5 it is indeed the most dominant Social Network in Mexico and Latin-American along with MySpace, Orkut (brazil), Sonics (Argentina) , Tagged, Net log and Live Spaces (if you see it from a social network angle). Facebook on the other hand is now the fastest growing Top Social Network right now in Mexico and in Latin-American but i doubt it can surpass MySpace.com and Hi5. so it will have to conform to the third place.
I always have used Friendster as the way to analyze Hi5, and that is not a coincidence. if they decided to merge they would not have any culture shock, style or form factor issues. they are that alike. other coincidence is that Hi5 is not known in the USA but is huge in Mexico and Latin-American, Friendster has vanished from USA mindshare but it is Huge in all Asia. so the analogy of they being the most alike top social networks that proved popular briefly in other local market but later went to have more than 80% of their user base outside of it is indeed a interesting parallelism they have.
But returning to Hi5 and Hi5 new platform, i just wish they finally do good and catch up with everything Friendster has and that it is benefited by Developers porting Widget-Apps directly from MySpace.
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