What's the big deal about Orkut?

Okay, after all the talk about Orkut, I resisted the part of me that said "stand up for your pride, don't do it" and I joined.

My gosh, it is exactly like Yahoo Groups, except you need to be invited to join.

Plus to make you feel even cheaper, most of it has this "you're looking for the partner of your dreams aren't you, enter some interests, turn ons, and items in your bedroom, keep a list of the members you would like to review, keep a hot list, and a super hot list of members"

Ahhh, excuse me, I was kind of hoping it would have more of an intelligent/academic/business slant on it....Nope how silly I was....

Now to figure out how to close the account.....I will stick with JoS thanks.

Aussie Chick
Thursday, February 12, 2004

What?  You mean you can network online without signing up for social software?  Shhh.... don't let the VCs find out.

Thursday, February 12, 2004

> to make you feel even cheaper, most of it has this "you're looking for the partner of your dreams aren't you, enter some interests, turn ons, and items in your bedroom

> I will stick with JoS thanks

Damned if I'm going to ask anyone here what they have in their bedroom. And I definitely don't want to know whether it runs Windows or Linux, thanks.

Handcuffs, before anyone asks.
Thursday, February 12, 2004

A nice firm but soft...

...bed.

T.J.
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Orkut is an act in marketing information gathering.  They lure people with the "you need to be invited" exclusiveness.  Then you sign up as Aussie Chic did and find out its a sham.

Did we REALLY expect anything else?

Mike
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Shameful. A classic marketing tactic is to appeal to the inner child, techies who maybe weren't a part of the "cool" set in their younger years can now make up for that and join this "exclusive" club. Of course the problem is that people aren't that gullible in the real world. Or are they. ;-)

John C
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Aussie, look for a guy named Orkut (his first name) and see what he has in his bedroom. ;-)

And yes, he's the one who wrote the software.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, February 12, 2004

PS, there's a JoS group there too. I've already said that having a forum about a forum is silly, but they seemed to have ignored me.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Mark, it's a 'meta-forum'.  I'm starting a forum about the Orkut forum later today on Yahoo Groups in which we can discuss the Orkut forum's discussions about the JoS forum....

Should be working
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Hmm. Well when I asked if anyone had some dirt on Joel, since he's not in the forum yet and won't know what we say, nobody responded. Then the next post was:

"Runtimes or exes 2/9/2004 1:30 AM
What do you think is the future? Big runtimes such as .NET and Java or classic exes ?"

Which is a classic JoS question, so I don't see what's so meta about it.

In fact, this conversation is the most meta thing that's come out of it.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, February 12, 2004

As a geek I should point out that I'm thinking about writing this post on this forum to mention your post about your thinking about a forum in which you'd discuss a forum that discusses this forum.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22add+another+level+of+indirection%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=

geek
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Anyone cares to clarify how ventures like Orkut are supposed to make money? Advertising? I'm wondering if a local clone of it (I'm from a non-English speaking country) could have any business perspective...

Egor Shipovalov
Thursday, February 12, 2004

As I understand it, its only selling point is its exclusivity, which is hard to clone.  And which doesn't make much sense.

Brian
Thursday, February 12, 2004

One thing that really sucks for me is that I'm not swift at all about ridiculing meta-discussions (discussions about discussions?) nor meta-anything else.

Lessee, I THINK I know what meta-data is. It's data about data. Not bad for a literal minded electrical engineering grad, eh?

And this Orkut thing contains a group for JOS. So it's a meta-discussion about JOS? A discussion about discussions. Or is it something more abstract, like a schema for discussing JOS apart from the real JOS?

A plague of modern life appears to be excessive abstractions and levels of indirection.

Discussions like this make me feel absolutely dinosauric and stupid. Time to disconnect from the grid and pile all the wooden furniture in the middle of the floor for heating wood.

As long as I can get DSL, that is. ;-)

Now, I will start work on my XSD schema to represent the human genome. Real soon now.

Bored Bystander
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Bored, a weakness of mine is the meta-thinking that I experience as the result of some interview questions.

Christopher Wells
Thursday, February 12, 2004

LOL! Christopher, that was great!

Ricardo Antunes da Costa
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Yes, but how to explain it to an interviewer? :-(

Christopher Wells
Thursday, February 12, 2004

I (successfully) answered the "how many gas stations are there in this city?" by telling the interviewer what kinds of thought processes he wanted to see in a person who was answering that question.

Christopher Wells
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Orkut sounds a bit like old Macintosh marketing - only special people have them so, if you're special, get a Mac.

Been there
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Are people's lives so totally empty and desperate that they are attracted to the idea of an "exclusive" Internet community?

I guess so.

Joe on Software
Thursday, February 12, 2004

So the big question: why is google running a dating site!??!

Konrad
Thursday, February 12, 2004

>Are people's lives so totally empty and desperate that they are attracted to the idea of an "exclusive" Internet community?

I guess so!

But seriously that is a really lame and assuming thing to say.
I would say it is a pretty quality community, and it is only in Beta so it will more then likely improve, so if I was wanting to relax online it would be a great place to get involved in. I mean there were a heap of medieval history communities which I find very interesting, so there are many definite reasons to join.
I wouldn't knock someone for wanting to join, and I would imagine that the community only seems 'exclusive' to the tech people who know that it is meant to be, and the professional people who refuse to beg for a membership.
Eveyone else just asks the first person they find, and the only 'invite' thing, rather then an elitism item is just something annoying that they have to do. And to prove it as soon as they join they invite as many people as they possible can....

My point, come on did you really need to dish someone because they enjoy an online community? Because you think it is a dumb idea then obivously it is? If they enjoy it then let them. It has to be better then play hours of computer games, heck if I had the time and nothing better to do then I would probably actually have kept my membership....

