It was initially promoted by the greeting card industry; evidence from social networking sites shows a revival of interest in Friendship Day that may have grown with the spread of the internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.

[3] The event was co-sponsored by the U.N. Department of Public Information and Disney Enterprises, co-hosted by Kathy Lee Gifford.

[10] The game of the Invisible Friend (Amigo Invisible) is considered a tradition, in which small sheets of paper with names are given to members of a group and each of them secretly selects on another, and on 30 July gives a present to the person whose name was written on the paper.

The objective was to recognize true friendship and differentiate it from love and the celebration of Valentine's Day.

He sent 1,000 letters to contacts from the Rotary Club around the world while the Apollo 11 was still in space and received 700 responses that kickstarted the celebration.

For instance, in 2005, the amount of well-wishing messages and calls led to a breakdown of the mobile phone network in the cities of Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Córdoba and Rosario, comparable to the one experienced in 2004 on Christmas and New Year's Day.

[15][additional citation(s) needed] In India, Friendship Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in the month of August.

College students generally wear a white t-shirt on that day and they write each other’s names or friendship quotes on it.