I jumped onto the social networking bandwagon a couple of years ago with a site called Orkut. It was the coolest thing to be on Orkut at the time and for most people it still is. Most of us in this part of the world had absolutely no clue about social networking till then. A friend sent me an invite and the next thing I knew I was spending a lot of time on this site. It took me some time to get my way around Orkut because I had done nothing like it ever before. A lot of my friends were already on the network. So all I had to do was to find them.
Orkut is an online community that helps the user maintain existing relationships and establish new ones with people one has never met before. Orkut has five new Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu which makes it accessible to a lot more people than it otherwise would. A user first puts together a profile that contains social, professional and personal details that he/she wishes to share. Photos and videos can be added to make the profile interesting. Messages can be sent and received. “Scrapping” is a popular form of offline and online communication. Yet another feature is ‘Google talk’ which basically is an instant messaging (chat) service.
One can give testimonials to friends which is a great way to let them know how much they mean to you. Orkut also allows you to rate your friends as being trustworthy, cool and sexy. Further, each member can become fans of any of the friends on their list.
Apart from all of this one can create and join a wide range of communities that serve as platforms for sharing information and opinions. This makes it easy to find people who share your hobbies and interests. A couple of my friends have found love and established business contacts as well. Activities on these communities could range from discussions and organizing events to conducting polls. On Orkut there are communities for just about anything.
The most important thing that I do on Orkut that I do not have an opportunity to do otherwise is reconnecting with friends I have lost touch with over the years. I don’t think I would have gotten in touch with them ever. Orkut has been a blessing that way. I look forward to chatting with friends from school and graduate college. I haven’t really made any new friends as I am very skeptical about the authenticity of profiles and the person at the other end. Friends are strictly those that I know in real life.
A lot of people I know are addicted to social networking. They are online all the time and have little time to build relationships in the real world which I think is a dangerous thing. This is extremely unhealthy because social networking can only augment what you have for real. One cannot substitute the other.
Then there is the issue of security and privacy. Just about anyone can visit your profile making the information posted therein open to misuse which is not the case in Facebook. Accounts are hacked for personal information. The photos of girls are being morphed and are used in pornographic material. Content is not well-regulated which has led to the existence of unacceptable content on the network. This is why I haven’t uploaded any photos and I have no intention of doing so in the future.
As far as my personal involvement is concerned, I would say that the enthusiasm has waned from what it initially was. On most days my usage of Orkut is limited to ten minutes. This time is used to check my scrapbook and reply to any scrap that might have been left for me. On weekends I spend about an hour.
In conclusion I would like to say that social networking is here to stay. It has made life easier and is a great way to keep in touch with friends. It has its pros and cons just like any other medium of communication would. All that matters is for all of us to take the good and forget the bad.
5 comments:
I have never used Orkut, so I dont really know what it is like. Obviously verys simular to MySpace and Facebook. I feel that these sites are most useful for keeping in touch with OLD friends not nessisarily current ones. Old friends are harder just to "call on the phone", but through these sites we are easily able to send them short messages asking how they are, and what is going on in thier lives. It helps everyone keep up to date in everyone elses lives. Even though I dont use my networking sites very often anymore, I like that I still have them, so if I need to contact an old friend or a family member I can at all times.
I would agree with you Jamie. I really think networking sites help keep in touch with old friends, since we often move so far away from one another, and it may be awkward to call certain people. A little note on the web is a little more casual. I think you bring up a good point Swetha when you say that social networking can be addictive. Social networking sites are always being updated and people are always busily writing on each other's profiles, so there's always something new to read. I always used to sit and look at pictures of my friends for long amounts of time, so I finally decided to get rid of Facebook. It was too tempting to keep up with my friends when I had so much work to do in grad school! Maybe one day I'll get it back, but not until the semester is over :)
Here we go.
I'm curious how many SN sites have Indian languages and the number of each. This accessibility would account for diffusion differences between nations and other groups.
The pictures issue is interesting. I haven't heard of personal pictures being used for vulgar purposes. I'd like to read about the case studies on that or news articles. Just to see how common this is and where it's happening. Violation of user intent regarding personal content is an app killer of a problem.
That's certainly a roadblock to an application's success.
Facebook doesn't have other language does it? I think that it would be great next step in Facebooks progress to offer it in other lnguages and expand its reach even farther that it has already. I think its interesting how users of Orkut use instant messaging like google talk or scrapping. I never use any sort of messaging like that when I am on a social networking site. I remember in highschool and my first two years of college using AOL instant messenger was a huge deal and it was how you stayed connected with people, and you could even see their IM profiles as well, which was a very mild form of social networking. Unlike Shwetha, I use facebook more for college acquaintances and Myspace more for keeping touch with old friends. I have heard other people do just the opposite. I got on facebook my second year of college and got on myspace towards the end of my senior year. I wonder if the time in which you subscribe to a social networking site determines how you will use it.
I'm REALLY curious . . . what is "scrapping?"
Also, I've read in a few of these posts about how addicting social networking sites can be. I definitely agree, but I'm curious to know more about users in India. What is the average amount of time a user in India spends on a site like Orkut? And how prevalent are social networking sites? Is usage widespread, or limited in reach?
The language barrier is also mind-boggling for me! Call me naive . . . I know I can be when it comes to cultural differences and technology usage. But I'm curious to know how social networking sites are affected by having multiple language formats in one country. I'd definitely like to know more about this! Which language is most prevalent among users in India?
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