Today social networking has become a big part of Youngistan, who use the medium to stay connected with friends, upload pictures and see what’s going in each other’s lives. Most are addicted enough to log in every other hour to check out what’s happening on it. The obvious name that comes to one’s mind while talking about a social networking site is Facebook. But not long ago it was Orkut that was ruling the roost.Orkut, framed and controlled by Google Inc. and launched on January 22, 2004 made immediate waves in the virtual world. No one had witnessed anything of this kind. It was a novel experience for users who could suddenly connect with long lost friends and college mates.Just as the Orkut craze caught on, Facebook came quick on its heels and proved to be a death knell to Orkut. According to the survey results, Facebook today has more than 800 million active users. Many of them were those who shifted loyalties quickly from Orkut to Facebook.“The appearance and the innovative applications attracted Orkut users to Facebook. Facebook has more applications. That is what prompted me to join in Facebook” says Gayathri, 1st year BA English student of S.H Thevara. Neema, 1st year B.Com student from S.H Thevara says, “The user friendly applications and communication tools is the reason I took to Facebook. Orkut is hardly being used by anyone now. That is also a reason to join Facebook.” Also Facebook users say that it is much faster than Orkut. “Facebook requires only half of the time required by Orkut to load a photo,” says Akhil of Mar Athanasius College of Engineering Kothamangalam. Facebook also seems to score high on appearance and design with its users. Facebook, they feel, regularly upgrades on its technology and tools. Orkut lags behind here too. “Social networking is banned in some countries. But the only site allowed is Facebook. Hence it is helpful to connect with people in such countries,” says Hebin, a 2nd year B.Sc Physics student.The underlining message clearly is that today’s tech savvy youngsters want systems that keep up with the times, and they are always prompted to move on to something better. “How long can a person stick to one particular social networking site? Orkut was once a very prominent social networking site and people liked it for its novelty. Now Facebook is more popular. If an even better site than Facebook arrives, then people will opt for that one,”says Zanal Nazer of 3rd year BA English, S.H College, Thevara.But there are a few Orkut fans left. Roslin is one of them. She says, “All my friends are still active on Orkut. I have only a few friends in Facebook. If I am getting any reply, that is only on Orkut”.Recently Orkut came up with an application called ‘Profile Theme’, which made Orkut more slower than ever. Facebook provides a bit more privacy settings than Orkut, says Riya of St. Teresa’s College Ernakulam. Sites such as Hi5, ibibo, MySpace, LinkedIn etc are some of the other few social networking sites, that have yet to gain popularity. A few people have profiles in Twitter, though they are not its active members. They make a visit to their Twitter profile once in a while. Google too have come up with an updated version of their social networking site called ‘Google+’ which is becoming popular among people. But it’s clear that in the virtual world, where everything is literally a click away, and trends are constantly changing, only the best can hope to survive.
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