Establishing Online Communities | Remember Orkut?

In 2004 social media was still thought of as a fad by most of the world. Facemash had just changed its name to Facebook and had only been around a year and was still trying to figure itself out. When people thought social media, most thought of Myspace and it was perceived as a platform for kids and young adults to play around on and connect with peers.

What most people did not realize however was that this year was also the launch of Orkut, Googles social media platform that would rapidly grow to 30 million users by 2012. What was the purpose of Orkut you may ask? to find and establish online communities. These communities mostly included schools, workplaces and residential street groups.

Otkut Logo

One reason you may not remember Orkut was because 90% of its users were Brazilian. Brazilian’s loved Orkut because it allowed them to engage in online communities and activities with their peers. Many Brazilians were attracted to the social network solely because it was created by Google, which was a respected brand in Brazil. They were also attracted to the platform by the prestige of being invited into a community, everyone who joined had to be invited. Businesses were attracted to Orkut as well, especially in Brazil as outdoor advertising was illegal, so most advertising was done online. Digital and social media was also well adopted by the Brazilian culture. Brazil was the fifth largest online market in the world.

So what happened to Orkut and why didn’t it spread more evenly to the rest of the world? Well the world evolved and the demands changed as to what users wanted to do on social media. Facebook was redefining what social media was and what online networks could be used for. As the continual demand to do things that Orkut didn’t support or do very well (like share videos etc.), the social media company started to decline until Google ended up shutting it down.

Establishing online communities turned out to be a huge first step in the evolution of social media, but it was only a step. The current abilities that social media provides are also only steps and its important that the possibilities of what it can be used for continue to grow to meet the expectations and demands of its users.