Orkut has had a long journey, but alas it’s the end of the road for the social networking and discussion website as Google is finally pulling the plug. Come September 30, the SNS will go offline for good and until then, you’ll be able to access the website as normal.
The main reason for Google to shutdown Orkut.com is that is wants to focus more on other services such as YouTube, Blogger and Google+ which have grown in popularity over the years, while the service in question has been outpaced by competitors such as Facebook and Twitter. Nevertheless, the social network still has a good number of active users, mostly from Brazil.
For many people, Orkut was their first step to social networking. And even if you haven’t logged into your account from a year or two, Google has no plans of wiping your data without giving you the chance to download your scraps and testimonials. On the upside, user-created public communities will live on as the search giant will archive them and also make them available online once the site goes down.
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Those who want their posts or name to be excluded from the archives will have to permanently delete their accounts. Once the expiry date has passed, no one will be able to log into their accounts. What’s more, the company has stopped accepting new members which is an obvious move. For those making their switch to Google+, the company will allow you to link to your new account to the soon-to-be diseased one to make finding friends easier. Also, your profile photo and name will be carried forward.
Be sure to download your testimonials and scraps through Google Takeout before Orkut shuts down in September.