Finally Orkut has stepped into the shoes of a four year old today and I wish a very Happy Birthday to Orkut. Orkut has evolved like a plague during the past four years.

I remember celebrating Orkut's 3rd Birthday in 2007 where I discussed about some of the new features that had been incorporated into Orkut plus I discussed what Orkut needs more to get into neck-to-neck competition with MySpace, FaceBook and other famous social networks.

Probably most of you would have always wondered why I emphasize on Orkut more than any other social network. The reason for this is because Orkut is much more different than other social networks out there. It is more like a virtual world where you meet people and interact with them socially. Though FaceBook and MySpace let you do the same but Orkut has its unique sense of social interaction which can not be described until you experience it yourself.

Orkut Development in Year 2007

2007 has been the most lucky year for Orkut so far. We got to see a lot of development on the design and dozens of new features were implemented too. It is hard to account for every little feature that was added to Orkut in 2007 so I will just give you some highlights about the main features that really gave Orkut a new identity.

• True Blue - Orkut got a stylish new web 2.0 design called True Blue Simplicity
• Orkut Blog - This was needed long time ago but thank God they finally introduced it this year. There is now an Official Orkut Blog
• Multimedia Scraps - Probably one of the most useful features added to Orkut. You can now send multimedia scraps including flash, javascript, images, photos or even YouTube videos.
• Privacy - I know Orkut and Privacy are two opposite words but they finally did it. Orkut is now more private and secure. Your photos, videos and album can now be viewed only by you or by your friends plus Orkut will let you block unwanted scraps
• Friend Updates - Got that from FaceBook for sure but now you get Friend notifications in your profile too
• Ajax Scrap Notifications - Ajax Scrap Messenger shall notify you whenever you get new scraps. Good that you don't need 3rd part software anymore
• Ask Friends - Instantly get answers to your questions using the Ask Friends feature
• Open Social - Orkut is finally open to Open Social developers means you will seeing lot of Orkut applications soon. You can get access to the Orkut SandBox too

Connect with me on Orkut

Here is a link to my profile. Orkut is the social network I use the most as compared to Facebook and others.

http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=14762448161523218204

For all those who have not experienced Orkut yet. They are missing the real fun of a virtual life