Orkut is a free to use social networking service, offered by google. It is most popular in countries such as Brazil and India. Launched in 2004, Orkut got its name from a Turkish software engineer - Orkut Büyükkökten. Initially the site had the largest user base in the United States but today Indians have the largest presence (23%) on Orkut as subscribers. They are closely followed by Brazilians (22%). All you need to subscribe Orkut is an email account.

Orkut is easy to use and offers a number of features to its users. You can develop your detailed profile for your friends / other users. Probably the most popular feature of Orkut is its scrapbook, where users can stay connected with their friends through short messages. One can share photographs, YouTube videos and the moment you upload them, your friends are notified with your updates. Also there are other features such as Ask Friends, Events and Lists which help users to organize their social networking activity and communicate in different ways with their friends.

But the most distinguished feature of Orkut is Communities. This feature is very popular among Orkut users. There are numerous communities; many of them have 10,000s of subscribers and one can start a community, moderate it or simply participate in lively debates on varied subjects in existing communities by becoming a member. Also one can add Opinion Polls in communities.

Among newly started features are GoogleTalk – web chat service, different themes suiting varied tastes and preferences of users, multiple language support and messaging and HTML enabled scrap service. There were certain issues related to security and spamming on Orkut which are addressed by the developers who also add surprises by making apt changes in its appearance on special occasions like important festivals and days.

Orkut with its simplicity and connectivity to other google services will continue to be the most preferred social networking site by the beginners to the internet.