Social networking service Friendster has been searching for a way to monetize its 8+ million members while keeping them more active.  Their new effort: blogging.  The company has partnered with another hot Silicon Valley start-up and blogging leader, Typepad, to offer blogs to their members.  ZDNet reports that the company will offer a free version with ads, and pay versions that are similar to the accounts you can get direct from Typepad.

The connection between blogging and so-called social networking has been obvious for a while. The goal of Friendster seems to be matchmaking, and blogs are a much better way to get to know people than static profiles. But blogs - done right - are a social tool in and of themselves. The right approach to add value is to tighly integrate social tools with blogs, to make it easy to find blogs of interest and to keep up with your favorites.

- Adam