Orkut's Rise and Fall

Orkut was launched in 2004 by Google, and it quickly gained popularity in India and Brazil.

It was a social networking site that allowed users to create profiles, connect with friends, and share content.

Orkut's user base grew rapidly, reaching 100 million registered users by 2009.

The site's popularity was fueled by its ease of use and the fact that it was free.

Orkut's community features, such as scrapbooks and communities, allowed users to connect with others who shared similar interests.

However, Orkut also faced criticism for its lack of security and moderation, which led to the spread of spam and cyberbullying.

Despite its flaws, Orkut remained a popular social networking site until its decline in the late 2000s.

Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004 by Orkut Büyükkökten, a Turkish software engineer.

Orkut Büyükkökten developed Orkut as an independent project while working at Google.

He had previously worked for Affinity Engines, where he developed a similar system called InCircle.

InCircle was intended for use by university alumni groups.

In late June 2004, Affinity Engines filed suit against Google, claiming that Büyükkökten and Google had based Orkut on InCircle code.

The allegation is based on the presence of 9 identical bugs in Orkut that also existed in InCircles.

Orkut's interface was quite different from other social networking sites like Facebook. Initially, users could evaluate their friends as "Trustworthy", "Cool", or "Sexy" on a scale of 1 to 3, which was aggregated as a percentage.

Each member could also customize their profile preferences and restrict information that appears on their profile from their friends and/or others. This was a unique feature that set Orkut apart from other social networking sites.

Users could also add videos to their profile from either YouTube or Google Video, and even create polls for their community of users.

Orkut's features were quite unique, especially when it first launched. Users could become a fan of any of their friends and rate them as "Trustworthy", "Cool", or "Sexy" on a scale of 1 to 3, which was then aggregated as a percentage.

One of the standout features was the ability to customize profile preferences and restrict information that appears on their profile from friends and others. This was a big deal back then, as it gave users more control over their online presence.

Each member could also add any other member to their "Crush List", which was a fun way to express interest in someone without having to send a message or friend request. This feature was definitely a hit with users.

Orkut's interface was also quite colorful, with a wide range of themes available, although they were only accessible in Brazil and India. This added a fun touch to the site and helped users personalize their experience.

Here's a breakdown of Orkut's traffic by country on March 31, 2004:

By September 30, 2014, the traffic had shifted significantly, with Brazil and India becoming the top two countries:

These changes in traffic reflect the evolving nature of social media and the way users interact with each other online.

Security was a major concern for Orkut users back in the day. In fact, Susam Pal and Vipul Agarwal published a security advisory on June 22, 2007, highlighting authentication issues that could lead to session hijacking and misuse of legitimate accounts.

These vulnerabilities were especially problematic in cybercafes or in cases of man-in-the-middle attacks. They could be exploited to hijack Google and Gmail sessions and misuse the compromised account of a legitimate user under certain conditions.

Joseph Hick's experiment showed that even after a user logs out, their session remains alive for 14 days. This means a hijacked session could be used for 14 days by the hijacker, as logging out did not kill the session.

Orkut's security issues were not fixed at the time, leaving users vulnerable to these types of attacks.

Orkut's first redesign happened on August 25, 2007, introducing round corners and soft colors to the interface.

The new design included small logotype at the upper left corner and improvements to the way users viewed their friends, with 9 friends displayed on the homepage and profile page.

Orkut also added an "Updates from your friends" box on the homepage, showing real-time updates when friends made changes to their profiles, photos, and videos.

The redesign allowed users to keep some information private with an opt-out button on the settings page, and scraps were HTML-enabled, letting users post videos or pictures.

Orkut's second redesign, released on October 27, 2009, was available to a few users first, who could send invites to friends to join the new version.

This new version used Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and AJAX, making it faster, simpler, and more customizable.

The look was completely new, with different color choices for profiles and a new logo that included the word "My" in it, as in My Orkut.

Orkut's First Death was a major blow to the social media landscape. In December 2011, Facebook surpassed Orkut as the country's most visited site.

The decline of Orkut was swift and merciless, with the service losing over 95% of its regular users by mid-2013. This mass exodus left Orkut in a ghost town-like state, considered to be in a vegetative state, almost dead.

Google chose to end Orkut's life with dignity, rather than continue to pour resources into a neglected space. The service was officially shut down on September 30, 2014.

Here's a timeline of the final days of Orkut:

If you were an Orkut user, you had a few options to manage your transition. You could export your profile data, community posts, and photos using Google Takeout, available until September 2016.

