What Was Orkut?

When services such as Facebook, Friendster and MySpace were in their early years, Google launched a similar social media platform in the United States called Orkut.

Although it was not really noticed in most of the world, Orkut became a national sensation in Brazil and also in India. In Brazil, it became one of the first websites to bring social media beyond the circles of young, upper-class, white, and urban populations.

Orkut was not only a platform for profiles. It was a place where people joined communities, exchanged messages, wrote testimonials, performed friendship, and created public versions of themselves.

Orkut was never only about technology. It was about visibility, belonging, performance, and proximity.

This multipage version translates my original scroller into a small archive. Instead of one continuous scroll, each page focuses on one part of the story: popularity, communities, decline, and memory.

Original one-page scroller source: https://codepen.io/refeelee/pen/vEyjqVW