orkut in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu!

Posted by Patrick Barry, Software Engineer

In our quest to make orkut universally accessible, we're now available in 5 new languages: Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. Indians have always been a vibrant part of the orkut community, and we continue to see more Indians joining orkut every day. It's our goal to make orkut the ultimate tool for self-expression and communication, and we know that if we're not translated into your native language, this becomes harder. So we worked closely with Googlers in our Indian offices to help develop the initial release of these languages. Since there are many different nuances to these languages, we want to hear your feedback. To help us improve the translation or tell us what language you'd like to see orkut in, you can visit our community on orkut: Indian Language Translations. We chose these languages initially because together they cover 80% of India. We do recognize India has more than 400 different spoken languages, but think these 5 are a good start, and we hope that introducing orkut in these regional tongues brings us closer to many more of you to bridge the gap between language and technology. Viewing the orkut site in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil or Telugu (or any one of our other 12 languages) is easy.

1. Click the settings button under your profile photo (or click the blue settings link at the top of any page).
2. On the general tab, choose your preferred display language from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
3. Click save changes.

If you are having trouble reading languages on the "Settings" page, it is likely that your browser scripts have not been updated. For Internet Explorer, proceed to "Tools" and then "Windows Update". Here you should accept the Windows XP Service Pack 2 update. All languages are included in this update.

We hope this will help many more people enjoy orkut in their own language every day.

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Redesign Preview: New Friends

Posted by Priya Mandawat, Software Engineer

On orkut, it's all about how cool your friends are, or how many you have. (Hey, it's a social network, what do you expect?) So we've made some improvements to the way you view your friends. To start, we've taken advantage of the space in the friends box so now 9 rather than 8 of your friends are displayed on your homepage and profile page. We also keep the basic links to your friends' content right under their profile picture as you browse through their different pages. For example, if you are browsing Amar's favorite videos, you will have easy access to his testimonials, profile, scrapbook, album and feeds from right under his picture on the left hand side of the page. If you like his videos so much you want to add them to your bookmarks, click on "more" under his photo to find more actions including sending a message or a teaser, adding to bookmarks, crushlist or hotlist and ignoring or reporting abuse.

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Redesign Preview: It's the little things...

Posted by Daniela Mota, Software Engineer

Last week, we started rolling out the redesign to just a fraction of our users. If you don't have it yet, remember you will have it over the next week. In the meantime, we wanted to tell you a little bit more about it. Though the overall change is in the layout we told you about previously, it's the little things that will change the way you use the site. We know you love orkut's simplicity, so we've tried to make things even more simple by re-organizing the headers and footers. After talking to a lot of you, we learned that the most important pages are your homepage, scrapbook, friends and communities. So we've given these pages the most prominent spots in the header. In the footer we've added a link to the help center and "what's new," which links to this blog.

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Redesign Preview: True Blue Simplicity

Eduardo Cordeiro, Software Engineer

When you think Google, you picture primary colors; when you think orkut, you see blue. And though we're updating the look, we're staying true to blue. We've added some rounded corners and new icons that make orkut look a little more sleek and modern. Check out a screen shot of the new homepage.

We're rolling it out to groups of users at a time over the next week.

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Coming Soon: A New Look!

Posted by Narayan Kamath, Software Engineer

Remember the first time that you logged into orkut? Maybe you received a coveted invitation from a friend, heard about it in a blog, or stumbled upon it when searching for a social network on google.com. But no matter when your first login was, whether yesterday or 3 years ago, you were greeted by the simple blue site with a friendly purple logo that remains the same today. Looking back, our site has grown up a lot. We've added features like photo and rich content scraps, favorite videos and feeds to make it easier to communicate with your friends and share content. We've also translated the site into 12 languages so you can add orkut friends from all over the globe. Since our network has grown, we've had thousands of suggestions through our Help Group, Help Center, focus groups, and of course from our orkut friends. The one comment we always hear is how orkut's simplicity keeps long-time users coming back and new people signing up. So as we work away planning improvements to the site, we always keep this in mind.

Today we're announcing our latest improvement to the site: an updated look! Just as you change your profile picture to keep with the times, we're updating the look of orkut. The change isn't live yet, but starting soon, we will start rolling-out the new look. To start, we will roll it out to a small group of users randomly selected, and will continue to do so until everyone is on the new site. We'll tell you a little more each day, so come back to the blog to get a few sneak peeks.

