"When you see anything working, follow it as far and as quickly as you can. Uhm, we didn't even get to that stage because we were having trouble following other technology." — Friendster CEO Kent Lindstrom, admitting that the once-pioneering social network he runs has trouble keeping up with competitors. The original Vator.tv video in which he made these comments has been yanked offline. Anyone keep a copy? Send it in. [Epicenter]

Forgotten social network Friendster surprisingly not dead, increases May pageviews by 40%. [VentureBeat]

Friendster, thought dead, sighted in Manila. [Wall Street Journal]

Well, really just more about Jules Spehar. Yesterday we got a little huffy about the two "25 year olds" who considered themselves "financially independent" because they cover the $3,800 rent on their W. Vil duplex with only a little bit of help from Jules's mommy. Today, an irate tipster demands of us, "How did you miss Jules's Friendster page?" We were thinking about civil rights, okay? Anyway, rest assured that no such omissions will happen in future; we've learned our lesson. We've also learned that Jules Spehar's "favorite books" include "Einstein's Dreams, Haruki Murakami's books, Man's Search for Meaning, Idiot's Guide's [sic], Fodors travel guides, The Week, NYTimes Style section, WWD."

Also, MySpace is gay. Friendster? SO gay. We've said it for years, and now we have science on our side:

The New York Times covered a lot of ground in writing about the net this weekend, but I noticed a weird trend:

After News Corp. threatened to sue his publisher if they published his expos

Board the windows! Get out your bat! Don't say the "zed" word! Friendster is back from the dead!

• Campbell Brown, you naughty girl! The Today show interim co-host flashes her inexplicable ankle tat — no idea what that's supposed to be, but she really should've gone for a fairy or a dolphin. [Animal]
• "Management thought it was very important that Dan Abrams hire someone he wouldn't try to fuck." [FishbowlNY]
• Remember Friendster? Vaguely, even? They've been awarded a patent for their search methods and may be awarded another in the near future. MySpace pretends to shake in its enormous boots. [WSJ]
• Scarlett Johansson is becoming increasingly suspect of touching human petri dish Wilmer Valderrama. [HWoW]
• Who doesn't want to see John Stossel get slapped? [iFilm]
• Fall asleep to the sounds of Brooklyn hipsters and enjoy your inevitable nightmares on Bedford street. [BrooklynRadio]
• Palm Beach Police Chief thinks naughty financier Jeffrey Epstein is getting off easy (ba dum dum). [The Blotter]

The game is over, and Friendster lost.

• Google launches a tool to show advertisers when they're getting screwed by clickfraud. Will it give the same dire results that this independent tool gives? [BusinessWeek]

• Bill Gates says Vista will be ready in January. Unless it won't. [MSNBC]

Friendster inventor Jonathan Abrams ripped off a pal's business networking idea and slapped a dating model on it, according to Sean Ness. Sean tells major blog Boing Boing:

Friendster might actually find a buyer now that it's won a patent for social networks. The Red Herring reports that the patent is broad enough to cover activity on several other sites. Friendster's president won't say how aggressively his company will bully its competitors into buying licenses.

Corporate recruiters work just like Gawker Media (and just like you before a blind date), the New York Times reveals — by sniffing around the MySpace and Facebook profiles of prospective hires. In a sloppily researched article (no, MySpace is not only two years old), the Times checks out how this phenomenon screws perfectly cool people over. Tien Nguyen (pictured) lost interview chances because he was clever. Other kids are getting turned down for having, well, great enthusiasm for their line of work:

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers kicked out partner Russ Siegelman, according to a trusted source. The former Microsoft employee, who once reported directly to Bill Gates, won't be part of KPCB's next fund. Was the bigshot VC firm sick of seeing its property Friendster languish under Siegelman's partnership? Or was he just bumped out to make room for another hotshot?

The New York Times (they are so loveable today!) features Orkut, Google's you're-nobody-til-somebody-loves-you social network invaded by Brazilians in 2004. Over 2 of every 3 Orkut users are registered as Brazilians, and if you trust some massaged numbers, nearly every regular Internet user in Brazil has a profile.

Hey, MySpacers! It's Puppet Tom, the dummy who's everyone's buddy! And in his first vlog post, he's giving Friendster founder Jon Abrams (poor guy can't get a break today) a beatdown.

Wired News runs a trend story (journalism rule #42: three weak stories make a trend story) on antisocial networking. The tipping point: Full-blown parody site Snubster. It's the Hot New Joke (and by "new" I mean "dated as 'I'm Rick James, bitch'") that's turning into a healthy little community. It's not the first joke-cum-business.

Consumating's founding hottie Ben Brown found this sign across the street from his San Fran South-of-Market office. Socializr? Hadn't heard that one yet. And Socializr.com is just a cartoon: