facebook v/s orkut

FACEBOOK V/S ORKUT

By

Name: - JAIN GARIMA PRADEEP

Class: - S.Y.B.M.S

Div: - ‘A’

Semester: - IV Th

Roll no: - 45

A project Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the examination of the subject “Research Methods in Business” in “Usha Pravin Gandhi College of Management” March 2010

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I owe a great thanks to the people who helped me in choosing this topic for the research report.

My deepest thanks to Professor “Mayur Vyas” who helped with great attention & care.

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Section

Description Page no.

I INTRODUCTION 1-2

II RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 3

III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4

IV RESEARCH FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

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V CONCLUSION 36

VI APPENDIXa) QUESIONNIAREb) BIBLOGRAPHY

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

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In this rapid globalization era we are spreading our social relationship vigorously. Building up relations and spreading our relations make us crazy. When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are known as social networking sites. Social networking websites function like an online community of internet users. Social networking sites, sometimes referred to as "friend-of-a-friend" sites, build upon the concept of traditional social networks, where you are connected to new people through people you already know. The purpose of some networking sites may be purely social, allowing users to establish friendships or romantic relationships, while others may focus on establishing business connections.

Although there are many social networking site among them orkut, facebook, hi5, twitter, MySpace are most known. Due to no. of players in the same market there are huge

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competitions among them. When the question of tough competition in India comes it is definitely between orkut and facebook.

Facebook and Orkut are two of the most popular social networking sites, with both offering very similar features and capabilities. Facebook is a 3 and a half year old social network for friendship and a community hub, while orkut handled by Google was triggered into action on January 2004

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. Background

2. Why people have switched off from orkut to facebook?

3. Market share of facebook & orkut.

4. What Makes Facebook Win Over Orkut?

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5. What the Indians looking ahead for facebook and orkut?

6. Reasons for users liking facebook or orkut!!!

7. 10 Ways Orkut Can Compete with Facebook.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To attain the above research objectives we carried out an explanatory study and collected data from both sources i.e.

1.Primary data2.Secondary data

Data collection method:-

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Primary data is collected through a survey conducted within the age group of 18-25 by a well designed questionnaire in attachment named “G”.

Secondary data is collected from the internet, newspaper articles & magazines.

RESEARCH FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

Research findings of this research paper can be accumulated and discussed as under:-

From Secondary Data:-Social networking sites are the best ways to find friends easily around the world. The most important sites are facebook and orkut. The facebook is

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famous in the North America which has an origin at the Harvard University. The orkut is a social networking site from the Google. Facebook has a higher market share than the orkut. The orkut gained its popularity mainly in the country called India.

From Primary Data:-Questionnaire is attached after the research but questions asked in the survey with overall view are shown below:-

QUESSIONNAIRE: - FACEBOOK

ORKUT

1. Do you run accounts on both websites? Which do you prefer?

58%42%

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2. Which site is more professional looking?

65% 35%

3. In which of them you like gaming the most?

72% 28%

4. In which you can view people's profiles more easily whether friend or not?

20% 80%

5. In which website you feel you more secured?85%15%

6. Which is the most popular social networking site in India?

53%47%

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7. Whom do you feel has a well integrated homepage?

82%18%

8. By using which site you have come closer to your old friends?

49%51%

9. By using which site you have made friends whom you have never known before?

39%61%

BACKGROUND

Facebook and Orkut are two of the most popular social networking sites, with both offering very similar features and

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capabilities. Comparing Face Book vs. Orkut from a market share perspective will show you that both are considerably behind MySpace with Facebook owning just over 11.5% of the market share and Orkut having less than 1%. Facebook has become very popular in North America over the last few months whereas Orkut is extremely popular in India.

