# Orkut

14 Hacker News commenters recommended Orkut and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recall Orkut as a fun, friendly social network without engagement algorithms, where many made lasting friendships; critics say Google neglected it and it was hard to keep running.

## Why people recommend it

- Made lasting friends and relationships (3 comments): "I made a lot of friends in Orkut and MSN Messenger, some of them are still my friends after more than a decade." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46978815)) "I met my wife on Orkut. Happily married for 11 years now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50008383)) "It's where I met my wife." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50015013))
- No algorithm, friendly community vibe (3 comments): "It was a true social network without any fucking algorithms to keep you hooked whatsoever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50017329)) "The vibe was way nicer than Facebook." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46428457)) "As good as I remember Orkut being" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50009260))
- Fun to read and exchange messages (2 comments): "it used to be a lot of fun reading everyone's messages to everyone else" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50016671)) "it was great while it lasted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50009452))

## What people warn about

- Google neglected updates and development (5 comments): "it was clear that Google was not doing as many updates as they needed to compete, so Orkut felt more and more "outdated"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50007473)) "When Facebook arrived Orkut was dying as it was essentially left to die" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50015262)) "I don't imagine this going anywhere either, unfortunately." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50011004))
- Spam and Brazil-driven decline (2 comments): "I remember it getting absolutely destroyed by Spam at some point." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50007785)) "Then it was taken over by spam, and also Brazil." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50007563))
- Slow, frequent downtime under growth (2 comments): "it was very slow and couldn't handle the growth" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50008572)) "its downtimes predated the Twitter fail whale" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50008131))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Bluesky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bluesky.md): 317 recommend
- [Facebook](https://hackerapproved.com/p/facebook.md): 289 recommend
- [Mastodon](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastodon.md): 273 recommend
- [X (formerly Twitter)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/x.md): 264 recommend
- [Instagram](https://hackerapproved.com/p/instagram.md): 212 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Orkut", https://hackerapproved.com/p/orkut/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).