Even though Liz graciously let us off the hook for dancing the night away in a trendy club (it had been a long day for Pippa, and we discerned that her role as entertainer to the faculty might expire if we neglected her weariness), still I didn’t muster the wherewithal to explain why I like Orkut broken.
I think I’ve been involved in two other formal SNS systems; I know I’m on LinkedIn, and I think I registered with another, but I don’t recall which. Maybe I’m thinking of the Game Neverending as a social network of a peculiar kind. Anyway, my experience with LinkedIn suggests that Orkut really is broken, as danah says, that there are rough edges everywhere, and sawdust and rooms whose walls are drywall or just bare studs showing. That’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it.
The problem with LinkedIn and that other one I don’t remember is that their systems already knew what I wanted to do with my social network; and they were wrong. The reason I like Orkut so far is that I get the feeling that Google and Orkut are leaving the system unfinished to watch what happens and what people want to do with it. Rather offering us an elaborate, polished network that doesn’t do what we want, they’re offering us a raw beta (it does say “beta” in those white letters on the upper right of the window) so that they can build out what participants demand. That would be Google-like; that would be clued. And although no one inside is talking to me about this, I have a hunch that Orkut has a clue.
Apart from that weird thing where I’m characterized as “hot” whereas (for instance) Mena Trott is “cool.” That’s just surreal; that’s broken.
{Note added: Margaret keeps calling it “Orc Butt,” which adds a piquant spin to the whole experience.)
Posted by AKMA at January 31, 2004 08:08 AM | TrackBackIt's not all *that* broken. At least nobody's been stupid enough to rate me 'sexy'.
:)
Posted by: Dorothea Salo at January 31, 2004 09:37 AMWell, that sounds like a challenge.
By the way, I didn’t mean that Mena isn’ cool, just that she (and Ben, and Anil for that matter) is a much more plausible candidate for “hot.”
Posted by: AKMA at January 31, 2004 10:54 AMDon't you make me come over there, Reverend.
Re: Mena et alia, I understood you the first time. Really. :)
Posted by: Dorothea Salo at January 31, 2004 01:32 PMI like Orkut too because it made me think more about social software design problems. Designing UI for individual users is simple when compared to designing UI for a social network. Even a small change could encourage or discourage certain user behaviors. Placement of a single button or wording of a phrase can affect strength of communities or friendships.
Also, I think Google has an open window of opportunity here. If they issued a cert to every member and added PKI feature to Google Toolbar, guess what they have in their hands?
Posted by: Don Park at February 1, 2004 02:03 PMHuh. Now I'm curious about this, but there's precious little information on the publicly-available website. Would someone like to forward me an invite (I'm assuming they're not rationed out)?
Posted by: Naomi Chana at February 1, 2004 02:43 PMThanks for articulating so precisely what I was thinking, as I was reading responses from all these people who are so concerned about Orkut and the problems they have found. I'm gonna give it a couple of months and see how it develops over time.
Friendster set a bad example earlier on by not reacting to user suggestions and leaving the software in a long-term-no-real-changes "beta" state, which frankly is an abuse of the term.
My $0.02 Canadian (about $0.015 American)
--Ryan the Shameless Friendster Slut
http://friendsterslut.blogspot.com
is it broken?
what are people *really* looking for in and SNS system?
Posted by: Donato at February 2, 2004 04:38 PMhttp://constance.cykanax.com/