Market share:-

Social networking sites are the best

ways to find friends easily around the

world. The most important sites are 12

facebook and orkut. The facebook is

famous in the North America which has

an origin at the Harvard University. The

orkut is a social networking site from

the Google. Facebook has a higher

market share than the orkut. The orkut

gained its popularity mainly in the

country called India. Facebook and orkut

had their own features in attracting the

users of the social networking sites. Let

we see some of the differences between

these sites and discuss some of the

important features available in these

sites.

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Remarkable Differences between them:

The Facebook allows you to have

specialized layouts for the people and

helps you to share your photos with

others. The orkut provides you with the

number of times of a particular profile

visited by others. As the orkut is

connected with the Google chat, people

can chat with their friends

simultaneously in spending time with

these social networking sites. The

facebook provides you with most

fascinating look and allows you to

customize the view according to your

requirement and mood. Thus start

account in these sites to find friends all

over the world.

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Why people have switched off from orkut to facebook?

Facebook and Orkut are two of the most popular social networking sites, with both offering very similar features and capabilities.

Comparing Face Book vs. Orkut from a market share perspective will show you that both are considerably behind MySpace with Facebook owning just over 11.5% of the market share and Orkut having less than 1%. Facebook has become very popular in North America over the last few months whereas Orkut is extremely popular in India.I do have access to both an Orkut and Facebook account and find myself using Facebook the majority of the time. I actually prefer Facebook when comparing Facebook vs. Orkut from a usability perspective, here's why:-

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From an overall cosmetic point of view, Facebook is a much more professional looking whereas Orkut looks somewhat unfinished.

1. Facebook’s Mini Feed feature is useful in seeing a quick snapshot on the latest happenings within your network

2. The ease at which you can customize layouts within Face Book, especially the drag and drop option.

3. The ability to supply how you know a person (through school, other friends, work, randomly, etc...). This is especially interesting when you and one your contacts know the same person, but through different ways.

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What Makes Facebook Win Over Orkut?

I was quite surprised to see the news in the headlines today about the deal of Microsoft with the social networking site Facebook. Facebook is a 3 and a half year old social network for friendship and a community hub. Microsoft’s entry into the social networking venue has raised quite a many eyebrows over the fact that, Microsoft paid $240 million price for 1.6% stake in Facebook.

This clears the view, world’s largest software maker, crudely wanted to deepen its relationship with a startup that didn’t have $200 million in annual revenue. This deal was the only thing which made me to open an account with Facebook. The only other friendship community I am associated till now was Orkut which in my opinion definitely gives a far more friendly user experience than Face Book, especially now after having registered with Facebook.I did look around for the

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reason as to why users prefer Face Book over Orkut and was surprised to see that Facebook users are more than the number of Orkut user.

What the Indians looking ahead for facebook and orkut?

For those who still unaware of Alexa’s Ranking in India, Facebook overtook Orkut to secure its position at Number 4 leaving behind Orkut at Number 5. This article looks at the fight from an Indian perspective and finds out the sustainable growth of Facebook in India. Orkut is fighting the battle hard to leave no stone unturned, but are still not able to come with the right kind of innovation needed.

Before we begin the analysis; it’s time to get some facts straight. It’s a common myth that Facebook was launched much later than Orkut. However, the launch date of Orkut was Jan 2004 while that of Facebook was Feb 2004 (hardly one month difference). So the concept of Facebook gaining

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popularity in a matter of just one year is not so correct. Yes, the presence was felt much later in India and it gained popularity in a short time but the global launch dates were close. This article, for a change uses Google Insights ( for those who are new to it…Try it out folks… You would love it http://www.google.com/insights/search )

For analysis of Facebook and Orkut (Probably, a lot of analysis has already gone in using Alexa and others)

I am not going to take any stance on Orkut and Facebook, but would like to present the true picture. This article is basically meant to shake up the underlying myths of many social networking users, be it the Orkut lovers

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or FB freaks. I decided two split the article into two parts, the first one for the Orkut Lovers (disheartening for FB users) and the second one to cheer up the FB freaks (some serious eye-openers for Orkut).

