What is the hi5 Social Network?

Although it was successfully dominated by Facebook by a longshot, I can still remember the time when Friendster was the "it" thing. You'll see computer rental shops jammed with angry teens updating their profiles and pictures, approving friends, and replying to messages and whatnot. But when Facebook arrived, nobody wanted no part of Friendster anymore. Almost all abandoned their accounts and jumped ship.

I can say that Facebook, while a social network itself, is the "social network killer." The dominant MySpace is now just a shadow of its former self. But I'm seeing a promising rise to prominence by a not yet so known social network. It's called hi5.

What is the hi5 social network I'm talking about? I've known about its existence for a few months now, but personally I don't know much about it. That is to say, I don't know much about social networks either. Aside from that Facebook fan page widget you see there on the right, I have don't have any social network account at all. I'm planning to, but I just don't want to yet.

Anyway, hi5 identifies itself as "social entertainment." But what's different about it?

• More You
  Express yourself with custom profiles, avatars, music, and more
• More Social
  Find friends and meet cool people like you from all over the world
• More Fun
  Play games, flirt, give gifts, or just hang out

From that, I can say that it's a combination of MySpace and Facebook, throw in all the social networks that have come and gone too, and voila, hi5. I think I might create my first social network account on this one.

But being realistic, I doubt that this hi5 David is going to be a match for the Facebook Goliath. Anyhow, who knows, right? Try it if you want.

'Till my next installment.