Chapter #6 : Why did Orkut Failed??

Most of us would not know the fact that Google+ was not the first social networking platform by Google, it was Orkut!! Yes Orkut was Google’s first shot to connect the world together through the concept of a vastly unknown territory of Social Networking. Although Facebook was launched just a month after Orkut, Orkut enjoyed some sort of monopoly for quite some time only to fall later and die an unprecedented death through the hands of its very own people !!

The Rise:-

• Orkut was founded on 24 January 2004 and developed by Orkut Buyukkokten.It was one of the first and most popular social networking website available in late 2000.
  
• Initially, the major population of Orkut users were from the United States with a share of 51.35% of its users, followed by Japan, Brazil and so on.
• In the later years, Brazil and India made most of Orkut’s traffic with 53.5% and 18.4% of users respectively.
  
•  With an Orkut profile, you could maintain your scrapbook, rate your friends’ profile or even form groups of friends and family, conduct community polls, etc.
• The popularity of Orkut at a point of time could be estimated by the point below that Marrisa Mayer made.
  

The Fall:-

• Slow Speed:-The initially easy to use website, after its several redesigns and increasing popularity became cumbersome for the users to access. It took a long time for the site to load due to the increased number of users in a relatively less period of time, which added much load to the existing servers.
  
•  Complex Features:-Though Orkut was redesigned many times after its launch, its new features were neither engaging nor were they in relevance to simplification of usage. This pushed away the users to try Facebook as the taskbar with the notification, messages and friends icons made it easy and fascinating for users due to its simple approach and constant update. 
  
• Privacy Issues:-In Orkut, the user privacy concerns were neglected and stagnant. The platform allowed anyone to view anyone’s profile and his contact information (if it was added by the user), unless the person was on a person’s ignore list.This made many people move to Facebook which appeared to be a safer platform for them.
• Non-Business Friendly:-Orkut was just limited to personal interactions and did not enhanced it to a business friendly environment. Whereas, Facebook generated its revenue by ads that worked in synergy with all of the parties involved. Also, Facebook’s growing network with time made it an easy platform for business expansion and advertisement.
• Lack of innovation:-The online games on Facebook were a fascinating feature. It added to its complete package for the users which eventually led to people spending more time on Facebook other than just scrolling down news feeds or sending messages.But nothing of the sort clicked in Orkut.

The Death:-

• The case with Orkut was a clear case example of succumbing to the competition.
• On one hand where FB was loading its platform with novel and engaging tools to make it more realtable and beneficial for the world, Orkut remained SILENT.
  
• Moreover,Google's focus on other budding projects like Youtube and Google+ resulted in complete ignorance of Orkut.
• Google had lost its hope on Orkut way back , but it became evident when it launched Google+ in direct competition with FB and Orkut.
  
• On September 30 of the year 2014,it was finally decided that Orkut would be dissolved by Google, with a parting note in its last Orkut blog.