GUWAHATI: Orkut, the popular social networking platform of the 2000s, could be making a comeback as its founder, Orkut Buyukkokten, has sought support from internet users to revive the platform with a renewed focus on friendship, community and genuine human connections.
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In a post on X on Thursday, Buyukkokten urged users to support his initiative by registering their names on the official website, orkut.com, and sharing their supporter cards with friends.
“The internet should help us find our people. Friendship. Community. A place to belong. Help me bring Orkut back in that spirit,” he wrote, asking users to add their names to the website and invite others to join the initiative.
The campaign aims to gather people interested in a new social network built around meaningful relationships and communities. However, Buyukkokten has not announced a launch date for the proposed platform.
Users can register for free by providing their email addresses and countries of residence. Each supporter receives a shareable card displaying their name, country, a unique supporter code, a QR code and the date of registration. According to the platform's privacy policy, these codes help track how many people visit the website through shared cards.
On the official website, Buyukkokten also published an open letter explaining his reasons for wanting to revive the platform. He criticised the direction social media has taken over the past two decades, arguing that platforms have increasingly prioritised user engagement over meaningful connections.
“I've been quiet for a while, but I need to talk to you. What I've worked on my whole life has become more urgent than I ever imagined. Over two decades ago, I created some of the earliest social networks. I have watched with you as social media has gone wrong,” he wrote.
Recalling the early days of online networking, Buyukkokten said connecting with people across the world once offered a sense of excitement and discovery.
“Do you remember when the internet was human? When a message from a stranger on another continent felt like magic?” he wrote, describing how even brief online interactions could feel meaningful because they involved genuine human connections.
He argued that social media platforms had spent years optimising their services to capture users' attention rather than help them build relationships. He also raised concerns about algorithms, online addiction, social divisions and the growing role of artificial intelligence in digital interactions.
“I still love this industry, but I despair at what it has become. Move fast and break things, so the slogan went. Well, things are broken,” he wrote, adding that artificial intelligence was challenging the idea of having a real person on the other side of an online interaction.
Buyukkokten also recalled the communities that made Orkut popular, including groups formed around shared interests, daily routines and common experiences.
“When people tell me what they miss most about orkut.com, they always say the communities. The people who repaired the same motorcycle. The people who rode the same bus route. The people who hated Mondays. In a feed you're an audience, in a community you're a member. That was the whole point,” he wrote.
At the time of writing, more than 165,000 people from 116 countries had signed up to support the initiative.
Encouraging users to spread the word, Buyukkokten asked supporters to invite friends and share their cards with people they wanted to see on the proposed platform.
“An algorithm can't make life worth living. But a friend can. A community can. So, let's stop optimizing for attention and start optimizing for each other. Let's make the internet human again together!” he concluded.
What Was Orkut?
Orkut was an early social networking service launched in January 2004 by Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten. The platform became particularly popular in India and Brazil, attracting millions of users who connected through personal profiles, friend networks, testimonials and online communities.
According to a Forbes report, Orkut had gathered around 27 million users by 2009, with a large share coming from India and Brazil.
Despite its popularity, the platform gradually lost ground as other social networking services, including Facebook and Twitter, gained prominence. Google shut down Orkut in September 2014, prompting nostalgic tributes from users who remembered it as their introduction to social networking.
Buyukkokten's latest initiative has revived interest in the platform, although it remains unclear when or in what form a new version of Orkut could become available.
