Orkut, a social networking site launched by Google in 2004, enjoyed its time in the sun as Brazil’s top social media site, according to Strategic Social Media. The reason for their success can be attributed mainly to how they met their target audience’s needs. Ironically, this can also be tied to the reason for their downfall.
When Orkut first started out, they soared to the top of the social media game, especially in Brazil. Strategic Social Media points out that within 4 months of its launch, Orkut had garnered over 50,000 “communities,” though this number quickly rose to 1,500,000 within a year. These “communities” were the basis of Orkut’s platform. The whole idea centered around finding communities based on location, interests, schools, et cetera, and building your online profile within these exclusive communities.
Orkut took an even bigger risk by mandating users be invited to the platform by existing members – which totally paid off. Strategic Social Media called it a “high prestige factor” because those who managed to get an invite were seen as “well connected in the technology realm.” Though the term may not have fully taken hold in society yet, Orkut certainly took advantage of FOMO (the fear of missing out). It’s like the VIP room in a club – you may not actually care about what is going on behind that velvet rope, but the fear of missing out on what could be happening makes us want to get an invite.
Image courtesy of Bill Oxford on Getty Images Signature
One of the biggest successes with Orkut was social media marketing. Having found their popularity in Brazil, a country that bans outdoor advertising, Orkut knew there was a hole in the market for a new type of marketing. Orkut not only allowed companies to advertise on their platform, but they also made sure “users were able to make recommendations about products and services through community memberships” (Strategic Social Media). So not only did they allow advertisers space to build their brands, but they encouraged user mobilization through recommendations.
This wasn’t enough, though. In yet another example of the futility of “set it and forget it” methods, Orkut sowed its own defeat. As time went on, users wanted the freedom to “blog, engage through social gaming, and incorporate online video,” according to Strategic Social Media. Especially with the rise of video, Orkut was unable to keep up. While the site gained popularity and found success because of its ability to meet a need that existed in the market, it was its inability to adapt to the changing needs in the market that ultimately led to its demise.
Ultimately, it comes down to listening to your consumers. Whether you’re building a candle company or the next big social media site, it’s important to listen to what your consumers say about your product and how you can improve. If Orkut had successfully integrated larger file types and video into their platform, they may still be the leading social media site, at least in Brazil. Instead, they tried to ride the coattails of their original success and found themselves obsolete.
Reagan Writes 
Hi Regan!
I found your blog to be very informative and visual appealing. I did not know that Brazil bans outdoor advertising! The reason for this is Brazil wanted a more sustainable lifestyle, by filling the spaces that advertisements take up with street art, community noticeboards, and trees. (Knowledge Hub, 2021). “Removing ads freed up…led citizens and city leaders to notice problems that needed to be addressed, which had been previously disguised by the large advertisements, for instance, small favelas or crumbling infrastructure” (Knowledge Hub, 2021).
There are many reason for why Orkut failed! The “invite only” feature of Orkut is a unique feature. Do you think this is what is their biggest downfall? While the feature was especially beneficially to individuals in the technology field, not everyone had the ability to access the app. This leads to less users using the app and engagement within. Also, this was Google’s first attempt at social media. Google at the time was competing with Yahoo and Facebook. Ultimately, Good killed Orkut. But how? Google tailored the app specifically to Brazilians. Along with, Orkut failing to keep its users and what they wanted in a social media platform. Orkut did not planning for the future which resulted in the loss of users and success. What happened with Orkut should be a lesson for other social media platforms that everything is constantly evolving and to stay on the top, you have to be able to adapt with the latest trends and technology and what the users want!
Reference:
Knowledge Hub. (2021, August 19). Banning billboards and outdoor advertising in São Paulo to reduce consumption. https://knowledge-hub.circle-lab.com/article/9015?n=Banning-billboards-and-outdoor-advertising-in-São-Paulo-to-reduce-consumption
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Hello!
I think you did a great job outlining all the key points from the Okurt article. As well as that them not listening to their customers led to their downfall. Not only could they not keep up, but they also couldn’t fix the technology issues when they were trying to add features to their site. I know their invite only feature was very popular at the height of Okurt; however, as other social media sites grew in popularity it would be hard to keep number when consumers what to go where everyone is.
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This is a classic example of a company that refused to evolve and keep up with the times and faced the hard lesson of falling into obscurity. Feedback and suggestions given by users that could easily be obtained through survey’s or just scrolling through posts and emails could have helped the comapny fix their issues and keep themselves set for success with a constant list of improvements that can be made to stay user-friendly and popular with the masses.
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