Google Social Network: Orkut 623
shelleymonster writes "According to CNET, Google has quietly released its own version of Friendster, called Orkut. About 3 months ago, Google entered into talks to acquire Friendster, but was turned down. Named after one of its engineers, Orkut Buyukkokten, the new social network looks even tougher to get into than Friendster. An initial 12,000 invitations were sent out, and new users can only join through an existing user. Someone want to invite me?"
Branching (Score:5, Interesting)
You could see how they branch, what countries they cross into, and how people relate to each other (interests, age, etc.)
I wonder if this'd be something sociologists would like to watch...?
Is it meant to compete with Friendster? (Score:1, Interesting)
This on the other hand seems to want to create one large community, but it's based on the 12,000 people that got emails in the first place, which makes it much more restrictive and makes it much harder for new users to join and thus expand the userbase.
What a way to attract users.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Frankly, I think they can go screw themselves....I won't hunt down a way to get into "the clique" and may not even if a friend invites me.
Invite yourself? (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems to me, that once you've been invited, you can "invite" your web-driven robot, which can offer a backdoor for many other random people you don't know.
It's like saying you can't get into a brick-and-mortar "gated community." Unless you're a pizza delivery guy. Or any of his friends.
Re:Friendless (Score:3, Interesting)
oo, shiny web site (Score:5, Interesting)
2) The Orkut website is really pretty.
This is typical for Google. How do they get the text to fade in on page load? It's really neat. Look at the TOS [orkut.com] page for an example - you see the pink/purple orkut.com's for a while, and then the rest of the text fades in. Is this just a simple CSS thing I should know but don't because I'm stupid?
3) Check out the "golden key" icon (at their privacy policy). It's amazing! lol
Too bad Friendster didn't make a deal (Score:2, Interesting)
Call me pessimistic... (Score:5, Interesting)
All forms of socialization over the internet seem to start out with loads of potential, but in the end, they all suffer from the scum that tends to surface.
Diversification before IPO? (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, being private at this time, none of this has any basis in fact. Although, the fact that Google's probably going to spend $25mil on this suggests that they really do have stupid piles of cash, and can afford to potentially toss big chunks of it away on potential failures.
A Guaranteed Hit in Finland... (Score:2, Interesting)
The potential is huge. Eventually both Finns currently reading slashdot will join, and will be largely disappointed.
-bpfh
"In affiliation with Google" (Score:3, Interesting)
Google DOES NOT own the domain... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:so when will they open googleporn.com (Score:3, Interesting)
The deal was apparently struck quietly, but clearly some cash was paid. There never was any media coverage of the event, and I'm pretty sure the terms of the deal reqires the computer gear store to not disclose how much they got.
Interesting (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Call me pessimistic... (Score:3, Interesting)
where'd they get 12,000 e-mail addresses? (Score:4, Interesting)
Seems like a lot of addresses. How were they gathered?
Doesn't look like orkut.com had [archive.org] a sign-up period or anything...
Doesn't look like it was sent to Google-Friends Newsletter [google.com] (not in the archive [google.com]; plus RTFA, in which says "Google spokeswoman Eileen Rodriquez said that despite Orkut's affiliation, the service is not part of Google's product portfolio at this time.")
Re:Not the most fortunate name (Score:4, Interesting)
(..like anyone is really intereted in the linguistic finesse of finnish slang :)
.net??? (Score:2, Interesting)
if anyone cares... (Score:2, Interesting)
shelley{at}shelleymonster{dot}com
Buddyzoo does this (Score:3, Interesting)
I smell a discrimination lawsuit... (Score:1, Interesting)
Personally, I dislike laws that enforce who you can associate with, but given that they exist, it seems like this service may easily run afoul of them.
The Yak (Score:1, Interesting)
http://www.theyak.com
Ryze? (Score:2, Interesting)
www.ryze.com [ryze.com]
- Aalaap