A very interesting fact pointed out by Mr Kalyan Manyam of Indyarocks during the SiliconIndia Digital Media Conference which was moderated by Rajiv Dingra was how tones of apps on a social network actually degrade user experience by making things too complicated.
I may not be a social media expert but as a consumer I can relate to this very well. The reason why many still stick to Orkut (at least in my circle) is a) they have grown up with it over the years seeing features being added one by one (including apps) b) switching to Facebook gets confusing for more than one reason and one of them being the flood of applications that one sees there. It becomes hard relating to it in the beginning. I would like to share something that I faced just last week (how apps can make things complicated).
One of my Facebook friends has a very nice integration of his Flickr updates on Facebook. Inspired by him I decided to do the same. While trying to integrate my Flickr account with Facebook I started browsing different apps. I ended up trying 3 different apps and none of them were able to give me the simple integration that my friend had. At last confused and irritated I dropped my friend a word “dude, your Flickr integration is too good, even I want people commenting (Read Appreciating) on my Flickr photos – so would you please tell me how you did it?”. His reply enlightened me that Facebook has a simple inbuilt support for YouTube, Flickr and other feeds. So I just had to enter my Flickr username and sweet!!
As I heard Indyarocks has millions of users, but a reality is that I had hardly heard their name before today. And same goes with all 3 bloggers who visited the event with me. So where are their millions of subscribers? A little though, a visit to Indyarocks and I think I have an answer. The majority of people around me today are techies and they don’t really come to a social network for some thing like the Movieplex that Indyarocks has, Indyarocks has targeted to the common users with the entertainment social network and those users are certainly not the people I would run in at a Digital Media Conference IMO. Keeping things simple and not flooding apps is what works best for the audience that Indyarocks has taped.
Something Facebook should really consider is making a lite version that would help Orkut users adapt more easily to Facebook. Also not sure if Facebook has an introduction video that welcomes a newcomer onboard describing the navigation and culture of the network, but hey… can’t one of us make that video? 
About the author: Annkur P Agarwal is a biker, blogger, semi techie and founder of OnlyGizmos Network
Yes , this is the reality .People still uses orkut because now they have habit of using it.No one is going to change from one portal to another even though it is offering you better features. Users first need is to be in touch with their friends and family.
well.. well..well.. i dont think facebook is targetting orkut users.. facebook is a much bigger social netwrok compared to orkut. Orkut has been doing exceptionally well in the Indian market, but it really won’t be long before facebook overtakes orkut..
i’ve been an orkut user myself.. the main reason for moving into facebook was that at orkut, i reached that stage where i said ” now what ?” . . .secondly all my peers and contemporaries have moved to facebook. initially, it did get very confusing with so much of activity .. but it never lets you go away.. u still stick there trying to figure out what yr friends have been doing and thats what has made facebook so popular. it doing the right thing for a social networking site.. being more social..
i agree with the fact that orkut is neat and tidy, but I dont want to go to orkut just to scrap someone .. social networking is going beyond keeping in touch with family and friends.. there is more potential in it.. a very high probability of it taking the shine off “emails” !!
Hello,
I just read the article & I just told myself I had to write something in support of Facebook. Firstly its a myth that Facebook is ‘difficult & complicated’ to use. I can give you a 100 better reasons to switch/continue to FB then Orkut where majority of people possess Fake Profiles, a great number of Orkut mass are inactive. It has become a spamming hub & nothing more.
Now coming to FB, initially it might look difficult as one is new to using it. suppose you try to write with your left hand( in case of you use your right hand) you will totally reject the idea in the first go as all your life you have written with your right hand. but if you just give it time you can be an ambidextrous like Gandhiji! Having said that I am not against Orkut but just that the quality of social activities & privacy factors has made FB slowly & steadily magnetic to non-fb users. Also FB looks pleasant & clutter-free unlike Orkut. I am sure a lot of people reading this will disagree to this but time will tell. At this moment FB as no strong Business Model & their revenue earnings are scanty. Orkut earns all thanks to Google Ads & the recent moolah from people like MTV who paid them a whopping amount for the domain http://www.orkut.com/mtvroadies
Anyways the most important for Social Media dudes & babes as well is to understand all social platforms because today it might be Orkut, tomorrow maybe FB ..be updated!
p.s : I think IndyaRocks is another Bharat Student which offers nothing exceptional, it was foolish to compare it to Twitter ( Indian Twitter said Rajeev!). we need something like mouthshut which comes once in a while or something like Burp.com though not outrageously excellent they have set themselves apart from the clutter.
Regards,
Krutika Ashar
I agree with vaibhav. Facebook is really a very big community as compared to orkut. Orkut is mostly used in india.
I also think that using any social network is just wastage of time. You can be in touch of your friend by calling instead of making virtual contacts(Except in case if your friends are far away from you).
The major thing I would like to mention why people keep on scraping , everytime when we want to see latest scraps ,we need to refersh the scrapbook , why to refresh each time , it also consumes lot of bandwidth(Instead of that chat on any available IM)
As mentioned by author its a reality that social networks like orkut is popular in countries like India and Brazil where as facebook is like day to day routine for people in USA and for some in India too .There are many other social networks more better then orkut but still here in India it takes the cake amongst all, the reason is that people are very used to its UI so they find others very complected , They say ” Change is the only thing which is constant” but we cant deny the fact that most people are reluctant to change. Until and unless this mentality changes the future of social networking in India at least lies in darkness.
Sadly my previous comment did not go through. It was quite long, will round up in short.
1. Form the post: “The reason why many still stick to Orkut (at least in my circle) is a) they have grown up with it over the years seeing features being added one by one (including apps) b) switching to Facebook gets confusing for more than one reason and one of them being the flood of applications that one sees there. *It becomes hard relating to it in the beginning.*”
2. And after note to the article that is not published: PS: I find Facebook apps much better than Orkut though. I got drawn to Facebook as a majority of my 400 twitter friends and blogger colleagues are on Facebook today, but all my old friends are still on Orkut (200+ of them).My timeline on Orkut is flooded with Teen Patti scores that I don’t want to see. And there is no one click way to disable them. The speed, efficiency and quality of Facebook apps are much better. With better integration of my Flickr, Blog Rss, Google Reader etc, Facebook is now managing to pull some of those Orkut loyals slowly. I believe by year end Orkut would be feeling the heat much more than now
3. Someone rightly said to me on the IM today “FB has good usability but poor learnability”
The Point I wanted to make is that there are still users who dont understand Social Networks as a rocket science. Look at people in your Orkut list who have renamed themselves as “If you love me tell me, or let me go?” … for some reason this crowd won’t come to FB in this fashion. Do you see anyone changing their names on Facebook profile like this? Entertainment Social network is a reality and Orkut is on those lines (atleast for the moment).
Cheers
Annkur
People must see new product which is in the market.
They have to analyze what are the other features that new product is offering to me as compared to older product.
Thanks
Chetan