So you thought Facebook is GOD now…..!!!

World No.2 Alexa Ranking has still not surpassed the real test…. For those who keep themselves updated with Alexa Rankings globally, Facebook ranks No.2; comprehensively beating Orkut (Brazil) ranking no 42.

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So it’s a known fact now that Facebook is God and will be the best social networking site in future. However, before drawing inferences like these, let’s have a look at past data (What Google Insights has to say)

Following Graph gives the popularity of Orkut on a scale of 0-100. Data is available from 2004 and that’s the exact year when both Orkut and FB were launched.

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This graph shows some interesting results. Orkut attained its peak popularity in 2007 (hitting 100 on that scale) and did sustain it for a year. However, the sustainability did not last much and there were times when it touched values below 70 (after 2007). This suggests that people are looking in for a change with changing times and if you are not able to provide that, then you lose your peak popularity.

Let’s have a look on Face book’s popularity.

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The graph shows amazing results in terms of ever increasing popularity over the period of years. However, the concern to be addressed here is the peak time. FB has attained its peak lately and the real test lies in maintaining that peak. As we have seen in the case of Orkut, the popularity went down after one year of the peak time. Same could happen for Facebook as well. Therefore, to conclude that Facebook has become the king is wrong. In fact, the graphs above reveal that Orkut could attain its peak popularity in just three years of its launch, whereas it took almost five years for Facebook to do it. (I know, Orkut lovers would give a Thumbs UP here or as FB puts it “Like it” ). FB would become the king if it can show the results from this point of time (after 2009- So we have to wait and watch)

Next, I would like to present one important forecasted data that would justify the purpose of this section- Orkut can make a comeback, the game isn’t

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over yet. Following graph presents the forecasted data of Orkut’s popularity in the coming years:

According to the extrapolated data, Orkut would hit its peak again! Though I personally agree to what many have to say about the New Orkut (it’s just a copy of FB) but this is what the data speaks. Moreover, it further confirms to my proposition about people look for change, when it comes to peak times. New Orkut might not have been an innovation, but all it has brought about is a change!

The peak times in India has similar story to share.

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This map of India was once full dark blue (in 2007) indicating maximum search volume index, however it has faded and the light blue colors are now visible for the latest data available. This shows Orkut could not sustain the peak. The peak of 2007 (Orkut’s case) is clearly reflected in present (2009) map of India for Facebook. Following map illustrates it:

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This dark blue color, clearly demonstrates the peak time for Facebook. The animated slider from 2004 would clearly indicate a move from faded blue to dark blue over a period of years. So we all need time to really assess FB and should not come to a conclusion right now.

How Facebook Takes the Lead?

What Orkut Needs to Learn from Facebook? This section would give some

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relief for the Facebook lovers. We all do admire FB’s pace and innovation and these factors have made it No.2 Website in the world.

Let’s have a look at Face book’s search volume index in the Globe

The latest data on Global Search Volume Index using Google Insights reveal that the search index volume is 5 in India. If the index is ranked, then India would rank 80 plus. However, Orkut Global Search volume reveals

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different figures. This is an interesting case. With Orkut Search Volume Index being 17 (almost three times that of FB), its rank in India should have been almost three times that of Facebook. Surprisingly, Facebook ranks ahead of Orkut in India. So what does that indicate? FB has far low search index volume than Orkut and still is ahead in Alexa Rankings. This shows the TIME factor. The best online business today does not attack on money

But looks for TIME. They demand maximum user time and build up

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applications in such a way that maximum time spending is ensured (chat, games, applications, quizzes). Facebook assumed that users in India have time to devote and they were true!.

So this would be a lesson for Orkut, in its coming new versions. The strategy should not be to increase the user base (it already has plenty), rather look for TIME factor (how to ensure that existing users spend more time).

One more strategy followed by Facebook was to invest in regions where Orkut had a strong hold. Let’s look at the popularity (search volume) graph of Orkut and Facebook in India.