On August 25, 2007, Orkut announced a redesign that included round corners and soft colors.

The new UI featured a small logotype at the upper left corner, giving it a fresh new look. By August 30, 2007, most users on Orkut could see changes on their profile pages.

Orkut's new features included improvements to the way you view your friends, with 9 rather than 8 displayed on your homepage and profile page. Basic links to friends' content were also added right under their profile picture.

On August 31, 2007, Orkut announced the initial release of the site in 6 new languages: Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu. Profile editing could be done by clicking the settings button under the user profile photo.

The "Updates from your friends" box was introduced on the homepage, allowing users to get real-time updates when friends made changes to their profiles, photos, and videos.

Orkut was banned in several countries due to its misuse by cyberbullies and hackers.

The platform was also criticized for its lack of effective moderation, which allowed explicit content and harassment to thrive.

In India, Orkut was used to spread hate speech and communal tensions, leading to its ban in 2012.

Orkut's algorithm prioritized content that generated the most engagement, which often meant that sensational and provocative content got more visibility than constructive discussions.

Orkut was plagued by several threats and vulnerabilities, particularly in its early days. One notable example is the MW.Orc worm, which was discovered in 2006 and stole users' banking details and passwords.

The worm spread automatically by posting a URL in another user's Orkut Scrapbook, luring visitors with a message in Portuguese claiming to offer additional photos. This link was often disguised as a JPEG file, making it difficult for users to detect the infection.

The MW.Orc worm could also enable a remote user to control the PC and make it part of a botnet, a network of infected PCs. Another threat, W32/KutWormer, infected over 700,000 Orkut users in 2007 by spreading through Orkut's tool that allows users to write messages with HTML code.

Fake profiles were a significant issue on Orkut, with many fake and cloned profiles existing on the platform.

These profiles were often left unremoved due to the large number of users and the deactivation of the jail system.

In 2005, incidents of racism among Orkut users were reported to police and documented in Brazilian media.

A judicial measure was opened in 2006 by Brazilian courts against a 20-year-old student accused of racism and spreading defamatory content on Orkut.

Brazilian Federal Justice subpoenaed Google in March 2006 to explain the crimes that had occurred in Orkut, highlighting the need for accountability.

The W32/KutWormer was a worm written in Javascript that started causing problems on December 19, 2007. It was created by a Brazilian user called "Rodrigo Lacerda".

This worm had a clever way of spreading, it automatically made the user join the virus-related community. It then infected all friends' scrapbooks with copies of itself.

The worm infected over 700,000 Orkut users, making it a significant threat at the time. It spread through Orkut's tool that allows users to write messages that contain HTML code.

Users who were infected by the worm had no control over their accounts, as the worm took over their profiles. The worm's creator, Rodrigo Lacerda, remained anonymous.

The W32/KutWormer was a prime example of how a single user can cause widespread harm with a well-crafted piece of malware.

Google finally shut down Orkut, its first social network, after a decade-long run. This move comes as no surprise, given Orkut's steady decline in popularity over the years.

Google launched Orkut in 2004, fresh off a failed attempt to buy Friendster. Orkut never caught on in a meaningful way outside of Brazil, but it has stayed alive for ten years.

Orkut's stronghold in Brazil was largely a fluke, with the company never intentionally marketing the site towards Brazilians in its early years. However, as it became the biggest player in the market, Orkut's operations were moved to Brazil in 2008.

By late 2012, Facebook dominated the Brazilian social media landscape, with 92.8% of the pie, while Orkut had less than 2%.

Google will shut down Orkut at the end of September, allowing users to export their profiles and other information using Google Takeout until then. Users can also remove their Orkut profile permanently from their Google account if they don't want their posts or name to be included in the community archive.

Here's a summary of the key dates and actions related to Orkut's shutdown:

Orkut's founder, Orkut Büyükkökten, had a unique vision for the platform. He wanted to create a space where people could connect with each other, share their interests, and build communities.

Orkut was a Turkish-born computer science graduate who joined Google in 2004. He was tasked with creating a social networking site.

Orkut's vision was to create a platform that was simple, yet powerful. He wanted users to be able to easily share their thoughts, photos, and videos with others.

The first version of Orkut was launched in 2004, and it quickly gained popularity in Brazil and India. It was available in multiple languages, including English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Orkut's focus on community building was a key part of his vision. He wanted users to be able to connect with others who shared their interests and passions.

The site's popularity grew rapidly, with millions of users signing up within a year of its launch.