Main Reasons For The Failure Of Orkut

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Sandhya Raju

Aug 4, 2021 — 8 min read

Social media has become crucial for everyone. People of different age groups, teenagers and adults have social media accounts and they use them for various purposes. Social media is basically technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, photos, ideas, videos, and so on.

These days, there are a lot of different social media platforms and the emergence of advanced platforms led to the Orkut downfall. Social media can help share details with the public and also meet other people who are available on the platform. It doesn’t stop there. Social media is now used for marketing and it has proved to be one of the best sources of marketing. The use of social media has been increasing since it came into existence. Orkut was one of the very earliest social media platforms. Orkut founder is a Turkish engineer named Orkut Büyükkökten.

Orkut was Google’s first step towards social media and it was extremely successful. Orkut was launched in the year 2004 and had a lot of competitors like Yahoo messenger, skype, etc. Orkut could very easily get ahead of all the competitors. It could make it through with 3 times more users than Facebook. All these were in the Orkut's initial stages. Even India and Brazil had a lot of users for Orkut. Keep reading to find out about the rise and fall of Orkut.

Orkut Features
The differences between Orkut and other Social Media Platforms
Reasons behind Orkut's Failure
Frequently Asked Questions

Orkut Features

The top features of Orkut were

the Orkut profile allowed the user to add friends and message them privately
sending scraps to people (which was visible to everyone)
posting images and videos
option of liking each other activity
Orkut games and community polls were a popular feature
a unique Orkut feature is customizing themes
Rating your friends and becoming each other's fans

The differences between Orkut and other Social Media Platforms

When Orkut started it was just like other social media platforms but with some differences. These differences might have been the reason for their success initially. It had features wherein one can create an account, manage a profile, and so on. Orkut had one good feature that other platforms did not have. There was an option for ‘crush list’ and we can customize themes on this platform. This was not available on any other platform. Other than this, the working of Orkut was similar to the working of other platforms. The Orkut login and interface was quite easy but it lacked other features.

Reasons behind Orkut's Failure

In the year 2014, Orkut was shut down. So why did Orkut fail? It was because it did not have a very good user base and most users started shifting to other social media platforms from Orkut. There were a lot of reasons for this. this, Google was closed to shut down Orkut. The main reason for this was the emergence of other social media platforms that were in most ways better than Orkut. Here, let us analyze the reasons for Orkut’s failure.

One main reason for the failure of Orkut was the competitors growing much faster.

1. Privacy

People love posting on social media and maintaining a profile but at the same time, they expect some privacy. One of the biggest reasons why Orkut was closed, was because everyone could see anyone’s profile and also personal information and contact details. You could stop someone from seeing your profile only if you put them on your block list. Facebook had a few privacy settings and options to show the profile and other details only to people who are added to your friends' list. This made a few users switch to Facebook, one of Orkut’s leading competitors as it looked much safer than Orkut.

2. Speed

The website was initially fast and worked perfectly well but later, after a few redesigns, it became very slow and the loading took a lot of time. Also, with the number of users increasing, it became a bigger issue. The existing server was not enough to handle so many users and hence the uses had to wait for a long time to reach the landing page. Also, when Orkut was in the initial stage, the average internet speed was quite low.

3. Not Very User-friendly

Initially, Orkut was very easy to use and this attracted a lot of users. The redesigns were very complicated and most of the additions were even irrelevant to the concept of Orkut. Facebook and other social media using were found to be easier than this one. Users see social media as a source for entertainment, fun, and relaxation and hence they expect it to be very simple. Orkut shut down reason being that people started deleting their accounts on the platform.

4. Not Mobile-friendly

As Orkut started becoming famous, mobiles and other smaller devices started becoming popular and most users preferred using the same. With this, Orkut could not cope with the changes. Orkut found it very difficult while Facebook catered to customer needs. Also, since it was slow, it was not very comfortable for the users to use it on mobile devices.

5. Google Diverted Its Attention Towards Google+

Google being very successful and developing, started focusing on other projects that were unique like YouTube. With the introduction of Google+, which is also a social media platform that had more features, Google wasn’t giving enough importance to Orkut.

6. Users Preferred Facebook

Customers and users found that Facebook was better for them than Orkut. Facebook had the ability to update quickly to users’ needs. They were able to find out exactly what the user needs and update the website accordingly. Adding the privacy feature was one of the best decisions that Facebook had taken. If only Orkut had tried this first, they would have been in the market for a little while.

7. Not Business Friendly

Orkut was limited to personal interactions, while Facebook became the platform for online marketing and advertisements. Facebook also had many additional features such as games, liking posts and sharing which are crucial for marketing whereas Orkut lacked those features.

Conclusion

With this growing trend, it is very important for companies to work on capturing customers and work more towards retaining customers. Orkut failed in all of this. Market trends and customer psychologies keep changing and Facebook and other social media sites were changing according to it but Orkut failed to do the same and instead they made it more complicated.

Also, Google, on knowing all this, could have worked more on Orkut and made it better. Google also proved to be successful in other ways. From Orkut, there is one lesson that startups and other companies can learn. Coping with competitors is extremely important. Orkut, being launched by Google, could do it but still failed to do so.

Also, all customers expect a lot of things from companies and it is the company’s duty to fulfil all of it or at least some of it. Orkut failed in that too. Very small mistakes have led to the shutting down of a company that was started by Google. After all, little drops of water make a mighty ocean and hence little mistakes that companies do can put them in a very bad place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Orkut still working?

Shutdown. On June 30, 2014, Google announced that Orkut would be shutting down completely on September 30, 2014. Users could export their photo albums before the final shutdown date. Orkut profiles, scraps, testimonials, and community posts could be exported until September 2016.

Who invented Orkut?

Orkut Büyükkökten. Named after its creator Orkut Büyükkökten, a Turkish engineer, the social media platform enjoyed unparalleled popularity in Brazil and India, especially among the 20-somethings. Today, they remember Orkut as something they 'did' before Facebook.

Why did Orkut fail and Facebook succeed?

Facebook was the main reason behind Orkut's failure. Though redesigned several times Orkut was not able to retain its user base. Facebook kept it as simple as it could for the user so Orkut's loss was Facebook's gain. Orkut never tried really to take up to revive itself.

Is Orkut coming back?

Orkut might come back but rename as Hello

Why did Orkut shut down?

Orkut was one of the most visited sites in countries like India and Brasil in 2008. However, it had to be shut down due to the growing legal issues.

Orkut vs Facebook, which is better?

Facebook is better than Orkut because it has more security, while Orkut has less chance of malware.

When did Orkut shut down?

Orkut was shut down by Google in 2014.

What happened to Orkut?

Many other social media sites became more popular than Orkut so the users shifted to them.

Which countries are the biggest users of Orkut?

Orkut is popular in countries such as Brazil, Paraguay, India, Pakistan, Portugal.

Who is the owner of Orkut?

Google is the owner of Orkut, while the Orkut founder is Orkut Büyükkökten

Orkut or Facebook which came first?

Orkut came out in 2004 just ten days before Facebook was launched.

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