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Compared to Figure-1 (global scenario), Orkut has lost its popularity in India (2009) and the difference is significant (20). This is essentially because of the excessive marketing of Facebook in India (introduction of FB in Indian Languages). It is also visible by the peak FB achieved in 2009 in India (Figure-9). However, the reverse never happened. Orkut did not attack the regions strongly held by Facebook. Those regions still remain dominated by FB and Orkut is far behind. The concept of people demanding change is valid here too. Orkut should realize the potential regions where saturation has occurred

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(FB dominance) and try to aggressively invest in those regions to gain back its popularity.

The main reasons for users liking Facebook from what I found were:-

1. Simple and professional user interface

2. Explanation for being added as a friend

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3. Unique groups or communities 4. Security of user’s profile and

information 5. Many other fun applications

The reasons why users don’t like Orkut were as follows:

1. Amateurish interface (as seen prior to the new one I suppose)

2. Open scraps and profiles owing to less security

3. No provision for providing reasons to “Add as friend”

4. Repetitive groups or communities

10 Ways Orkut Can Compete with Facebook!!!!

Convincing some of my Indian friends that Facebook has far more users than Google's Orkut.  Although Orkut and Facebook was launched almost at the same time, way back in the first quarter of 2004, the later has earned  of

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popularity beating the giant social network like MySpace. With over 230 million active users Facebook has been dominating the social networking sphere world-wide. While Orkut's dominance remains restricted to Brazil and India. Since July Facebook has started accelerating its coverage in both Brazil and India. In May alone Facebook has doubled its users in Brazil. A similar trend was seen in India where Orkut reigns with 13 million monthly active users. Facebook users doubled from 1.6 million to 3.2 million during May and June. Facebook is fast gobbling up Orkut's strongholds. The element of concern is that the buz on Orkut is losing steam. Whatever be the reason we are hear to discuss 10 ways Orkut can compete with Facebook.

1. Publicity

Well, most of the social butterflies in US have never heard of a social network named Orkut. Where as Facebook is widely advertised on news channels, especially during elections. That's a

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great opportunity on which Facebook is cashing. It's high time Orkut establishes a Media presence to allure all those die-hard fans who just adopt whims and fancies in the name of Google.

2. Privacy

Orkut neither has a wall nor a ceiling, it all open under the sky. Those seeking a safe haven won't go for it. In Orkut you can view people's profile publicly. In Facebook you can only see a profile after the person has added you in his/her list.

In Facebook you can selectively control what people can see on your profile. Well, by that  I don't mean you can't do that on your Orkut profile but the options are limited.

3. Quicker Response

Orkut's seems to turn deaf-ear against the hacks. Well, we need share our own

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experience when talking about hacks. We had posted a Facebook Hack to see the album of any private user. Within a few weeks Facebook was up with a solution to check the snag.

Coming to Orkut, we had posted an amazing hack to copy and save photos from Orkut Album. Google’s Orkut development team is yet to shake its lazy legs as people continue to thank us for such a whack hack. It's high-time for Google to get serious with Orkut hacks.

4. Appearance

Facebook offers a fully customizable layout and random craps to make it an eye-candy. Although there was much fuss over the recent redesign social media insiders could be the happier lot. Orkut features a amateurish interface and a primitive layout that looks incredibly dull.  That simply weighs upon Orkut's fun quotient.  As a sub-section we could include the themes

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Themes

When it comes to theme there's a hell and heaven difference between Facebook themes and Orkut. For someone with an eye for art would realize the aesthetics of Facebook themes. The Orkut themes are just cartoonish with minimal styling.

Google needs to give some personality to Orkut.

