Fading of Orkut

The other day something unusual (or rather un-cool) happened in my life. A guy, not too familiar to me, sent me a friend's request through Orkut! Hearing about Orkut was like getting to hear about somebody with whom you have totally lost touch. I had almost forgotten that I still had an account in the Google-promoted social network.

While the world seems to have pressed the 'superlike' button for Facebook, Orkut seems to have faded away like a dinosaur. It is now considered quite uncool and there are even jokes surrounding it.

I don’t exactly remember when I first heard about Facebook, but I am sure it was during the high noon of Orkut’s  popularity. Orkut, back then, was the king of social networking in India and I had wondered whether FB stood any  chance. However Orkut’s popularity in the world stage was patchy with India and Brazil being its prime markets.

Lots of other social networks like Friendster, Hi Five etc could not stand the Orkut onslaught and since Orkut was free, paid social networking sites like Match and Fropper too were feeling the heat. The growing popularity of Gmail was a force multiplier for this social networking site designed by Orkut Büyükökten.

Back then, out of plain curiosity I checked out Facebook and decided to sign up as, unlike Orkut, it did not require any invites from existing members … and nearly forgot about it as I could not find anyone familiar.

The reversal of fortunes happened in a matter of few years with tectonic shift in user preferences. The 'scraps' gave way to 'status messages' and walls.

A close Bollywood parallel would be Rajesh Khanna losing his superstar mantle to Amitabh Bachchan, way back in the seventies. I remember the current Big B as the cautious novice in the movie Anand playing second fiddle to Kakaji (who then was ruling Bollywood). Soon the lanky newcomer heralded the angry young man era and Rajesh Khanna's romanticism suddenly became un-cool and he abruptly faded into oblivion. I always felt that fate was too harsh on Kakaji.

Almost the same emotion I feel towards Orkut. I remember getting an invite from one of my friends and found myself as Alice in the wonderland of social networking. Since I had finished college in the pre-internet, pre-cellphone days I could find little company and used to envy teeny boppers with friends list running into hundreds or even thousands. For nearly a year I just had the guy, who sent me the invite, as the lone member on my friend's list!

Later on the trickle began and I soon had some of my college mates on my friend's list. Still I was not much of an 'Orkutter' compared with some of my colleagues. Its growing popularity prompted some offices to block the site to avoid fall in productivity!

Meanwhile my Facebook friends' list remained blank and the trickle began much later. Soon some of my Orkut friends started adding me up in Facebook and then there was no looking back. Visits to Orkut became rarer by the day.

Looks like now even Google has given up on Orkut and is priming up Google Plus to take on Zuckerberg's Facebook.