Indian Youth Prefer Orkut as Online Hub

Uttar Pradesh, INDIA -- The rapid growth of social networking sites in the last five years has made these sites a necessary part of many people's lives. Teenagers are the biggest users of these sites throughout the world. Google's Orkut.com, which was launched in January 2004 and named after its creator Orkut Büyükkökten, is quite famous and more widely used by youngsters in India than other sites like Facebook and MySpace. It is hard to find any teenager studying in a high school who doesn't have his or her profile on Orkut. 

Even the teens from  smaller cities have much interest in it. Ameetoz Kohli, who is an 18-year-old student in Lucknow, said, "These sites help us to organize and communicate with our friends properly. We can share our experiences with other like-minded people."

"One of the greatest features of these sites is if you are living somewhere else, you can be in touch with your friends and family members through these sites," said Aman Pandey, a 17-year-old from Gorakhpur.

Recent media reports shows that social networking sites are also being used by employers looking for suitable employees.

"Social networks offer community-based service. For instance, if you are seeking a job in computer engineering, then you can join a group or a community on this topic. Other members of these groups who are already in this field can share their experiences with others. This way one can learn more about these things from experienced people. Employees also can shorten their search through specific groups and communities," said Pandey.

According to a recent survey conveyed by COMSCORE, a marketing research company that specializes in digital tools, visitors to Orkut increased by 51 per cent in 2007 to more than 19 million visitors in December 2008. The popularity of Orkut in India is indicated by the fact that it has won the MTV Indian Youth Icon title and the Web18 Guinness of the Web award.

"It is quite helpful in our schooling purpose. We can share our notes, discuss our chapters, and if we have any problems doing our homework, then we can ask our online friends live using these sites. It's better than sending boring emails," Kohli added.

Apart from the advantages of these sites, privacy issues are one of the key concerns in the social networking world. But in India, teens hardly care much about their privacy on these sites. They put their telephone numbers, addresses and other information on their profiles.

"Many Indian youngsters accept friend requests from anybody without actually knowing him or her just to increase their friend list and show off. This can create major security concerns. Any identity thief can use this for accessing their private information," said Kohli.

He added: "If we use it properly and safely, then social networking sites are the greatest tool in the field of communication technology."