Communities and Friendship

During the early years of the internet in Raquel’s village, people her age would swap their Orkut passwords with those considered to be close friends.

They would log in to each other’s profiles and publish posts about how much they admired and cared for that friend. Password swapping demonstrated to their social circles that these two friends had a special bond.

Popular students had more password requests and appeared more times in these posts. Friendship became something performed, displayed, and measured through visibility.

Orkut turned friendship into something public, emotional, and visible.

Communities were also central to Orkut. They worked as spaces for humor, identity, taste, aspiration, and belonging. People did not only say who they were through profile pictures or names; they also said who they were through the communities they joined.