An Orkut life...

For the uninitiated, Orkut is an online social networking site that enables you to connect with existing friends, make new ones, stay in touch and find like-minded people who share your interests. It is owned by Google, and boasts of 16,000,000+ members worldwide.

When one of my friends sent me an Orkut friend request (or an invite, in typical "Googlese") a few months back, I was quite skeptical. Nevertheless, I decide to take the plunge and see for myself what the fuss was all about.

I must admit I wasn't disappointed.

For people who are new to social networking, it is quite overwhelming at first. Some technophobics even prefer to socialize the traditional way (evening get-togethers, for example) rather than take to Orkutting, as it is called.

Looking around me, Orkut (not to mention others like Hi5 and Friendster) does seem to have taken today's generation by storm. E-mails and chatting are boring; scrapping is a lot fancier. Online social communities are more appealing than traditional groups. Testimonials is another "admired" feature; people even go to the extent of bribing to earn testimonials... If you want to know what this jargon is all about, join Orkut and find out!

Of course, not without controversies...

Most socialists agree that Orkut's use as a social tool is indeed complex. Leaving aside the social aspects, there have been cases of bogus profiles on Orkut. People create multiple profiles, sometimes running into hundreds, just for the heck of it. This leads to sort of an identity crisis. And then there is the perennial problem of flooding and spamming (read more). Another thing which is of concern is the rise of hate communities (read more), launching scathing personal attacks against individuals as well as their target groups. This has led to a large number of users terminating their Orkut accounts in protest.

If you take a walk in our office library's browsing section, more often than not you find the youngster crowd busy Orkutting. Nevertheless, the growing popularity and strength of Orkut can be gauged by the fact that it is now restricted in my office :-(

I could say Orkut has achieved something of a cult status... A world of its own, isn't it? :-)