Written by nitinpai on October 26th, 2007
What Makes Facebook Win Over Orkut?
Google, Microsoft, News, Social Networks
10 responses
I was quite surprised to see the news in the headlines today about the deal of Microsoft with the social networking site Facebook. Facebook is a 3 and a half year old social network for friendship and a community hub. Microsoft’s entry into the social networking venue has raised quite a many eyebrows over the fact that,
Microsoft paid $240 million price for 1.6% stake in Facebook. This clears the view , world’s largest software maker, crudely wanted to deepen its relationship with a startup that didn’t have $200 million in annual revenue
This deal was the only thing which made me to open an account with Facebook. The only other friendship community I am associated till now was Orkut which in my opinion definitely gives a far more friendly user experience than FaceBook, especially now after having registered with Facebook.
I did look around for the reason as to why users prefer FaceBook over Orkut and was surprised to see that Facebook users are more than the number of Orkut users.
The main reason’s for users liking Facebook from what I found were:
- Simple and professional user interface
- Explanation for being added as a friend
- Unique groups or communities
- Security of user’s profile and information
- Many other fun applications
The reason’s why users don’t like Orkut were as follows:
- Amateurish interface (as seen prior to the new one I suppose)
- Open scraps and profiles owing to less security
- No provision for providing reasons to “Add as friend”
- Repetitive groups or communities
The only point where people seemed to love Orkut was it was easier to find old friends and colleagues as compared to Facebook. The only drawback of Facebook was that in the resistance of a beginner to join in for the first time.
I have loved Orkut ever since I joined it after having a bad experience in a yet another online community called Hi5. But Facebook still hasn’t impressed me to the point to digest the fact that Microsoft has ploughed in $240 million (maybe a bitter outcome of Vista has turned its gaze to the online business).
If Facebook’s popularity was the case, then the question arises as to why did Google opt for Orkut?
10 Responses
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Facebook was a closed service and not much popular at the time when Google acquired Orkut. Since the time Facebook opened the API to its platform for any developer to be able to write applications for it, it has left Orkut and other such services far behind. Today comparing Facebook with Orkut would be like comparing bicycle to a sports car.
I can use twitter, pownce, shelfari and plenty of other applications from within Facebook, share tons of photos and videos, set custom privacy levels, join groups where real discussion takes place and this just the beginning of what Facebook has to offer.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thanks for visiting my post on the subject. I did not exactly make a comparison of the two though, since I was more interested in the popularity of the sites. Btw, I’ve just posted a follow-up on the post, based on responses I received.
My own perceptions, and on your observations:
Facebook:
- I simply didn’t find the interface user-friendly
- There are just too many things on the front page.
Orkut (on your comments):
But I wonder how does facebook ensure that the communities are unique? People can always use variations of the same name, for example.
1. Yes, the interface has improved considerably over last few months - the “reply” button on individual scraps, navigation bar with tabs for different features, and increased the limit of photos (earlier it was 12, now it is much more, i’ve seen at least 30 photos in an album)
2. Yes, scraps are open. But then, it is upto the users not to reveal personal information on the public space - they can use “send message” for confidential info. Security - perhaps you missed out on this, but you can restrict who can see your profile, and who can send you friend requests. You need to configure the settings accordingly.
3. Reason for “add as a friend” - why do you need a reason? Accept the request only if you know/trust the person, Orkut even gives a warning to this effect. However, since then, they have added a feature of sending a message along with the friend request, so go ahead and use the message!
4. Repetitive groups - That is quite a trouble. I am subscribed to three groups of my college
Monday, October 29, 2007
The equation is simple:
Facebooks’s Open API -> Developers all over the world write applications for it -> Richer environment in Facebook -> People who matter use Facebook -> Useful discussion groups are made and maintained.
You find people from big companies or creators of popular products and web applications on Facebook. Groups like N800 internet tablet do not find any interest among Orkuters. So if you just want to hang out with college friends, Orkut is good. For serious social networking(work + fun), Facebook is leaps and bounds ahead of everything else.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sigma, Tabrez - You guys are probably to the point. I have seen apps made for facebook which was something new to me. But any guesses why Facebook doesn’t have the Web 2.0 appeal? And why is Microsoft jumping up for it? Of course, it is the next big thing in networks. But why not Myspaces? I guess Myspaces is currently leading the pack in its user base?
Friday, November 2, 2007
Orkut just drove itself into a mess. I’d like to keep subjective analysis to a minimum so refer to http://www.alexa.com and compare the facebook.com and orkut.com growth yourself for the past 6 months and 1 year. Basically the faster something grows, the faster it grows. It’s exponential. On the other hands, orkut’s “demise” is it’s own creation and I don’t think facebook had much to do with especially considering there very different subscriber base. Now however I’m sure that ex-orkutans are signing upto facebook in droves mainly because their friends have moved.
The single biggest reason cited by Indian friends to move to facebook has been increased privacy and lack of stalkers, this means they can put entire photo albums online without worry.
I know the facebook interface can take time getting used to but has tremendous potential and can even be simpler than orkut (if the user so intends).
Friday, November 2, 2007
Oh btw http://www.google.com actually suppresses results of facebook being better than orkut!!!!! I’m serious, check it out, a facebook vs orkut search entry turns up year old results of orkut being on the rise whereas other search engines (like yahoo) portray reality like it is (results which show facebook walking all over orkut). I’m sure google owning orkut has nothing to do with this hehe.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Nice post. It will be interesting to see how Facebook strategises and positions itself in the OpenSocial age.
Cheers
Vaibhav
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Facebook is good in terms of security and groups. It allows any developer to develop applications which I think is what made it stand apart from other social networking sites. Lesser scope of spamming. And it started as an online directory for Stanford students, not Harvard.
The downside is that profiles can get cumbersome with the number of added applications. More than 85% of the applications developed are worthless and rarely used.
And Microsoft bought a stake in it just to get into the social networking domain and have a presence. Myspace is still not on sale.
For what its worth, I think google have responded with OpenSocial but I am skeptic about how well people embrace it.
Till a social network combines more features like blogging, chatting along with what is present, Facebook shall rule
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
facebook verse orkut i didn’t realize that orkut was even a contender.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Google has a long history with Orkut. The creator was a Google employee when he developed Orkut.
But it’s just survival of the fittest.