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A New Youth Icon

Posted by Sanjay Ramakrishnan, Product Marketing Manager

Several months ago MTV India called to tell us that nominees for the 2007 Pepsi and MTV Youth Icon award included Abhishek Bachchan, Rang De Basanti, Multimedia Cell Phones and, of course, You. After thousands of votes, we recently learned that we won -- and we just couldn't wait to tell you! Aside from this accolade being a great line to drop at cocktail party, being the Youth Icon confirms that orkut is important to India's youth -- and that makes us feel all warm inside :) We were overwhelmed to see such wonderful support from all of you who have always cheered us on. And with such close competition from fabulous co-nominees, we are pleased and humbled to be chosen as the Youth Icon of 2007.

Over the years, you have shared your beliefs and values, and we have tried to foster a positive environment on orkut for you to do so. Because of you, orkut is a living community, and we constantly adapt based on your needs and feedback. We're excited to see that you use orkut to communicate through scraps and personal messages, discuss and debate through our community forums, and maintain and create new connections through profiles and photo albums; and that these tools continue to serve you as you take the wonder of human interaction to a whole new level-- online!

We have created a special orkut community where you can tell us all about yourself, chat with MTV VJs, vote in different polls, participate in contests and win exciting prizes. Please visit orkut.com/MTVYouthIcon to learn more and tell us why orkut is your youth icon. It is YOU who drives us forward and YOU who helps us Stay Beautiful!

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Finding Commonality in Communities

Posted by Patrick Barry, Software Engineer

Since orkut communities are all about the idea that everyone has something in common with everyone else, we've made it a little easier to see these shared interests. We just launched a feature I built that will show you which communities you have in common with other orkut members. To check it out, go to anyone's orkut profile, click on the "view all" button below their communities, and then go to the new tab on this page, "mutual communities."

Maybe you'll find that some of your friends have some interests that you never realized you shared -- or a stranger you come across is just a little less strange.

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And the winners are...

Posted by Tanushree Baruah, orkut Operations Team

As promised, here are the results of our Independence Day poll. Thank you to everyone who voted! We are thrilled to have heard from more than 15,000 users and we hope you continue giving us your feedback and encouragement.

The votes came in for Abdul Kalam as the Indian who inspires you the most and You as your favorite global Indian. After 60 years of Independence, Sholay continues to entertain as the most popular movie, and Swami from Malgudi Days continues to bowl us over with his antics. While the majority believes that Poverty should be the most important focus area during the next 10 years, hope is on the way, as you believe that India will have permanent UN Security Council seat by 2010. You told us that India is synonymous with a Global IT Center, and we are excited to see what the next 10 years bring.

Here are a few of the comments we got on the polls:

Nice to see India being recognized worldwide

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
bharat ki sathvin varshganth ki aap ko hardik badahiyan
(On the 60th anniversary of India's independence, many congratulations.)

I salute the sacrifice of the great Indian leaders who gave us this freedom of expression, thought & action.

You always exceed expectations…keep it up.

Happy independence day to all Indians who are living worldwide and congrats to orkut team for making this special community.

It's great to see orkut binding India

Thanks for promoting India – patriotism.

I feel there are a lot of personalities in our country who have done a lot of achievements.

Nice developments in ORKUT for INDIA!!!

I think Lagaan is a metaphor for the struggle for our Independence. It is a microcosm representing oppression, the struggle for freedom and basic human rights.

Thanks to everyone who participated and happy Independence Day to all.

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Happy Independence Day, India!

Posted by the orkut Team

As India completes 60 glorious years of Independence, the orkut team would like to congratulate and thank you for participating in the orkut Independence Day polls.

It certainly has been interesting to hear all your viewpoints, and the results so far only go to show that we are united in our diversity - we all hold individual and independent opinions but come together in celebrating the wonder that is India.

The poll questions range from inspirational Indian leaders to favorite Bollywood movies, and the responses have been overwhelming. It was also heartwarming to see the number of discussion threads and polls that argued, debated and shared passionate opinions and thoughts on India's amazing journey as a nation, to the issues that surround her today. Voting will be open through out August 15 so please cast your votes now and join the discussion if you haven't done so already! A list of questions and participating communities is here. We will share the results with you very soon.

Happy Independence Day and here's to staying beautiful and free...forever.

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Spice up your Scraps!

