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What is Orkut?
Named after its creator Orkut Buyukkokten, it’s a social networking site that’s owned and operated by Google. The idea was to rediscover old friends, make new ones and speak up about anything and everything. The journey started on January 24, 2004.
Why is it shutting down?
Politely put, Orkut got f****d by Facebook. A note sent out by Google on June 30 studiously avoided the F-word — and by that we mean Facebook — as it read: “Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut’s growth, we’ve decided to focus our energy and resources on making these other social platforms as amazing as possible for everyone who uses them.” Truth be told, FB killed Orkut and Google+ (the “successor” of Orkut) is still far behind FB.
Was it popular?
Extremely; till 2007-08. Though FB was rolled out in 2005 (2004 in the US), it took two-three years for people to fall in love with the features FB had to offer. In fact, such was the popularity of Orkut in Brazil that only in 2012 did FB finally eclipse the Google product. The other market where Orkut worked well was India. But with Facebook making it so much easier to discover friends and allowing users to set their privacy level, it was just a matter of time...
Can I still access Orkut?
Yes, you can, till September 30. All you have to do is log in with your Google username and password. You can also export your posts and photos to Google+ using Google Takeout (a Google project that allows users to retain their data and download them). After Orkut shuts down, its public communities or pages will be archived and preserved. If you don’t want your name or posts to be a part of this archive, delete your Orkut account.
Is there anything that Facebook can learn from Orkut?
Facebook should have something like Orkut’s theme feature using which one’s page looks colourful. Facebook is the same wherever you go –– blue, blue, blue. The theme feature allowed you to rate a friend’s crush-worthy quotient.
The death of Orkut tells us that...
First, and most importantly, no social network is forever. And, 2014 is not Brazil’s year. They lost “their Facebook” days before they lost the World Cup!
Five products in the Google graveyard
Google Wave (2009-12): A real-time messaging platform
Google Health (2008-2012): A system where users could bring together all their health records
Knol (2008-2012): Something on the lines of Wikipedia
Google Reader (2005-13): RSS reader, which kept track of content on news sites, blogs and so on
iGoogle (2005-2013): An option to personalise one’s web page
Why Orkut didn’t work
No social-sharing plug-ins: For Buzzfeed and Cracked.com addicts like us, it makes things so much easier if there are plug-ins to help share articles, photos or videos on social media platforms. Unfortunately, Orkut doesn’t provide any.
Limited business promotion: Ads are allowed on Orkut. However, one cannot share them outside the website, which basically beats the point of having advertisements in the first place.
No privacy: The only privacy you get on Orkut is the chat box. Everything else you post is available for the world to see!
No entertainment: No in-programme games or apps available.
No searchability on Google: Orkut profiles do not come up on Google Search. One can only access a profile if the person has an account on Orkut.
It’s based on two types of web-development languages: ASP on the front-end and Javascript, OpenSocial at the back-end. Application for such a combination is not easy, unlike Facebook, which is programmed on PHP. This leads to a lagging interface and repeated messages, which read: “No cookie for you!” Aargh!
Disha Raychaudhuri
Will you miss Orkut? Tell t2@abp.in
