It didn’t really crossed my mind, but a recent story from GMA News mentioned the use of Friendster as one of the internet marketing tools used by senatorial candidates Chiz Escudero and Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes IV. (Just look at how cheesy Chiz’s Friester account is!)
But actually it made sense. Friendster is probably the most widely visited site by Filipinos with over 5 Million users (that’s way back in January 2006). It’s a social website and since the election is all about socializing with the electorate, the candidates are right smack in the middle of millions of potential voters. In exchange for candidates knocking on your door and shaking hands with you, you get a Friendster invite instead.
Now you can say you’re friends with a senator. *heh* If Chiz’s total number of friends is any indication of the number of votes he’ll get thru internet campaign, then he’s already counting 311.