Frindster, launched back in 2003, was the first major social network the world has seen. Now, 8 year later, the once popular site is closing down and completely overhauling its agenda. The company announced this week that users have until May 31 to export the data they have stored on the site – including pictures, posts and everything in-between – because it will all be deleted.

The one dominant Friendster has seen very little if any success in the U.S, but has gain a certain traction in the Southwest Asia markets. This is why after shutting down; Friendster will become an “entertainment and fun” service focusing “mainly on Asian users.”

Analysts believe there are a number of factors and elements which contributed to the original dominant social network’s decline, starting of course with MySpace and eventually Facebook. When these 2 first emerged, they had several advantages over the than relative veteran Friendster. CNET’s Caroline McCarthy for example highlighted that the sensation factor that kicked off the social network’s early success was simply not enough to maintain its userbase. At a time when online social networking may have been considered dangerous and not mainstream, Facebook gained the upper hand.

“I knew plenty of people who created Facebook profiles as soon as the young social network was available at their colleges in 2004 because, given that it was restricted to people who shared their university affiliation, they were finally comfortable joining a social network.”

Friendster was sold out to Malaysian online payments company MOL Global in 2009, and is focusing most of its efforts in Asia. In light of its partnership with Yahoo Southeast Asia, subsequent launch of an Asia-focused music and games portal and a number of other steps, it has become clear that Friendster has given up on the social networking aspect.

Users can use a custom exporter tool to export extract photos, messages, comments, testimonials, shoutouts, blogs, forums etc, and then post them on other 3^rd party sites.