5. Wealth of applications

Orkut seems faceless before Face book’s diverse set of quality apps. The standalone Orkut users could never hallucinate about stuffs like Exit Reality 3D Apartment, Super Mario World, 80's Memories Gifts, Say Something etc. Moreover, these quality apps are smooth sailing without any hitch ups. Although after recent redesigning in July there were issues with Slide, Rock You, Familylink.com apps you still have some real quality apps.

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By now Orkuteers must have been fed-up with the buggy and non-productive Orkut apps. To add to it Google could have refrained to display it is a bad server.

6.Improved status updates

The number and frequency of alerts and updates on Facebook is just amazing. Every micro changes and activities on Facebook are splashed on the screens of their friends.  The Pokes are real fun on Facebook.

Any comment you make on your friends is updated on the mini threads that you receive on your Facebook profile. Orkut never informs you what your friend is doing right now. You can find a lot of Orkutians trying add their current status to their name. For instance, I often come across titles like Peter…back in Orkut. What if Orkut could provide a status update like what’s on your mind!

7. Chatting Options

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Facebook has Comet-based instant messaging application called "Chat" to several networks. It offers similar functionality like the desktop-based instant messengers. When you log in Facebook you are automatically logged into Facebook Chat. There are three Facebook chat tools The first indicates the whether you are online. The next one would inform you about any new Facebook notification right from the tool. The third tool is the actual chat tool. It allows you options to appear offline to specific Friends Lists within Chat. Further you can delete your entire chat history.  You can even use Facebook Chat from your desktop without opening Facebook.

Orkut has no indigenous IM for chatting but integrates Gtalk as Orkut messenger. For using Orkut chat you have to sign up with your Gmail account. However, in case you are using a yahoo, Rediff or any other email service the messenger would not include your Orkut friends in the Gtalk 

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or Gmail list. To add to the misery, Orkut messenger is buggy and sluggish, there's nothing instantaneous about it.

8. Multimedia Sharing

Facebook is amazing with multimedia sharing. If your friend as updates a latest audio or video in their profile you can watch that right from your profile. You don't have to navigate to your friend’s profile.No doubt Orkut allows you to share videos and audio but, you need to move to your friend’s profile where you have the video embedded.

For the latest, Facebook Connect was announced for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DSi.

Orkut needs to improve on its multimedia sharing features.

9. Tighter Integration

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We often hear that Facebook is much more complicated. Let me tell you Facebook allows you much more stuffs than just browsing others profiles and reading scraps.

In Facebook everything is finely integrated in the home page from Messaging, to friends update, invites, tagging photo and many more. In Orkut it's scattered with features distributed over pages.

Orkut should have a well integrated interface with all major features perfectly set.

10.  Marketplace

Face book’s Marketplace is feature often compared to Craigslist. It allows users to post free classified ads. However, unlike Craigslist listings posted by a user on Marketplace are only seen by users that are in the same network as that user. Orkut might boast that it carries no ads but to go global it need to be more productive.

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Conclusion & suggestions

Well, I heard someone saying, Orkut is copying facebook. Orkut has copied following features from Facebook - updates, status message, comment on pictures, applications and may be more. If Orkut has to grow in the world wide social network, Google needs to think beyond a step ahead.

Well, Facebook is for Pro who wants real social gaming on networks. Google need to work on gaps in Facebook where Orkut could set its feet. But it seems Google reluctant to leverage its social boy to regain its stature.

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QUESSIONNAIRE:-

1. Do you run accounts on both websites? Which do you prefer?

2. Which site is more professional looking?

3. In which of them you like gaming the most?

4. In which you can view people's profiles more easily whether friend or not?

5. In which website you feel you more secured?

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6. Which is the most popular social networking site in India?

7. Whom do you feel has a well integrated homepage?

8. By using which site you have come closer to your old friends?

9. By using which site you have made friends whom you have never known before?

Bibliography:-

Internet

Google Scibd.com Facebook.com Orkut.com Socialnetworkingsites

.com Wikipedia

Newspaper

Times of India43

Mint Hindustan times

Magazines

Business world

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