Difference between revisions of "Orkut.com"

Orkut - Social Networking

Orkut.com is the online social networking service operated by Internet giant Google that competes directly with the likes of Friendster, Facebook and MySpace. Its cutting edge is that Orkut does its competitors one better by providing special forums or "communities" where members can exchange views and ideas.

Launched in January 2004, Orkut.com is named after Orkut Büyükkökten, the Google employee who created the service. Originally an invitation-only network, Orkut's membership quickly surpassed the one million mark in July and had reached two million by end-September. The service opened its doors to the public in October 2006 and, with over 43.46 million members as of February 2007, it is now one of the most popular online venues for meeting new people and maintaining relationships.

How It Works

Orkut.com is an excellent venue for meeting new friends who share a user's interests or hobbies or for making new romantic and business contacts. To join, a user simply creates a profile and registers a user name and password. Once done, the new member can start adding friends and sending messages to other members.

Unlike other social networking sites, Orkut.com allows members to join a vast array of different communities where they can interact with old college friends, search for new romantic interests or discuss anything and everything under the sun.

Features

Users can attach various ratings to their list of contacts, including "Best Friends", "Good Friends", "Friends", "Acquaintances" and "Haven't met”. You can also tag your friends as "love", "fine" or "Trustworthy" on a scale of 1 to 3. One of the most popular features is the “Crush List” where members can add any other member who catches their fancy. If both parties add the other to their respective Crush Lists, then they are informed of such and encouraged to communicate directly.

Unlike other social networking websites which prevent users from viewing the profiles of others who are not on their contact list, Orkut has no such restriction. Anyone can view everyone else's profile. However, there is also an “Ignore List” where members can list down others who they want to ban from viewing their profile or sending them messages.

Popularity in Brazil

Although Orkut.com traces its roots to the USA, it has a very high percentage of Brazilian members, with 55.78% of the total Orkut community coming from that country, followed by the USA (18.94%) and India (14.06%). Usage is also noteworthy in Pakistan (1.45%), Iran (0.71%), the United Kingdom (0.61%), Japan (0.43%), Portugal (0.41%), Canada (0.37%) and Mexico (0.36%).

Languages

Portuguese

English

Gujarati

Contact

Additional Information

Related Domains

External Links

• Alexa: Orkut.com