Jonathan Abrams's Sunnyvale social networking site — the first viral social network (reaching 3 million users before MySpace or Facebook) — famous for its early traction, technical failures that drove away users, and refusal of a $30M Google acquisition offer.
Proves the social network concept at scale before Facebook — Friendster's early viral growth (the network effect was understood through Friendster) and its technical collapse (the 'Friendster Tax' of slow load times driving users away) are the canonical example of early social network failure.
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