Google Puts an End to Orkut, Focuses Entirely on G+

Google Orkut

After 10 (not so) glorious years, Google decided to discontinue the Orkut social network, in order to focus all of its efforts on Google+.

On September 30, users of the Orkut social network (if any), will have to bid this service farewell, as the search giant will shut it down on that day. To be frank, I don’t consider that to be a great loss, as Orkut has become highly unpopular, and only occasionally made the news due to controversy. Fake and cloned profiles, as well as hate groups and censorship in several states is what brought Orkut again and again to public attention.

In an Orkut blog post published this past Monday, Google unveiled the reasons behind its decision: “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 bid Orkut farewell.”

If you went to Wikipedia and looked on any social network’s page, you would notice that almost each and every one of them has an approximate number of users. That’s not the case with Orkut, though, and as if that wasn’t enough to raise an eyebrow, Google declined to reveal this social network’s number of users. If that happens, it’s usually because the numbers are ridiculously low. One thing I’ll never understand is why Google had to wait for 10 years to shut down a service which was destined from the start to be unpopular.

Vic Gundotra, the head of the search giant’s social networking services, left the building in April, and since he supervised the launch of Google+ back in 2011, people started wondering if Google really has an interest in social networks.

As of July 1, people can no longer create new profiles on Orkut. Google permits the users of this social network to transfer their profiles using Google Takeout. One thing I’m certain of is that Orkut won’t be missed, as there are plenty of other sites on which we can share our most private information, so that NSA and other governmental agencies can stalk us. Not to mention that some social networks (ehm, Facebook) even conduct experiments on their users.

Additional details about Google shutting down Orkut are available on the Help section of the Orkut Support site.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the file transfers that Google introduced in GTalk, and Google+ Stories.

Google Puts an End to Orkut, Focuses Entirely on G+

Google Orkut

After 10 (not so) glorious years, Google decided to discontinue the Orkut social network, in order to focus all of its efforts on Google+.

On September 30, users of the Orkut social network (if any), will have to bid this service farewell, as the search giant will shut it down on that day. To be frank, I don’t consider that to be a great loss, as Orkut has become highly unpopular, and only occasionally made the news due to controversy. Fake and cloned profiles, as well as hate groups and censorship in several states is what brought Orkut again and again to public attention.

In an Orkut blog post published this past Monday, Google unveiled the reasons behind its decision: “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 bid Orkut farewell.”

If you went to Wikipedia and looked on any social network’s page, you would notice that almost each and every one of them has an approximate number of users. That’s not the case with Orkut, though, and as if that wasn’t enough to raise an eyebrow, Google declined to reveal this social network’s number of users. If that happens, it’s usually because the numbers are ridiculously low. One thing I’ll never understand is why Google had to wait for 10 years to shut down a service which was destined from the start to be unpopular.

Vic Gundotra, the head of the search giant’s social networking services, left the building in April, and since he supervised the launch of Google+ back in 2011, people started wondering if Google really has an interest in social networks.

As of July 1, people can no longer create new profiles on Orkut. Google permits the users of this social network to transfer their profiles using Google Takeout. One thing I’m certain of is that Orkut won’t be missed, as there are plenty of other sites on which we can share our most private information, so that NSA and other governmental agencies can stalk us. Not to mention that some social networks (ehm, Facebook) even conduct experiments on their users.

Additional details about Google shutting down Orkut are available on the Help section of the Orkut Support site.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the file transfers that Google introduced in GTalk, and Google+ Stories.

Google kills its first social network Orkut


Google is shutting down Orkut, the company's first social networking website. Created 10 years ago, Orkut was the brainchild of Orkut Büyükkökten, a Turkish software engineer and former product...

Google kills its first social network Orkut


Google is shutting down Orkut, the company's first social networking website. Created 10 years ago, Orkut was the brainchild of Orkut Büyükkökten, a Turkish software engineer and former product...

Facebook Turns To India For Growth


Facebook loves India, and for good reason. The country trails only the United States in active users, with around 114 million. The country is young, tech savvy, and slowly becoming upwardly mobile....

Google offers unified profiles, begins merging Orkut with Google+

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Orkut has announced that users of Google's other social network can now use both from a unified profile. Those who plump for the change will find their details merged (using your Google+ credentials) and will now be subject to the same privacy and sharing settings. While popular in Brazil and India, Orkut hasn't been a high priority project for Mountain View for a long time, so it's easy to see this as a move to push big swathes of people to make a move onto the company's newest favorite son.

Google offers unified profiles, begins merging Orkut with Google+ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 10:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google brings better YouTube integration to Orkut, hopes you haven’t forgotten

Google brings better YouTube integration to Orkut, hopes you haven't forgotten
Remember Orkut? You know, one of Google's early efforts at diving into the social networking game. Well, the website's still operating at full force, with more than three quarters of its 66 million users coming from Brazil and India alone. The point is, Big G's still keeping tabs on the O network, thus the news of an improved YouTube integration shouldn't come as a surprise. With the fresh features, Orkut folks are able to watch / listen to videos without having to step out of their current session, saving them an extra trip to YouTube's site. Of course, similar to Facebook or Orkut's more popular relative Google+, friends can see whether you're watching kitty vids or Kony 2012. Você é um Orkut? Cross your fingers and hope it doesn't get the axe anytime soon.

Google brings better YouTube integration to Orkut, hopes you haven't forgotten originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceOrkut Blog  | Email this | Comments