Orkut Is Failing
There's a good chance you've heard of Orkut in the past few days; there's a better chance you've been invited to it. While I'm certainly giddy at how quickly it has grown from the original 12,000 invitations, it is already showing signs of what I consider crucial social problems. Granted, it's still in beta, but one with no apparent or welcome differences from any other friend - of - a - friend site (save that it is affiliated with Google).
The first thing that bugs me is the community feature, as "dumb" here as anywhere else. There are too many communities being created, with too similar names and topics ("Social Software", "Social Network Analysis", "Social Networking Entrepreneur", "Antisocial Networks", etc.), and no indication of why they're worthwhile. Moreover, there's no way you can get an email when someone posts a message to the community forum... the assumption is that every day I'm going to run around looking for new posts. Since the communities have similar names and similar members, the same messages will begin showing up on the same forums, meaning a heckuva lot of running around for little payback. I'm currently part of 34 communities, but I don't really know what that means, except that 70% of them will be dead and even more useless a month from now.
The second, and probably biggest, thing that perplexes me is how your friends are ordered on the page, and likewise, how you're ordered on theirs. It's a perfect example of self-imposed and -controlled egotism: "What the?! Chris Pirillo has 12 more friends than I do?! I'm way cooler than Chris. Oh, look, someone added me as a frie... Dave Winer? Dave Winer uses social software? Dave Winer thinks I'm his friend? He'd certainly push my number up if I adde... Oh, the moral quandaries! ... .. ... . Hahah! 11 more friends Pirillo and yer MIIINEE!". I've already found myself adding "friends" that I barely know (whom I'd consider "acquaitances", at best), just because I liked seeing myself as a member of someone's Unholy Nine.
This can't be good. I may walk by the same guy every day on my way to work, or see the same email address post to a mailing list I'm on, but I certainly wouldn't call them a friend. By having Orkut "award" me with a higher number and better placement, I'm cheapening my own social network, destroying the very benefit that sites like this are supposed to provide. I'm sure other people have noticed this as well; any links with similar thoughts would be welcome.
