Google is finally pulling the plug on Orkut, its first effort in social network. The ten year old social network will shut down its operations on September 30 and existing users will be able to export their information using Google Takeout until September 2016. However, new users will not be able to create accounts.
“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 (or tchau). We’ll be focusing our energy and resources on making these other social platforms as amazing as possible for everyone who uses them”
Google Engineering Director Paulo Golgher wrote in a post on the Orkut blog.
Started in 2004, Orkut gained momentum in Brazil and India and was one of the favourite social networks until Facebook came in and changed the way people communicate. Today, 50 percent of Orkut users are still in Brazil, 20 percent in India and just under 18 percent are from the U.S.
The Orkut app will be removed from Google Play and the App Store later today. Google will be preserving an archive of all public communities, which will be available online starting on Sept. 30. If you don’t want your posts or name to be included in the archive, you will need to permanently remove Orkut from your Google account. Head over to Google’s Help Center for details.