Orkut was a social networking platform that was launched in 2004. It was owned and operated by Google and was named after the person who developed it, Orkut Buyukkoten. Although it hasn’t been around since 2014, within the Brazilian market, Orkut was a popular site, with approximately 90% page views, which allowed for users to connect with high school friends and to build a community by joining membership-style groups. Orkut was able to speak to the changing digital world by using culture and technology through its group-membership approach to connecting with others. It was clean, simple, and sophisticated, which allowed users to find navigating with ease, but what made it appealing was its ability to reach students and technology workers.

Cool or trustworthy, these were some of the ways that users could rate other users. However, what made Orkut successful was how digital technology is controlled within Brazil. The culture holds a high affinity for digital and social media, as it is used as a market. The changing role of the digital consumer is one where cell phones outnumber people and the population within Brazil has embraced this way of living. Brazil has kept its advertising in-house, meaning it is a homegrown advertising market, as any outdoor marketing is banned. This way of living and thinking has caused an increase in online marketing, as approximately 77% of Brazilian social media users have a positive thinking about online shopping. Many of us can relate to the importance of using online shopping and the convenience of connecting through social media and the internet.

Social networking sites are used more frequently among consumers to research products, where they trust the recommendations from their contacts online, then they do from other sources. Rather than diffusing this approach to living, it is embraced. This way of living allows for businesses to flourish and for greater connections to be built. It allows for the brand to grow, since users are encouraged to blog, engage in social gaming, and to incorporate online videos into their marketing campaigns. Most in Brazil are responsive to videos as a brand strategy.  However, the use of videos was difficult when using Orkut, which made this network platform to be less successful. Instilling a freedom in users to connect to the user experience allowed for the brand culture to emerge. Allowing users to engage, and to do so often,  provides an opportunity for the digital platforms to increase, but also, it creates the ability for positive experiences and communication to take place between the consumer and the business. This is something that more organizations need to remember when building their brand, as it is only as good as the approach to social media. Telling stories and developing dialogue are key to the culture of marketing on social media.  It is important to listen for both the participant and the observer, as this should be done at every stage of branding. Setting goals,  policies,  creating social media choices, recognizing a target audience, developing resources, and monitoring the overall social media strategy is necessary to creating and increasing awareness of the brand. In essence, this is the future to building the brand in digital technology.

Works Cited

Mahoney, L. Meghan and Tang Tang. “Strategic Social Media. From Marketing to Social Change.” Chapter 11, Orkut: Case Study. (2017). Massachusetts: Wiley Blackwell, pp. 192-193.