Orkut
Shares rank 15 of 31 social networks by recommenders
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.
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.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 14
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Made lasting friends and relationships
“I made a lot of friends in Orkut and MSN Messenger, some of them are still my friends after more than a decade.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Communities Are Not Fungible” “I met my wife on Orkut. Happily married for 11 years now”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” “It's where I met my wife.”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” No algorithm, friendly community vibe
“It was a true social network without any fucking algorithms to keep you hooked whatsoever.”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” “The vibe was way nicer than Facebook.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?” “As good as I remember Orkut being”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” Fun to read and exchange messages
“it used to be a lot of fun reading everyone's messages to everyone else”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” “it was great while it lasted”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Google neglected updates and development
“it was clear that Google was not doing as many updates as they needed to compete, so Orkut felt more and more "outdated"”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” “When Facebook arrived Orkut was dying as it was essentially left to die”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” “I don't imagine this going anywhere either, unfortunately.”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” - Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?”
- Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “We want you to build the next Git platform on Cloudflare”
Spam and Brazil-driven decline
“I remember it getting absolutely destroyed by Spam at some point.”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” “Then it was taken over by spam, and also Brazil.”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” Slow, frequent downtime under growth
“it was very slow and couldn't handle the growth”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com” “its downtimes predated the Twitter fail whale”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Orkut.com”
Other social networks people recommend
The four most recommended other social networks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky | 317 | 401 | 44% | 12 | 1 yr5 owners | — |
| 289 | 1,338 | 18% | 13 | 14 yrs42 owners | — | |
| Mastodon | 273 | 220 | 55% | 12 | 3 yrs12 owners | — |
| X (formerly Twitter) | 264 | 984 | 21% | 13 | 13 yrs13 owners | — |
| OrkutThis page | 14 | 14 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
28 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It was a true social network without any fucking algorithms to keep you hooked whatsoever.”
“it used to be a lot of fun reading everyone's messages to everyone else”
“the page constantly shifting things around endlessly”
“When Facebook arrived Orkut was dying as it was essentially left to die”
“The JS-less view here looks amazing.”
“It's where I met my wife.”
“how does bringing Orkut back solve anything?”
“I don't imagine this going anywhere either, unfortunately.”
“it was great while it lasted”
“As good as I remember Orkut being”
“Even at the time I thought it was crazy that google bought the best social media platform”
“orkut.com fairly quickly grew to serve more daily pages than Google.com websearch”
“it was very slow and couldn't handle the growth”
“I met my wife on Orkut. Happily married for 11 years now”
“its downtimes predated the Twitter fail whale”
“the implementation and infrastructure was a total shit show”
“I signed up for Orkut and my account was promptly blocked.”
“I remember it getting absolutely destroyed by Spam at some point.”
“obviously vibe-coded without a single ounce of effort or taste”
“Then it was taken over by spam, and also Brazil.”
“it was clear that Google was not doing as many updates as they needed to compete, so Orkut felt more and more "outdated"”
“they chewed up the one social platform they had, Orkut”
“even better because of the simpler UX”
“I was active on FB, Insta, Goggle +, and Orkut during their early days.”
“I made a lot of friends in Orkut and MSN Messenger, some of them are still my friends after more than a decade.”
“The vibe was way nicer than Facebook.”
“they didn’t bother to integrate and migrate the users in.”
“with a few exceptions like Orkut and Youtube”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.