Posted by Patrick Barry and Anisha Malhorta, Software Engineers


Sending scraps to friends has always been the most popular way to stay in touch on orkut. Despite having only colored text and smilies to play with, you have gotten creative and left some pretty impressive ASCII art in each other's scrapbooks over the past few years. So, we've listened to your requests: and over the next week we're rolling out a feature that will let you to express yourself by leaving rich content scraps for your friends. You can upload photos, enter HTML code or URLs, and the content will appear in your friend's scrapbook. To upload a photo simply click on the "add a photo" link below the text box for your friend's scrapbook. You can choose to upload a photo from your own computer or enter the URL of a photo you'd like to add. Your photos will be saved in a Picasa Web Album, so you can click on the "Picasa Web Album" tab in the photo picker the next time you upload images. For those of you who want more than static photos, you can enter the HTML-embed code and add things like videos from YouTube or slideshows from slide.com.

Of course, you're welcome to continue posting ASCII art birthday cakes and flowers -- but wouldn't a video of you singing "Happy Birthday" your sentiments better? Learn more about how to make your scraps more fun on our tips and tricks page.

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60 Years of Independence- Tell Us What You Think!

Posted by Manu Rekhi, orkut India Product Manager

As I made plans to celebrate the day off with friends and family, I got thinking about Independence day. This year August 15th will be more exciting than last year, as India will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Independence. Its been quite a journey for one of the world's oldest civilization's to become one of the fastest growing economies. Looking to share my excitement for the holiday, I headed for orkut where there is never a shortage of opinions. As expected, I found a slew of communities on orkut where Indians from around the world share their opinions, views and pride for their country. In these communities, I found a lot of interesting forums and polls on subjects ranging from who should be the next prime minister to the hottest Bollywood star. I was inspired by the discussion in these communities and shared them with my friends on the orkut team here at Google. We decided to celebrate India's 60th year of Independence by asking users to express their view on what they think about the significant moments in India's past and the big milestones ahead. We contacted the owners of the communities below and they agreed to let us post polls on the subject. So from now through August 15th, you can go to the following communities and cast your vote on questions about India's past and future, and participate in forums to discuss these questions. The results will be posted on the blog after the holiday. We can't wait to hear what you think!

Click on the questions to vote and join the discussion in the participating orkut communities:

Which Indian inspires you the most?
India is synonymous with...
Who is your favorite Indian fictional character?
Will India be a permanent member of the UN Security Council by 2010?
What should be the most important focus area for India during the next 10 years?
Which is the most popular movie since independence?
Your favorite "Global" Indian is....

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Crop your Profile Picture

Posted by Vlad Patryshev, Software Engineer

Do I want a full-body shot or just a headshot? We know that having a great picture is important because it's the first thing people see on your profile page. Needless to say, each of us cares a lot choosing just the right one. To give you a bit more control, now you can crop your picture after uploading it to orkut.

It's super easy: just select the file, click upload and you'll see a cropping window on the next page. Drag the window with your mouse to select the part of the photo you'd like to be your picture. You can also change the size and the shape of the window by dragging the corners to include or exclude as much of the backdrop as you'd like. When you're done, click the "crop photo" button, and, voila, you will have a new profile photo. Or, if you think the original photo is good enough, click "use original" and the whole, uncropped image will become your profile photo. If you would like to experiment further with photo options, just click "cancel" and upload another photo.

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Mensagem Instantanea (Brazilian Video)

Posted by Daniela Mota, Software Engineer


Since the launch of YouTube Brazil several weeks ago, I've spent a lot of time browsing the site for fun content. I've also tried searching for videos related to some of my favorite topics. It's no suprise that orkut made this list. When I found this video, titled Mensagem Instantanea, I immediately added it to my orkut profile to share with my friends because I thought it was so fun. I was curious about the concept for the video originated, so I contacted the creator, Amilcar Oliveira. I learned that he put it together about a year ago for the Festival do Minuto 2006, whose theme was "Communities on the Internet." orkut was a topic close to his heart, as he had met his wife on the site! He chose to create this short film because he wanted to show how the internet is present in our daily lives, influencing the way we communicate, meet and interact with people. I think he did a great job of demonstrating the power of orkut, without showing the word 'orkut' or a computer screen at all -- quite impressive! Even more impressive is that he recorded the scene, edited the soundtrack and finalized the movie in only 6 hours. And it all cost him less than $20 dollars (which went to covering the beer expenses)!

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Resetting your Settings

Posted by Chen Xiao, Software Engineer

Did you know that you can get notified about scraps by email and SMS? Or that you can get birthday notifications right on your home page? We've given the orkut settings page a new look by organizing these settings into categories, and moving your Google Talk and Mobile SMS settings into the same place. Now it's easy to change your language preferences, hide and show profile visitors and sign up for Google Talk all in one central location.

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