In 2004, Orkut, a social networking site, was launched by Google but was shut down 10 years later. It was prevalent in the Brazilian market, with over 90% of Brazil’s pages viewed by users. Orkut was known for creating communities through keyword searches, such as titles, descriptions, and browsing users’ memberships.
Orkut quickly established 1,500,000 communities within a year of its launch. The most searched communities were users trying to locate classmates and friends through online schools, workplaces, and residential street groups. In 2012, eight years after launch Orkut reached 30 million users.
How was Orkut successful?
Many users, in the beginning, decided to try Orkut out because of Google’s strong reputation. There was a significant factor in joining the invite-only membership list, meaning you were well connected in the technology realm at the time. The popularity of Orkut became well known among technology workers and students.
Orkut was easy to navigate and easy to join communities. Orkut put the privacy of its users first. There was a competition among the members of how many friends you had. Orkut did a great job through connecting their users to other users or communities. Users could also recommend projects and services through community memberships.
Orkut is a great example of the connection between social media and culture. Brazil emerged as one of the strongest markets for online retailers, ranking fifth in the world. Brazil had bans on outdoor advertising, which led to a surge in online marketing. Over half of the Brazilian users had a positive outlook on online shopping.
Almost 10% of the users used social networking sites to research products; and social media users trust recommendations from online contacts more than other sources. Blogs, engagement through social gaming and incorporated online video with marketing campaigns helped brands succeed in Brazil.
What happened to Orkut?
In earlier 2014, Google made a decision to close Orkut due to the site no longer meeting the companies needs. Orkut reportedly stopped meeting the needs of the culture and its audience. There were functionality problems with the website, including blockages, limiting the number of friends, and difficulties loading and sharing photos.
Orkut struggled with the ever-changing market and limitations by providing more services to its users for brand marketing. Their audience demands of providing video marketing were needed to help meet their ever-changing marketing needs. Google had opened other social media sites that were gaining momentum.
You can still visit http://www.orkut.com, but you will see an information message from Orkut and a recommendation to join a partner company, “Hello.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, the digital landscape continues to change, and it’s essential to keeps up with the new technology. Orkut was successful, but in the end, Google ultimately shut down the site because the need was no longer there. I had never heard of Orkut until this case study, had you?
This blog is based on a case study “Orkut,” located in chapter 11 of Mahoney and Tang’s book, “Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change.” This blog is part of an assignment for a class MKT-555 “Social Media Marketing” through Southern New Hampshire University.
Hi Mary Ann!
Great job on this blog post! It was clear and easy to read. The visual you used at the beginning was good and attention-grabbing for sure. I liked how you broke up each section and used larger headers. You did an excellent job of explaining what Orkut was, what its features were, and what happened. You concluded it nicely with a short and sweet conclusion. Also, great use of a link to bring readers to Orkut’s website if they wanted to learn more! My only suggestion is that maybe add another visual somewhere in there for my eye-catching pieces.
Great work!
-Brittany A