Updates to OpenSocial apps on orkut

By now, some of you have probably noticed that we've made some changes to OpenSocial apps on orkut. To make sure everyone knows what's going on, we thought we'd quickly run through what's new in this post.

• OpenSocial apps categories: To make it easier to find the perfect Open Social application to fit your needs, we've organized the apps into categories. Now, whether you're interested in an app related to finance or just a simple game, you can quickly and easily find what you're looking for. You can now see the most popular and most recently added OpenSocial apps, as well as the apps your friends are using, broken down by category.

• OpenSocial apps stats: A great way to find new OpenSocial apps to try is by looking at how many people use particular apps and how often. We've recently made this comparison much easier by adding stats on the number of users each app has, as well as its weekly usage directly to the 'application info' page.

• New OpenSocial apps profile view: In order to help make the OpenSocial apps experience faster and more secure, we've changed how apps appear on your profile pages. All OpenSocial apps now display a combination of html and images and/or animated gifs on profile pages rather than the moving flash images some used to show. But don't worry, when you click on the app, you'll still have all the same functionality that you've always had. While this change might take some getting used to, we hope you'll appreciate how much faster and safer it makes orkut.

As always, we love to hear your feedback, so be sure to share your opinion in the orkut Help Group and let us know how we can make apps even more useful and fun.

Posted by Rahul Kulkarni, Product Manager

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Advertising on orkut

One of the great things about social networks is their ability to supply you with information that's relevant to you: whether that be updates from friends, an invite to a fun party, or photos of a new baby in the family. On the orkut team, we believe that advertisements should be no different. That's why we've done our best to match you with the ads that we think you'll be most interested in.

Ever wonder why you see ads related to cricket while your techie older sister tends to see more ads for laptop computers? One of the important ways that the orkut ads platform is able to match you with relevant ads is by looking broadly at the types of communities you've chosen to join. So if you're a member of tons of sports communities while your sister prefers to join ones related to gaming, the two of you will probably see some different ads. Of course, respecting your personal information is very important to us, which is why we've created a clear privacy policy letting you know exactly how it's used.

We also believe that even the most well-targeted ads have their time and place. This is why not all of you see ads on orkut and why those of you who do only see them in a fixed and limited space on each page where they appear.

Recently we decided to move the location of ads on your homepages to a more prominent position: the top right of the page. While we know this is a bit of a change from what you're used to, we've found this to be the best way to strike a balance between making ads more visible and maintaining our focus on providing you with a great user experience.

To help make our ads platform even easier to understand and provide a place for advertisers to get started creating campaigns, we've built an advertising microsite. Access it at: www.orkut.com/advertise or by clicking on the "advertise" link in the footer of your orkut page.


We hope you enjoy these new additions to orkut and that you take the time to check out our new advertising microsite. On it you'll find advertising options both for established advertisers and for people looking to create a campaign for the very first time. You know we love feedback, so if you have anything you'd like to share, just head to the orkut Help Forum.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Marketing Manager

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Introducing the orkut mobile app

When we first launched a version of orkut for mobile phones, we couldn't have predicted how popular it would become. Every day, many of you sign in to orkut on your phones from all over the world– checking out scraps, updates from friends, and even viewing photos. As mobile phones are becoming one of the major ways that you access orkut, we thought it was about time to introduce a mobile application that offered you the site's core functionality wherever you happen to be.

Today, we're thrilled to announce the beta launch of the orkut mobile application, a downloadable app for Java-enabled phones (including popular phones like the Nokia N95, Nokia 6300, and Sony Ericsson W580i), that truly makes your orkut experience as mobile as you are. Check out our top five favorite features of the orkut mobile app:

• Upload photos to orkut on-the-go, directly from your phone.
• View scraps, friends' updates, and photo albums while you're offline.
• Share your orkut albums with all of your friends whether they use orkut or not (via SMS).
• Easily call or SMS your orkut friends and address book contacts from within the app.
• Get automatic updates when your friends change their contact information or orkut profiles.

Excited? Install the orkut mobile app (available in English and Portuguese), by heading to m.google.com/orkut on your mobile phone's browser. While the app is free to download and use, your mobile provider's regular data charges will apply.

We've done our best to make this app accessible to as many of you as possible, so as long as you have Java enabled phone and a data plan, you should be all set. For more detailed info on supported phones, check out our help center. Once you've had a chance to play with this new app, we'd love to hear your feedback, so head to the Help Forum and let us know what you think.

Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Google Mobile Team

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Our condolences

The orkut team was deeply saddened to learn of the recent accident involving Air France Flight 447. We would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all of the victims.

As we know that many of you are also troubled by this tragedy, we'd like to point you to a user created community meant to help you show support for those affected (in Portuguese): Vôo AF 447 - Luto.

Posted by the orkut Team.

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