Orkut – Networking or Popularity Contest?

I too am on the orkut bandwagon! However, orkut is not compelling enough for me to get possessed or to even get merely hooked on to it. It might be to do with the fact that I am not that tuned to the web to go and check what’s happening often enough.

The funny part is that only a few people I find interesting are on orkut. A lot of them are not (that might have to do with the fact that they have better things to do with their time!). Snooping into peoples scrap book - the number of scraps, the frequency, the content says a lot about the person. More than what their ‘about me’, passions and interests would ever say. ‘Hey…nice to see you on orkut’ should be officially banned! Is that what friendship is reduced to these days – a generic, boring, clichéd message?

I am not against networking per se. I am not against orkut either. I do like the concept behind online networking and it sure is a fun way to meet people. People we have lost touch with and even new people. What I am afraid of, is that this whole rigmarole is very rapidly degenerating into a popularity contest. Otherwise how do you explain, friend requests like…’ I like your profile, can we be friends. Please scrap me’. I don’t even have a half-a-profile! Or the fact that, there are services where you can pay to buy friends! Friendship is rather cheap, ain’t it?

The whole orkut community is a huge party where gatecrashers rule! A nine-hundred something friends and still going strong. Really? That must be three for each day of the year. Holidays included. Keeping in touch must now officially be a full time profession. “So,what do you do?”. “Me – I’m a Networker. With Orkut”!!! What with all the networking there must be no time to do any real work. So many friends? I hope, for our sake, that in our over-excitement to be popular we do not end up having mass murderers or anything for friends. I mean, no one can really have so many genuine friends!

It is really a big circus out there with a mishmash of communities. I am part of some of them. They are there just to look cool! So far, I haven’t had even two rupees worth of good from any of the so called communities that I am part of.

This whole pressure to network (read to be popular) is really hard on some of us. Now we have to make that extra effort, step out of our character just so we can have friends in orkut, who we otherwise would not have bothered having in the real world!
The day is not far when we have a Mr. Orkut and Ms. Orkut! As for me, I am playing with it, at least as of now. The scrap part does not interest me. I can already email everyone I know! I am happier picking up the phone for a genuine and interesting conversation! However, I am interested in seeing where this thing goes!