KUALA LUMPUR - Social networking site Friendster accepted a buyout offer from Malaysia's MOL Global, which hopes to generate revenue from the site using micropayments.

One of the first social networking sites, Friendster was among the most popular Internet sites before it was eclipsed by new entrants, including Facebook and MySpace.

While Friendster eventually lost traction among users in most major markets, the company remained popular in Southeast Asia.

Friendster says 90 % of its traffic comes from Asia. In August, the site had 20 million active users from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

MOL and Friendster, which is privately held, did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition deal.

The buyout extends a partnership between the two companies, announced in October.

Under the terms of that deal, MOL will provide a payment platform for Friendster's e-commerce services, Friendster Wallet and Friendster Gift Shop, where users can buy virtual gifts for friends.

Friendster Wallet allows users to make purchases at the online Gift Shop using virtual currency. Users buy the virtual currency, called Friendster Coins, using top-up cards sold at physical shops, such as convenience stores.

"The new combined entity will now build upon that initial set of products to deliver a content distribution network and e-commerce platform," the companies said in a statement.

Friendster beats face book in M'sia

In addition, MOL plans to use the other business interests of its main shareholder to attract more users to Facebook. Those businesses include franchises in Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asia for Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Borders, Krispy Kreme, Wendy's, and Papa John's Pizza, the statement said.

Meanwhile in SIBU, a finding by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) showed that Friendster beat Facebook and Myspace as the favourite global social networking website among Malaysians.

This was disclosed by the deputy director for MCMC Security, Trust and Governance Department of Monitoring and Enforcement Division, Rafidah Mat Isa.

Rafidah was one of three facilitators at a 'Protecting Children In Cyberspace' workshop jointly organised by MCMC and Information Department Sibu at a hotel here.

"Children opted for Friendster. Their parents were using Facebook and they do not want a 'place' where there are adults," she said.

On a related matter, she said MCMC had so far investigated 85 cases for various offences under the Communication and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998.

"Nine cases were investigated under Section 233(1)(B) of CMA 1998 for making crank calls to 999 (emergency number), 25 cases under Section 233 (1) (A) and 51 cases under Section 211/233 (1) (A) of the same act.

"Section 211 is for sending offensive, obscene, indecent, menacing emails/websites or blogs while 233(1)(A) is for sending offensive, obscene, indecent, menacing or false SMS," she explained.