orkut is turning five!

Today marks orkut's 5th birthday, and the orkut team is in the mood to party. Since we didn't have quite enough cake to share with all of you, we figured we'd do a special birthday doodle instead. Check it out:



Excited? Send 5th birthday cards to your friends using this Greeting Card application.



Five years is such a milestone for us (and for all of you dedicated orkuteers too), that we didn't think that one day was enough time to celebrate. That's why we've decided to announce today as the kick-off for a year of special announcements.

Recently we've launched several new orkut features in preparation for 2009. Here are a few of our favorites:

• built-in instant messaging: talk to your orkut and Gmail friends on orkut in real time (we're still rolling this out to some of you, so don't worry if you haven't noticed it yet)
• events tool: manage your busy social lives on orkut
• total photo privacy control: share your photos with as few or as many people as you'd like (including your non-orkut friends!)
• mobile orkut: use orkut on your mobile phone; there's even a rich version built especially for the iPhone
  
• OpenSocial applications: play with the thousands of fun apps on orkut, and add your favorites to your profile page
  

We've got a bunch of new stuff planned for the rest of the year that we hope will make orkut an even more fun place for you to hang out with your friends. Be on the lookout for new developments– we promise that these are changes you won't want to miss!

Thanks for sticking with us for all of these years and best wishes for 2009!

Posted by Miles Johnson, Marketing Manager.