Forgive us for not noticing sooner, but last week Google’s social network Orkut announced that it is rolling out a complete redesign. The new site is faster and, like every other social network these days, puts the activity stream front and center. Orkut has actually reduced the number of pages so that the most popular actions can all be done from the home stream. For instance, there is now in-line commenting for status updates, photos, and videos. And the various notifications (”friend requests, testimonials, community requests or birthday announcements”) have all been consolidated onto the homepage as well.
Orkut also now has video chat, in addition to regular text IM. Access to other Google properties such as Gmail, maps, and search are now integrated at the top of the homepage. Profile pages are more customizable, and photo uploads are faster.
The changes come at a time when Orkut is seeing major encroachments by Facebook in its strongest markets of India and Brazil (despite its efforts to make it hard for Orkut users to switch).
Google’s social network definitely needs a refresh. In September, it attracted 51 million unique visitors across the world, down from 54.5 million in July, according to comScore. Facebook is about six times larger than Orkut worldwide, and even Twitter recently surpassed it with 58.4 million global visitors just to Twitter.com.
Can the stream save Orkut, or is it too late?
Hat tip to reader Anand Srinivasan
I am using the new Orkut, got the invitation. But frankly telling you, its useless. Its much confusing and compared to facebook n twitter..its nothing.
They have just used AJAX, nothing new added to actual orkut.
Do you have any invites left ?
Read the official Orkut blog posting (READ the TC article and go to Orkut’s blog), there you find information about how to get an invitation
Note that the new look orkut is only available by invite (similar to Google Wave)
Can I get one ?
Way too late. Google has never devoted enough attention to Orkut and now they’re playing catch-up. Without something majorly innovative that the masses can easily use, the tide will be almost impossible to turn back into Orkut’s favor.
i agree, facebook has over 300 million users, the only real contender at this point is myspace. and as we all know myspace is in a losing ground right now
Great point. After everybody and their grandmom gets on facebook I predict that the cool kids will migrate back to myspace (or some other network that has scale during that time. And twitter is not it).
The 30/40/50+ something aged people on Techcrunch didn’t know this
You are so right. I’ve noticed that many months ago. Lots of kids are spending lesser time on FB due to this.
p.s I left FB 5 months ago and moved to Netlog. Reason? My aunts and mom were on it. Such a shame.
Who even uses that?
India and Brazil have the highest usage of Orkut all over the world. People are killing in Brazil for a new invite!
Frankly i hate facebook and myspace UI. I love the simplicity of Orkut.
ever wonder why orkut is not on Goog’s homepage? the focus has never been social networking. meaningless battles to a monetary behemoth?
We get the Orkut link on Google India home page and its probably true for Brazil too. Guess they have given up on other markets
Lots of people in India are still using Orkut. I have many friends who still have profiles in Orkut only and also few friends who have facebook account but still they are active in Orkut.
Also note that Orkut souce code has been completely re-written from scratch in Google Web Toolkit (like Google Wave).
Ya..its available only by invite…I am still waiting to get a wave invite which a fren has sent a week back:(god knows when i will get an invite for this…and they have a new community in orkut called ‘get the new orkut’…
There is something about Google that has special appeal for Indians…I mean not just Orkut but anything Google. Facebook will not become famous in India as long as Google keep supporting Orkut… and this latest facelift given to Orkut shows that Google hasn’t given up on Indian & Brazilian support either.
If Indians and Brazilians want their own social network separate from the rest of the world, that’s fine with us. Enjoy your isolation.
LOL, a yank talking about isolation! God, you guys don’t even know whats going on outside of your own country, and you’re lecturing others. Geez!
Hi Troll,
Hardly isolation. It makes sense to use a service that the majority of the people in your country (i.e you know) use..
hehe! Isolation? how funny….dude, the future belongs to BRIC nations and wether one likes it or not, it’s gonna be India, Brazil, China……where the real action will be. Why do you think facebook had to launch a completely different and lite version for India, if it were not important. For whatever reasons, the real growth ends with us (india). Social networking is at a very nascent stage in India, when it shows its true colors, probably, all americans/europeans may have to create their own orkut accounts to be part of the action……….
~No offense meant.
~ I have couple of orkut invites left. lemme know if u want one!
i am old user of Orkut in Canada, I dont see GUI update…
The New GUI is invite-only… U will find it soon.
I love google, soon i’ll use orkut.
when many of friends use this, i’ll use it too!
Google playing catch up for a change
Just got the invitation…I am not impressed. All social networks will die eventually. What’s the point of this after all …. lol
H
All people die too. So what’s the point of doing anything?
This is really going to help Twitter and Facebook. Let me explain how:
In India people are not much familiar with status updating. They know scrapping friends to keep up with them. Because Orkut has wide reach in India, lot of people will get to know status updating thing. And once they find themselves comfortable with this, they will probably shift to better sites like Twitter and Facebook. So in my point of view Orkut is killing their core concept. Why would anyone use Orkut if guys at Orkut don’t believe in their core concept?
Few reasons why Orkut hit popularity in Brazil and India were –
1) The Scraps which are nothing but Wall posts on Facebook .
2) Communities like city names, etc which let you express what you believe and where you belong which is nothing but “Be a Fan” and “Member of” on Facebook. (Facebook has a higher standard of letting people be affiliated as they check email domain)
3) Ability to see more information of “Friends of Friends”. (Facebook has higher standards of privace)
Orkut only serves as a stepping stone to facebook for many people. Moreover Facebook has a lite version which is a boon for people with slow connections and data usage concerns and has an excellent mobile app and 3rd party app framework
I dont see any UI change helping Orkut. moving from the defunct ASP based to GWT python based UI may not appeal as much as FB.
If I were to write a step by step guide for Indian and Brazilian users of how Facebook is better than Orkut – there wont be much time before people move En-Masse out of Orkut.
so long suckers at GOOG
Waiting for your step by step guide.
Here’s the comparision!
Oldest orkut (http://bit.ly/fthMO) & now the new orkut (http://bit.ly/alPg9)...
Getting more n more like FB…
Here’s the comparision!
Oldest orkut (http://bit.ly/fthMO) and now the new orkut (http://bit.ly/alPg9)...
More n more like FB…
The oldest version was so cool… they lost it all trying to ape facebook
I got an invite from a friend ..
The newest orkut .. is more like like FB confirmed.. but only the homepage UI..
U get to comment on status updates.. like FB..
some Ajax style page loading.. so once u click scrapbk.. only some portion of page loads.. u can scroll down the complete friendlist(rightside)..
But once u click .. more info or settings.. etc.. u will again see the old UI exactly same…
However, its a bit faster… wishing some ‘real’ updates come in features.. not just UI..
The stream will stop the bleeding.
how come twitter has become the measure of everything?
Orkut realy needs to change it’s name for a start.
Here’s an idea. Change the name to something that actually means something to users in America. The name is repulsive and a terrible marketing decision. I don’t even know how to pronounce it
Why do they keep Google Wave and New Orkut invite-only?
beta phase…
Hi,
I am currently using orkut and facebook i always choose orkut as my regular usage..
Because orkut was really nice social site and this article giving me info about orkut so i really like it..