Google to Shut Down Orkut

It's not surprising that Google will soon shut down its first social network, Orkut. It used to be popular in India and Brazil, but it's no longer used by many people.

"Ten years ago, Orkut was Google's first foray into social networking. Built as a '20 percent' project, Orkut communities started conversations, and forged connections, that had never existed before. Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut's growth, we've decided to bid Orkut farewell," informs Orkut's blog.

Google will shut down Orkut on September 30, 2014. Users will be able to export data using Google Takeout until September 2016.

Google will preserve an archive of orkut's online communities, which will be available online after Orkut shuts down. If you don't want your posts to be included in the archive, you can delete them or remove Orkut from your Google account.

This Google Trends chart illustrates the rise and fall of Orkut:

{ Thanks, Luiz Fernando. }