Hi5 Transitioning Nicely to Becoming the Social Game Based Network

Hi5 used to be a very basic social network which competed with Myspace, Facebook, Bebo and Friendster. Since the main social network fight is over, Hi5 decided to choose a specific segment and focus on that. Hi5 is now a games focused social network which has just raised $14 million in second round funding.

Hi5 is planning to use the funding to expand its reach in social games and virtual goods. All of the games on Hi5 are free to play, but they also have virtual good options that users seems to be very happy to pay real money for.

To date, Hi5 has raised $34 million. That’s no small chunk of change, but it’s a pittance compared to what Facebook has raised. San Francisco-based Hi5 still has tens of millions of users and much of its fan base is overseas; it ranks as one of the world’s top 20 web sites.