Orkut’s Rise and Fall

The Marketing Plan

Orkut was a social media platform that launched in 2004, and quickly gained popularity, particularly in Brazil. While this was not the original plan, Orkut headquarters eventually moved there in 2008 because of the resounding success in that country. The app’s popularity was largely due to their creation of a social experience, rather than just another platform for messages to diffuse. You must be invited to join the site, which made the whole thing feel prestigious and probably made the users feel pretty darn special. The idea was that is you got an invitation, it meant you are well connected and important. After the app’s initial quick success, people coveted being invited. Sounds kind of toxic to me, but it sure did work! The app had a clean and simple interface with easy navigation, which resulted in high levels of interaction among users who could recommend products in community groups. The app also took privacy concerns very seriously, which is something other social media apps may start leaning into as society becomes more vocal about the issue. However, after 10 years and 300 million users, the app was shut down in 2014. This was largely to do issues with the site, resulting in a limited friends list, and problems uploading photos and videos.

Communities and Participation

The main premise of Orkut was based on communities. Users could search for a community they felt a part of and join it to stay in communication with other community members. These could include schools, brands, work, neighborhoods, etc. Users could interact with other users through these communities and even search for/recommend products through them. Sounds like a company’s dream! Friends could interact with each other, and apparently even rank each other in categories, which I also find toxic, but it worked! Since Orkut was invite-only, the sense of community on the site, despite the millions of users, was strong. As our culture increasingly shifts to digital, people crave a sense of community that is starting to diminish. Social media structures like Orkut’s not only give people access to their various communities but allows them to participate and interact with them whenever they had the time and as little/often as they would like. This introvert loves this idea! Participation levels were high due to this type of structure, which meant users were engaged and using the app more frequently.

Brazilian Culture and Advertising

In Brazil, outdoor advertising is banned. This means that most advertising is done digitally. Orkut allowed brands to promote their products through users to their communities, who had a shared sense of identity and therefore trusted and related to one another. Products being recommended were applicable to communities, taking half the work of targeting audiences off of brands’ plates.  As brands learn to engage their fans on digital platforms, they must be able to adapt with society and their customers as they change. In Brazil, customers wanted videos in particular from marketing campaigns, and this feature was difficult on Orkut. This, along with other things, is what ultimately led to their demise. Brands must be aware of trends, and what competitors are doing across all social media sites. Then, they must be prepared to be flexible to meet customer demands and expectations. Otherwise, they won’t be in business for long!