Orkut founder says hello to social networking world once again: More details here

By Harshita

| Published: Monday, August 8, 2016, 19:12 [IST]

Have you heard of Orkut? A little before Facebook gained popularity as a social networking site, there was another site called Orkut that had ruled the roost. Orkut was a social media platform that won many hearts for 5-6 years. During its peak days, it had over 300million subscribers, but it soon faded out with Facebook gaining limelight, resulting in Orkut's shut down in 2014. However, company's founder Orkut Büyükkökten doesn't seem to have given up as he has bigger plans.

Orkut founder says hello to social networking world once again

Büyükkökten has come up with another social network called hello to take on the likes of Facebook. The social network targets users on the basis of their passions and obsession, by letting users show their interest areas. They can choose their personas under various categories.

What is hello app?

Büyükkökten writes in a blog post that "After witnessing the evolution of social networking over the past 16 years, Orkut (Büyükkökten) was inspired to help bring people together around their common interests - a vision that changes how the world does social. As a token of gratitude, I am making a new social network just for you.

I'm not so good at goodbyes, so I'm calling it hello. hello is the first social network built on loves, not likes. hello is the next generation of orkut.. I designed hello to help you connect with people who share your passions. hello connects us all. Think about it: you can say 'hello' in any language and people will understand. 'Hello' is probably the most widely spoken word in the world after 'Okay'. Aló, halo, ʾāllo, alô, hallo, alló, hello. Fear and hatred have no place when you make such a simple and friendly gesture to someone else. So come join me, and make some new friends. Say hello, and love your world."

How to Sign up?

After knowing about the site, some of you might take interest in signing up on the hello app. It works like any other social networking site. You can register yourself using an email address. Considering that the site is based on sharing your passions with others, it will show you a list of 'personas' and ask you to select five of these that meet your interest. You can change these personas later, if you want to. On the basis of the personas you chose, you can meet more people who share similar interests.

Availability:

hello is available in three languages, including English, French and Portuguese, as of now. Currently, the company has launched hello app for iOS and Android. It is available in the US, Canada, France, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Brazil. As far as its India launch is concerned, it is intended to be launched in India, along with Germany and Mexico, sometime this month.