Google launched its social network Google+ yesterday and its already hot topic among the tech blogs. Once again Google goes via invite route for the launch. I didn't get chance to play with Google+ yet but seems to be like one of the best UX/UI from Google.What happens to Orkut (another social network from Google!) now? Most probably it would be shut down. Its known fact that Orkut is fast losing its user base, but as per Alexa, Orkut is still ranked 11th in Brazil and 17th in India, which means they still have users who are using it.
Possible reasons why people are still using Orkut:
- Inertia to move to new social network like Facebook
- Some users still using orkut (inspite of having facebook account), because many of their friends are still on orkut and they have not moved to Facebook.
- Love for Orkut or may be the apps on the Orkut (though, I seriously doubt if people use any apps on Orkut these days)
- Shutdown Orkut all together
- Continue running Orkut and wait for user base to reach to zero :)
- Migrate all the Orkut users to Google Plus
In case of option 1 and 2, users moving out of Orkut may either go to Facebook or Google plus. At this juncture its more probable that they move to Facebook.
If they opt for option 3 they can migrate all of their Orkut users to Google plus, also it makes sense as they are loyal users of Orkut and should be given privilege to be early users of Google plus :). There will be having their own set of challenges migrating Orkut to Google plus, as not features can be migrated, possibility of some data loss, applications will go away.
My option would be to go with step 3, Lets see whats Google take on that. What do you think is best option, please do comment!!
continue wid 2 social networking sites
ReplyDeleteMigrate Orkut to G+ would be best from user perspective. Orkut name was never catchy to begin with.
ReplyDeleteAnd losing some Orkut-apps...Not a big deal since G+ most likely gonna be better supported by Google.
Do not shutdown orkut...Maybe use google plus to revive orkut...But shuttin down orkut may not be a good idea...
ReplyDeleteIntegrating Google Plus With Orkut is the best idea !!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think so too
DeleteI don't see any reason for not going on google+. we can use google search/google+/igoogle/orkut/google doc/google cal/gmail/picasa and many other useful product at single page.
ReplyDeleteOne more interesting thing I found that now we got unlimited space on picasa for uploading photos ;) Thanks google+
Ya,the dude at the top said just right!I wuld like the migration option better than the shutting down!!i hope google considers this!
ReplyDeleteit wont be easy to migrate orkut users to google+ simply because of the way friends are organized in google+ compared to how they are into Orkut. Imagine a person having 100 friends, how will those 100 friends be divided into different circles as per the persons' choice? Since both the models are totally different, it will be hard for google to come up with an algorithm to migrate orkut users to google+
ReplyDeleteIntegrated, and please do more of Google+ apps please ...
ReplyDeleteI personally thought google will not leave the poor orkut users but things seems to happen other way . Please also check this
ReplyDeletehttp://shyamlal.com/2011/07/10/orkut-vs-google-plus/
No Google will not do that. They created Google+ as a different SNS. There are still many who love orkut and they can't leave it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Google will shut down Orkut at a easy because, orkut is revenue for them.
ReplyDeleteGoogle is a sit... they always produce mediocre products first.. They borrow the ideas.. and slowly they refine it.. They have only indigenous product which is search engine.. They are just trying to diversify their business...
ReplyDeleteYa probably option 3 would be the best from the user's perspective
ReplyDeleteI still love orkut and feel it can be integrated with google plus..maybe something like a new "orkut tab" with an option to import all the contacts, scraps, etc into the orkut tab. In any case, google will lose a lot if it closes down orkut.
ReplyDelete