Despite Google shutting down its first social network Orkut having over 300 million users in September 2014, Orkut Buyukkokten, the founder of Orkut, is in no mood to give up. In yet another attempt to foray into the world where plenty of social networking platforms and services are running already, Orkut Buyukkokten has launched Hello.com, a new social network to allow users connect with those that share the same interest.
Orkut founder launches Hello
Founder of Hello Network, Inc., Orkut Buyukkokten, wrote in a blog post:
“We meet a finite number of people in our lifetimes, and who we meet has a huge effect on our lives: how happy we are, how safe we feel, and whether we find love and companionship. We all want to be a part of a community. We all want to belong. We all want to be loved. That’s why the world needs hello. The world is a more beautiful place when we all can connect.”
Hello is all about connecting with like-minded people who share your interest. It allows users to share what they are passionate about in addition to exploring new things and interest. To begin with, all you need to do is choose from 100+ personas that suit you the most and uncover a new passion. In addition, it also allows users to interact with the community, earn rewards, unlock achievements, and more.
Hello is currently available for iOS and Android devices in select countries such as U.S., Canada, France, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Brazil. However, the company has promised to extend the support further to Germany, India, and Mexico later this month. Interestingly, Brazil had the most number of Orkut users. Hence, it is not surprising to see it on the initial list of Hello-supported countries.
In 2004, Orkut was founded by Orkut Büyükkökten and Githin Jose as an independent division within Google. However, ten years later, the search giant axed Orkut. It had over 300 million users then. Orkut’s demise came as a sad moment for many. After all, it’s the same social network many people on the Internet (including me) grew up using.
Back then, Orkut was undoubtedly not as bad as it might have looked today, with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. It was the innovation and competition that Orkut failed to cope up with and got demolished in the end pretty badly.