Aussie Chick
Thursday, February 12, 2004

"...heck if I had the time and nothing better to do then I would probably actually have kept my membership...."

Sounds like a great Orkut slogan.

Orkut Outsider
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Oddly enough, the only people I know who are Internet-savvy enough to be in something like Orkut are exactly the same people who would never choose to be in it.  And further, the types who would berate me to no end for being in it.

So, I guess I won't be getting invited anytime soon.  That's OK though, as I don't have any pubescent slights to make up for by being in an "exclusive" hip club.

David
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Wow, a lot of anti-Orkut people. I think more interesting than the whole exculsivity thing once you're in Orkut is the reaction to it from the "outside."

Amazing how you can turn the simplest of programs into something that actually get's people involved emotionally... and not in the I Love My Mac kind of way.

Why does everyone insist that they're emotionally secure enough not to want to be in Orkut?

www.MarkTAW.com
Friday, February 13, 2004

>Why does everyone insist that they're emotionally secure enough not to want to be in Orkut?

This was kind of the point of my post.
I wanted to be the person who really didn’t care, but truth was I did care, I liked to think that people thought I had something to offer, and that members of an so-called ‘exclusive’ community like Orkut would want to invite me. I guess I was envisioning some sort of online ‘country club’ for computer professionals….

I was eventually invited, and when I stuck my head in I realised it was a waste of time.

This is why I started this post. How has the Orkut site managed to generate and maintain such an air of ‘exclusiveness’, when it is really no more then a pretty version of Yahoo Groups? Is it just because of the invite thing? Or is it because it is so new that the reality of what it is has not filtered through.

(Hey if you want a look, send me an email, if my account is still open I will invite you without hesitation, it is not the country club I expected).

My point, yes there is a part of a lot of people that wants to feel they are important enough to be invited, and if they don’t get invited they will pretend they don’t care (Watch the first couple of episodes of American Idol and you will see this type of reaction), but Orkut is not very special at all, half the point of Orkut is a dating service, so how has it managed to keep exuding this elite persona?

Aussie Chick
Friday, February 13, 2004

>Why does everyone insist that they're emotionally secure enough not to want to be in Orkut?

We're not actually insisting that at all. That's the point. The Orkut premise is that we really care about Orkut. We're saying, no, we don't. Go away.

Been there
Friday, February 13, 2004

My account deletion response from Orkut:
"Hi,

At your request, your orkut.com account has been deleted. Thanks for
playing.

orkut.com"

Turns out it was just a game after all...

Aussie Chick
Friday, February 13, 2004

"How has the Orkut site managed to generate and maintain such an air of ‘exclusiveness’, when it is really no more then a pretty version of Yahoo Groups?"

Google + Invite Only = Genius Marketing Campaign

www.MarkTAW.com
Friday, February 13, 2004

Funny, someone else just said the same sort of thing to me....I absolutely agree of course. Genius marketing.

Aussie Chick
Friday, February 13, 2004

Let me 'splain.

From everything I've heard, there's nothing to Orkut that's any different from any other online community OTHER than it's exclusivity.

So, the only reason that anyone would really feel a need to join is because it's exclusive.  They get to be in an exlusive group.

Without that little caveat, it's no different than Yahoo Groups, or /. or this forum.

So, my point was while I like to feel that I "belong" just like anyone else, it's not to the point where I'd join a club SOLELY for the reason that not everyone can join.

I guess there's one more factor - I'm married and not looking for dates.  Maybe if I were single, I'd be more inclined to join any groups I could in search of potential dates.  I bet that most others that have little interest (like Aussie Chick) are also married or in a stable relationship.

David
Friday, February 13, 2004

Hmm. I think curiousity would also play a large role in this. You don't know what's on the inside until you're in, you're just faced with a signup page and are told you need to be invited.

There's no way to know it's lame until you're in or told by someone it's lame (but you'd still like to see for yourself). I doubt there would be such a commotion about the ToS if it wasn't an invite only thing. I mean... just create an account with false information. But since you have to be invited in, you're less likely to do that because what you say in your profile connects you to the person who invited you. A clever use of social contract to gain market research.

Plus as was said before, there's the Google mystique.

Besides, Friendster is just too slow and too crowded, though I think their forum idea is brilliant - you can post and only people within xx degrees of you can see your post - i.e. people you actually have a chance of meeting. Though Friendster tells me I'm connected to more people than are on Orkut now (probably around 50,000 today). I wonder where Kevin Bacon is...

www.MarkTAW.com
Friday, February 13, 2004

PS I'm in a stable 10+ year relationship, and the most fun I've had on Orkut so far is writing goofy testamonials for my friends. It's just another way I can interact with them, and keep in touch with people I may not have an excuse to call as frequently as I'd like.

That and making fun of the Jos on Jos on Jos group.

www.MarkTAW.com
Friday, February 13, 2004

Has anyone known someone who's account was deleted on Monday, February 24, 2004 on the Orkut System without any forewarning and no violation of Terms of Service? Apparently, a bunch of user accounts were deleted on this day. Admin and Help @ Orkut.com were mailed with no response after a 5 day waiting period. What gives?

miss k
Friday, February 27, 2004

How Can I Join in Orkut?
I'm not a interessant person?
I'm waiting answers
To Know more about: www.fotolog.net/eric_ninja

See ya...

EriC_NiNJa
Thursday, June 10, 2004

Some friends of mine went into orkut having a lot of fun, etc, etc. But one of them was found by a not-so-friend from real life. This not-friend lied to orkut saying the other one had send spam, etc and the account of this one (the friend)was closed. Now what?

rawild
Wednesday, July 21, 2004

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