I knew almost nothing about Friendster and I found the article captivating. Maybe you already knew the important bits?
Some stories are written in newspaper style like you describe. This is written in a storytelling style - much more informative for most of the audience who know very little of friendship.
It does fail lesson #1 of journalism though: put the important bits at the beginning, not the end. It was tedious to read through a history I already knew.