Why does a platform die? Diagnosing platform death at Friendster’s end

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study of shuttered social network Friendster draws on interviews with 13 former employees to explore the discursive negotiation of this platform’s death. It chronicles the four central ways that employees related to Friendster’s end: through three diagnoses of the reasons behind its closure, or through claiming its persistence in platforms that thrive today. Arguing for the utility of technological death as a lens–especially within Silicon Valley techno-cultures saturated with death discourses–this article critically analyses these narratives to reveal otherwise obscured power dynamics, especially in regard to platforms’ purported support of global community. Finally, the article notes how death discourses are productive within Silicon Valley techno-cultures, as employees mobilize these failures as instructive assets in their careers.