On Orkut

Asides, , ,

What can I say, I like it. Orkut is a new social networking site funded by Google that takes the best of all the other sites out there and rolls it into one fast system. Let me emphasize fast. I gave up on Friendster because I’m not patient enough to wait minutes for every screen to load. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this, but every site I’ve tried so far (with the exception of LinkedIn) feels like it’s held together by spit and duck tape and run on a 486. Not to mention the atrocious markup.

A neat thing about Orkut is that it’s invitation-only, so everyone there is connected to the original seed guy and programmer (whose name is Orkut, incidentally) which I think is an interesting idea. Scott Allen (who has a great new WordPress-powered blog) says that’s the most innovative thing about Orkut.

Scott remarked to me that he didn’t see Orkut flourishing the same way Ryze or Linkedin have because it mixes the personal and business aspect of things, while those two are mainly for business networking and only flirt with personal aspects. It’s too soon to tell, but I think Orkut is going to be a big success. It does a lot of things right.

So go check it out, and if you’re having trouble getting in let me know and I’ll send you an invite. If you’re already on, introduce yourself.

65 thoughts on “On Orkut”

  4. Hey, you think you could send me an invite? I admit that their invite-only tactic has been working on me, too — now I’m really curious.

  9. Hey Matt, Orkut looks cool… at least the first page is nice and simple. I’d also appreciate an invitation so I can check it out further : )

    (why does Scott Allen’s name have an * after it?)

  10. Hi Matt, I am on Orkut, too. It’s a really interesting project and I hope the developers will listen to their user’s comments and suggestions. By the by, my own homepage is a weblog about genealogy (there are still only few genealogical blogs around). I have seen you’re interested in genealogy as well. Don’t worry about the German language if you want to give it a try – you can start directly on the main page with Google translation service (which will translate enough to understand).

    Best wishes,

    Melanie

  11. Matt- I’m just getting started with Orkut as well, trying to determine how useful it will be. Should be a good way to connect with more interesting people. Just getting started, I’ve got 2 friends, but connected to 9350 people!

  18. At the risk of sounding just like everyone else, any chance of an invite?

    Your review has me curious.

  19. It does sound pretty curious.. I’d love to get an invite, but doesn’t giving out invites kinda defeat the purpose of it? (granted, I haven’t been invited, so I have no idea.. heh heh).

  21. Matt, if I may be so bold… I would, grudgingly, accept an invite…

    My blog entry on this was sorely lacking until I can take a look for myself, and I’ve heard some good things throughout the ‘sphere — ashamed though I may be, the invite-only thing is working on me.

    Thanks (from david@swagu.com ;-))!

  24. Hmmm that sounds interesting. I would be interested in getting an invite to see what its all about!

    Thanks
    Karl

  26. Karl, your email seems to be bouncing so you’ll have to send me another address if you want in.

    Orkut is back online and I’m all caught up now.

  37. Forgive me, but there’s still no invite on my inbox. You might have missed me.
    Anyway, thanks again! =)

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  44. Oops. Sorry Matt, I should have included my first name & last name above:

    Rodney Marks
    (Rodders)

  45. Hiya,

    Like everyone else, I’m on the scrounge for an invite.

    If you get the chance, it’d be much appreciated.

    Regards,
    Daniel.

  48. The New York Times has a fascinating article about the coming war between Google and Microsoft regarding search tactics, authenticated email (imagine no spam, or getting paid to recieve spam), and, you guessed it… Friendster clones. It’s called “The Coming Search Wars” and was published Feb 1, 2004.

    Any chance I could get an invite? 😛

  49. Looks cool, but how are you supposed to get invited? Not sure about all these friendster things, isn’t it a little too much like the masons? What happens?

  50. Will – haha, yes, the Orkut-Masons. From Matt’s “About” page on this site: “Any rumors of affiliations with secret underground organizations are completely unsubstantiated.”

    Is Friendster invite only?

  52. Hello, Like everyone else, I’m on the scrounge for an Orkut invite.
    Another interesting thing. Googling for “orkut invite” (sans ” marks) brings up your blog entry as the first link.

    Thanks.
    Mikhail Pobst

  53. Mikhail, oh no. I hope I don’t get flooded. Invite policy is now that we have some sort of connection, be it through a website or email or location or something. Or that you appear interesting. Or hot. 😉

  57. Matt-
    I’ve actually been idolizing your site for awhile, especially the Gallery integration (which I asked about a while ago). I’m also a huge WordPress fan, but all my posts over there are still Anonymous, as I haven’t decided on a site name yet. Anyway, an invitation would be greatly appreciated!

  58. Matt … I’d be wondering how you had so many “friends”. Not that I, um, doubt you having friends.

    😉

    God Bless!

  61. Well.. seems like being a member of Orkut can get you friends real quick 🙂
    (no, i’m not a member.. yet!)

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