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February 01, 2004
Orkut is scaring me
I've been meaning to write about this for days, and haven't had a spare moment. Here's what some other people are saying: Venting my contempt for Orkut I'm still deciding what I'm going to do. I'm not comfortable with a lot of this. Will try to find a spare minute to keep you posted. Posted by sean on February 1, 2004 11:57 PM | View blog reactions
Previous Entry: badgerbadger Next Entry: Etech is a GO! I'd really like a good business networking site. So far, I'm not thrilled. Posted by: :: jozjozjoz :: on February 2, 2004 12:39 AM
me too! LinkedIn is almost there, but the fact that you can't "browse" people, kinda sucks. Posted by: sean bonner on February 2, 2004 12:40 AM
I'm not one to eagerly jump on these social network bandwagons, but I like that 1) it works most of the time unlike Friendster and 2) it serves multiple purposes -- social/interest/networking/dating. One of my big beefs about the others is that nagging question, "okay now what?" At least it offers some community options. My beef with it is of course, maybe it's trying to do too much too soon... Like everyone in your list of links has already said, anyone I do business with does not need to know if I'm single, what my politics are or if I'm married but free to date. I still have confidence they'll work the kinks out. But maybe not. Posted by: Moxie on February 2, 2004 01:17 AM
"I'd really like a good business networking site." Can I recommend Ecademy? Disclosure: I'm the webmaster ;-) http://www.ecademy.com And under the Shameless Self Promotion Protocol, I promise not to do that again! Posted by: Julian Bond on February 2, 2004 01:48 AM
I think that one thing that people are forgetting here is that the Orkut software is obviously in a state of flux. The fact that the beta system is invitation only is a clue: if the first large group of people using the system is a bunch of let's-test-it-and-see-where-it-breaks geeks, ners, and social software scientists, it's a cheap but highly effective form of software quality assurance testing. I'd be very surprised if they don't have one or more people at Google who are scanning the blogs (Marc, Danah, etc.) and collecting the bugs and problems for further review and work. One thing that I have noticed is that Orkut does seem to be making changes to its software as it goes along. Hey, the sign said beta (the REAL beta, as opposed to Friendster's months-long near-stand-still). My $0.02 Canadian (about $0.015 American) --Ryan the Shameless Friendster Slut Posted by: Ryan Schultz on February 2, 2004 04:39 AM
Also: What AKMA said: http://akma.disseminary.org/archives/001144.html --Ryan. Posted by: Ryan Schultz on February 2, 2004 05:02 AM
A less charitable person might say that a lot of us who are complaining about Orkut doing so just to signal that we've been invited to join ;-) Why did it ask me whether or not I liked pierced nipples? What is this, the Nerve Personals? There's really nothing at all new about Orkut, that's what surprised me. Except for the fact that I know a lot of people there already. In fact, it was worth the price of admission ($0) just to have gotten back in touch with two old college friends. Posted by: colin on February 2, 2004 05:39 AM
I wrote about how many "problem" communities have sprung up at Orkut. http://bloggzen.blogspot.com Posted by: Serena on February 2, 2004 07:37 AM
So if orkut bothers so many people, why don't they quit? Unless they *like* orkut and mean their criticism to be *constructive*. If so, I'd suggest they tone down the rhetoric a bit and get into specific changes they'd like to see. As for the pierced nipples, yes, orkut's model is to be a dating service *and* a business networking service *and* a replacement for Usenet *and* a mouthwash/fabric softener/floorwax all in one. Whether that swiss-army-knife approach can work is part of the orkut experiment. (Personally I think it won't -- in particular, dating services rely on anonymity. Friend-of-a-friend systems only make the possibility of running into a stalker embarrassing as well as scary.) Posted by: Prentiss Riddle on February 2, 2004 07:51 AM
Orkut means orgasm in Helsinkii slang. Posted by: Chris on February 2, 2004 08:58 AM
Personally, I don't have a problem with most of the criticisms brought up in those articles and think the first article in particular is rather petty. I actually enjoy the ratings aspects of Orkut because I don't take them so seriously. I also think the Orkut interface is more fun than most of the other social networking sites. It also seems that most of the privacy issues can be resolved if opts to show personal information to friends only. The one thing I do have a problem with is that there is no automatic way to delete an account; one is required to email the administrator. But I am open to reading the continuing debate about Orkut and hope you'll keep us updated on your thoughts. Posted by: emily on February 2, 2004 09:03 AM
Riddle - that's one of the points, you can't quit. go ahead and try, and check out the TOS, they own everything you've ever posted. Posted by: sean bonner on February 2, 2004 09:24 AM
Would it be that difficult for one of these social networking apps to get more XML-friendly? I'm thinking of two main areas: 1.) Allowing you to submit the RSS feed for your blog, so your orkut/friendster/tribe profile page could also feature all recent posts on your blog. Would be a good way to keep everyone's profile pages from getting so static and boring. Add in some integration with online photo album/moblog apps, and your profile could really get interesting (instead of being a static list of albums, books, and turn-ons/offs). 2.) Supplying a feed of your orkutfriends/friendsters/tribes--so you could put an XML feed of your current list of Friends on your weblog. This one is less important to me, but from a promotional standpoint, if one of these apps offered this feature, it seems like it would be a tremendous boon to their own promotion. If a ton of blogger sites featured "orkutrolls" or some sort of FOAF rollcall, it could help promote that much more adoption of that FOAF service.
But considering that sentiment is becoming almost as tired as "Did you see Janet Jackson last night?", maybe I'll just stop my rambling and submit this post already. Posted by: Kyle Bunch on February 2, 2004 04:02 PM
I totally agree Kyle, I'd also like to see a standard foaf.xml file that you could export from one site and take to the other, so you wouldn't have to redo everything every single time Posted by: sean bonner on February 2, 2004 04:17 PM
re: orkut - i think it is great that everyone is airing their concerns, observations, opinions, recommendations, etc so openly on the web... great comments here sean... btw, welcome to weblogsinc... [-;= Posted by: judith on February 2, 2004 05:04 PM
i don't know why i don't like them either. i think the asking about visible tattoos for the cia government subversive tracking program ooked me out. i like linked in. seems high powered. but no pix? -tribe junkie Posted by: squeek on February 2, 2004 06:25 PM
I HATE ORKUT! I was on it for about one time when they wouldn't let me log back in. Then is was "offline" for a couple of days and then I still couldn't log in. It's a bunch of bullshit. Is beta slang for "we can't get our shit together in time to launch this crappy site?" Posted by: Caryn on February 3, 2004 09:50 PM
who invite me to be a member of orkut willem Posted by: willemlensselink on February 13, 2004 07:43 AM
Now there is the internet. And I really appreciate people like you who take their chance in such an excellent way to give an impression on certain topics. Thanks for having me here. business grants Posted by: business grants on February 18, 2004 01:31 AM
Now there is the internet. And I really appreciate people like you who take their chance in such an excellent way to give an impression on certain topics. Thanks for having me here. financial assistance Posted by: financial assistance on April 11, 2004 07:40 AM
can someone invite me Orkut Posted by: john on May 25, 2004 07:25 PM
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