Earlier than Orkut launched in January 2004, Büyükkökten warned the staff that the platform he’d constructed it on may deal with solely 200,000 customers. It would not be capable to scale. “They stated, let’s simply launch and see what occurs,” he explains. The remainder is on-line historical past. “It grew so quick. Earlier than we knew it, we had thousands and thousands of customers,” he says.
Orkut featured a digital Scrapbook and the power to offer folks compliments (starting from “reliable” to “horny”), create communities, and curate your very personal Crush Checklist. “It mirrored all of my character traits. You can flatter folks by saying how cool they have been, however you would by no means say one thing unfavorable about them,” he says.
At first, Orkut was fashionable within the US and Japan. However, as predicted, server points severed its connection to its customers. “We began having loads of scalability points and infrastructure issues,” Büyükkökten says. They have been compelled to rewrite your entire platform utilizing C++, Java, and Google’s instruments. The method took a whole 12 months, and scores of unique customers dropped off resulting from sluggish speeds and one-too-many encounters with Orkut’s now-nostalgic “Unhealthy, unhealthy server, no donut for you” error message.
Round this time, although, the positioning turned extremely fashionable in Finland. Büyükkökten was bemused. “I could not determine it out till I spoke to a pal who speaks Finnish. And he stated: ‘Have you learnt what your identify means?’ I didn’t. He instructed me that orkut means a number of orgasms.” Come once more? “Sure, so in Finland, everybody thought they have been signing as much as an grownup website. However then they would go away straight after as we could not fulfill them,” he laughs.
Awkward double meanings apart, Orkut continued to unfold internationally. Along with exploding in Estonia, the platform went mega in India. Its true second residence, although, was Brazil. “It turned an enormous success. Lots of people suppose I am Brazilian due to this,” Büyükkökten explains. He has a principle about why Brazil went nuts for Orkut. “Brazil’s tradition may be very welcoming and pleasant. It is all about friendships and so they care about connections. They’re additionally very early adopters of know-how,” he says. At its peak, 11 million of Brazil’s 14 million web customers have been on Orkut, most logging on by cybercafes. It took Fb seven years to catch up.
However Orkut wasn’t with out its issues (and plenty of faux profiles). The positioning was banned in Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Authorities authorities in Brazil and India had considerations about drug-related content material and little one pornography, one thing Büyükkökten denies existed on Orkut. Brazilians coined the phrase orkutização to explain a social media website like Orkut turning into much less cool after going mainstream. In 2014, having hemorrhaged customers resulting from gradual server speeds, Fb’s extra intuitive interface, and points surrounding privateness, Orkut went offline. “Vic Gundotra, in control of Google+, determined towards having any competing social merchandise,” Büyükkökten explains.
However Büyükkökten has fond recollections. “We had so many tales of individuals falling in love and transferring in collectively from completely different components of the world. I’ve a pal in Canada who met his spouse in Brazil by Orkut, a pal in New York who met his spouse in Estonia and now they’re married with two youngsters.” he says. It additionally supplied a platform for minority communities. “I used to be speaking to a homosexual journalist from a small city in São Paulo who instructed me that discovering all these LGBTQ folks on Orkut reworked his life,” he provides.
Büyükkökten left Google in 2014 and based a brand new social community, once more that includes a easy five-letter title: Hiya. He wished to concentrate on constructive connection. It used “loves” fairly than likes, and customers may select from greater than 100 personae, starting from Cricket Fan to Trend Fanatic, after which have been related to like-minded folks with widespread pursuits. Tender-launched in Brazil in 2018 with 2 million customers, Hiya loved “ultra-high engagement” that Büyükkökten claims surpassed the likes of Instagram and Twitter. “One of many issues that stood out in our person surveys was that individuals stated after they open Hiya, it makes them completely happy.”
The app was downloaded greater than 2 million occasions—a fraction of the customers Orkut loved—however Büyükkökten is pleased with it. “It surpassed all our goals. There have been quite a few situations the place our Okay-Issue (the variety of new people who current customers carry to an app) reached 3, main us to exponential development,” he says. However, in 2020, Büyükkökten bid goodbye to Hiya.
Now he’s engaged on a brand new platform. “It’ll leverage AI and machine studying to optimize for enhancing happiness, bringing folks collectively, fostering communities, empowering customers, and creating a greater society,” he says. “Connection would be the cornerstone of design, interplay, product, and expertise.” And the identify? “If I instructed you the brand new model, you’ll have an aha second and every part can be crystal clear,” he says.
As soon as once more, it’s pushed by his enduring want to attach folks. “One of many greatest ills of society is the decline in social capital. After smartphones and the pandemic, we have now stopped hanging out with our pals and do not know our neighbors. We’ve got a loneliness epidemic,” he says.
He’s fiercely essential of present platforms. “My greatest ardour in life is connecting folks by know-how. However when was the final time you met somebody on social media? It’s creating disgrace, pessimism, division, melancholy, and nervousness,” he says. For Büyükkökten, optimism is extra vital than optimization. “These firms have engineered the algorithm for income,” he says. “Nevertheless it’s been terrible for psychological well being. The world is terrifying proper now and loads of that has come by social media. There’s a lot hate,” he says.
As a substitute, he desires social media to be a spot of affection and a facilitator for assembly new folks in individual. However why will it work this time round? “That’s a extremely good query,” he says. “One factor that has been actually constant is that individuals miss Orkut proper now.” It’s true—Brazilian social media has just lately been abuzz with memes and recollections to have a good time the positioning’s twentieth birthday. “A teenage boy even just lately drove 10 hours to satisfy me at a convention to speak about Orkut. And I used to be like, how is that even attainable?” he laughs. Orkut’s touchdown web page continues to be stay, that includes an open letter calling for a social media utopia.
This, together with our collective want for a extra human social media, is what makes Büyükkökten consider that his subsequent platform is one that can actually stick round. Has he selected that each one vital identify? “We haven’t introduced it but. However I’m actually excited. I really care. I wish to carry that authenticity and sense of belonging again,” he concludes. Maybe, as his Finnish followers would joke, it’s time for Orkut’s second coming.
This story first appeared within the July/August 2024 UK version of WIRED journal.
