Mediaboss Marketing

New Delhi: Orkut, Google's first foray into social networking, is closing down today. Announced three months back, Google is going to shut down its early social-networking service, Orkut, on September 30 to focus on its other social networking initiatives.

Orkut was launched ten years ago but has failed to put Google ahead in what has become one of the Web's most popular businesses. The company declined to say how many users Orkut has.

"Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut's growth, we've decided to bid Orkut farewell," Google said in a post on the Orkut blog.

Orkut, which is widely used in Brazil and India, was launched early in 2004 - the same year that Facebook, now the world's No.1 social network, was founded.

The service's shutdown comes as Google's social networking plans remain in question. In April, Vic Gundotra, the head of Google's social networking services, left the company. Gundotra oversaw the 2011 launch of Google+, a social networking service similar to Facebook.

Google has increasingly sought to position Google+ less as a social networking "stream" that competes with Facebook, and more as a means of establishing a unified "user identity" system to improve Google's various Web properties. Last year, for example, Google began requiring users of its YouTube site to sign in with their Google+ identity before posting comments about videos.

The company said it would preserve an archive of all Orkut "communities" that will be available from September 30. "If you don't want your posts or name to be included in the community archive, you can remove Orkut permanently from your Google account," Google said.

You have a couple of hours to export your photo albums from Orkut, save your profile, scraps, and testimonials.

How you can export a photo album from Orkut to Google+:

Orkut users who also have a Google+ account can export their photo albums to Google+.

See more here:
Goodbye, Orkut! Google's first social network shutting down today

The social networking website Orkut shuts down forever on Tuesday, September 30.

I was 18 years old when I first came to know about Orkut.

I am not sure how I came across social networking. Those were still the days of Yahoo Messenger chats, Yahoo Groups and scary chat rooms infested with fake profiles. I dont recall if Gtalk was being used as frequently.

But the first ever social network I used was hi5. Hi5 was very flashy in its design and had few privacy controls. It resembled a more colourful version of MySpace. After scourging for friends and adding some newbies there, I began to tire of the addiction. It was more glamour and less substance.

Then one fine day I had to bear a friends ridicule for using hi5. He said, Get on to Orkut, you idiot, and there I was, the next day. He gave me my first scrapbook entry and my first testimonial - a bad one.

The problem started with pronouncing the social networks name - Or-kat or Or-koot? Nobody seemed to be obsessed with this as much as I was, so I just went along.

A rush to get onboard

Within the next six months or so, it seemed that my whole school was on Or-kat, as so was my college. After feverishly adding people as friends, I would post in their scrapbook for fun. The chats were public and non-moderated. But the social media space back then was benign, the right wing saw it as a threat to Indian culture and parents were exasperated with their kids newest addiction. In other words, all was normal in the Orkut world.

Soon it devolved into the now-familiar world of an unhealthy new age addiction, becoming an avenue to express your support for a particular cause (though you might never step out of your house to do something real about it). I founded a group called I Hate Moral Policing after Mumbais cops decided they would shoo away/ harass/ attack couples on the citys streets. The group (or community, as Orkut called it) became a hub for feminists, pseudo-feminists, liberals, right-wingers, leftists, confused Indians, kids, hypocrites, and some others. For some crazy reason I refused to upload a lead picture or hand over the moderator duties to anyone else.

Simple interface in nascent era of social media

See the article here:
Ode to Orkut, the innocent pioneer of a social media revolution

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http://appthemeshop.com/items/142/Social-Networking-Platform---SocialKit Social networking websites - Social network engine. Social networking websites that comprises of different futures...

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When it comes to social media, everyone wants in on theaction. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google Plus are all highly active social media networks. Not to mention the countless other little sites on the web today. Everyone wants to gain social media recognition for their business.

Having a good, or great, social media presence can help your business grow like wildflowers. But, this will only happen after you develop alarge following and learn how to give them what they really want. Here are some great ways any business owner or marketercan increase their social media presence and help their business grow.

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Let your audiences see a softer side.This means interacting on your social media accounts often. Very often! This doesnt mean just throwing up a link to your article and hoping someone will read it or click on it. This means really getting on there and interacting with everyone. Respond to posts from your audience and interact when they show interest. Show them who you are and your audience will feel more connected to you and they willwant to readother articles or visit your website.

Understanding what youraudience needs will help you be able to interactwith them on a more intimate level. Knowing what they want to read about and what they believe in will help you understand what you need to give to them. Once you understand this, you can give the everything they want which means bringing them to your website to see what your business is all about.

Make sure to include the icons of your social media networks on your personal website. This will make it easier for those coming to read your stuff to like and follow you. Dont make them track you down make is simple for them to connect with you. I have started even doing this for my John Rampton Wikipedia page as well

Link your Facebook, Twitter, or any of your other social media profiles to your website.Just like you want to provide links on your website to your profiles, you also want to link to your website so people can easily learn more about your company.

Share your social media accounts with everyone you know. Dont be spammy but dont be afraid to share. By doing this, they will know you have a presence on Facebook, Twiiter, etc.and they can share them with everyone they know. This is a simpleway to get the word out.

You want to make sure each social media network you are involved in serves a purpose. You can ensurethis by starting a marketing calendar. Make sure to add all of your upcoming events, blog posts, and everything else you decide to do with your business into this calendar. This will help you stay organized and understand how each of your social media accounts will bring in more untapped sectors for your business.

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25 Ways to Grow Your Social Media Presence