So, I keep trying to get my friends signed up for Orkut. And they resist. And, why shoudln't they? The damned thing likes like spam, smells like spam, and reeks of trouble. If someone's invite manages to get past your spam filter and you click on the link, it asks you more questions than a four year old without his ADD medicine.
Yet, still, I try to invite people to join? Why is it? Is it really all that cool? Well, it's not. The site itself is actually kind of lame. I mean it's slick, and professional, and fast. That's nice. But it's thin. Very, very, thin. Like too little butter spread over too much toast. It offers very little in fact.
So what compells me to continue to mess with Orkut? I think, in many respects, for the same reason I keep up with my blog. Maintaining connectiosn with friends I care about spread across vast distances. The 'fun' I get out of Orkut is when one of my friends gets one of their friends to sign up who just happens to be a good friend of mine I have lost touch with. Since joining Orkut I have renewed contacts with Dave Maynard, Ray Tobey, Nicky Robinson, Tim Brengle, and Doug Church. Good friends, real friends, that I have history with. However, we are scattered across the country and unless we happen to show up at a conference together the contact is lost. That doesn't mean I don't still care about them or what is goiing on in their lives. And that's what Orkut offers. It does have a blogesque feel to it.
It also kind of feels like a game. You 'score points' by finding old friends. That's definitely a reward. However, for Orkut to turn into anything more than just a fad application it needs to offer just a few very key features.
Well, since Google owns Orkut and Google owns Blogger, I think it's fairly obvious what has to come next. Your Blog needs to be integrated into your Orkut home page. I mean, come on, this just has to happen. And it needs to be interactive. People need to be able to enter threaded comment entries into your blog interactively.
The second thing it has to have is a much more mature community/forum system. The ability to subscribe to communities is a great idea. However, there has to be a way to better interact with that community and navigate the content. You should be able to go to your Orkut home page and see all new messages in all of the communities you belong to in a threaded format.
I fully expect these features to arrive if Orkut is to survive. In the short term I am having fun hooking up with old friends and finding out which of my friends are also friends with each other.
I found out today that I am going to be able to go to GDC for a day or two. I'm really looking foward to going and hooking up with some of my old friends. Including ones I have recently gotten back in touch with through Orkut. As is tradition, I will be going to the Moroccan belly-dancing resturant in San Jose with my good friend Ray Tobey and my best friend John Oberschelp.
I used Okrut today to send out an email to all of my 'friends' about my upcoming movie showing. However, this immediately pointed out one small flaw with the system. I really needed the ability to have the email only go out to my friends in the St. Louis area. So, if you got the email but live a couple of thousand miles away, I will understand if you can't come to my house for a movie next Saturday.
Yet, still, I try to invite people to join? Why is it? Is it really all that cool? Well, it's not. The site itself is actually kind of lame. I mean it's slick, and professional, and fast. That's nice. But it's thin. Very, very, thin. Like too little butter spread over too much toast. It offers very little in fact.
So what compells me to continue to mess with Orkut? I think, in many respects, for the same reason I keep up with my blog. Maintaining connectiosn with friends I care about spread across vast distances. The 'fun' I get out of Orkut is when one of my friends gets one of their friends to sign up who just happens to be a good friend of mine I have lost touch with. Since joining Orkut I have renewed contacts with Dave Maynard, Ray Tobey, Nicky Robinson, Tim Brengle, and Doug Church. Good friends, real friends, that I have history with. However, we are scattered across the country and unless we happen to show up at a conference together the contact is lost. That doesn't mean I don't still care about them or what is goiing on in their lives. And that's what Orkut offers. It does have a blogesque feel to it.
It also kind of feels like a game. You 'score points' by finding old friends. That's definitely a reward. However, for Orkut to turn into anything more than just a fad application it needs to offer just a few very key features.
Well, since Google owns Orkut and Google owns Blogger, I think it's fairly obvious what has to come next. Your Blog needs to be integrated into your Orkut home page. I mean, come on, this just has to happen. And it needs to be interactive. People need to be able to enter threaded comment entries into your blog interactively.
The second thing it has to have is a much more mature community/forum system. The ability to subscribe to communities is a great idea. However, there has to be a way to better interact with that community and navigate the content. You should be able to go to your Orkut home page and see all new messages in all of the communities you belong to in a threaded format.
I fully expect these features to arrive if Orkut is to survive. In the short term I am having fun hooking up with old friends and finding out which of my friends are also friends with each other.
I found out today that I am going to be able to go to GDC for a day or two. I'm really looking foward to going and hooking up with some of my old friends. Including ones I have recently gotten back in touch with through Orkut. As is tradition, I will be going to the Moroccan belly-dancing resturant in San Jose with my good friend Ray Tobey and my best friend John Oberschelp.
I used Okrut today to send out an email to all of my 'friends' about my upcoming movie showing. However, this immediately pointed out one small flaw with the system. I really needed the ability to have the email only go out to my friends in the St. Louis area. So, if you got the email but live a couple of thousand miles away, I will understand if you can't come to my house for a movie next Saturday.
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