www.Orkut.com, Google Orkut, is a social network site for non-English speakers
Orkut is a social network site originally created by a Google employee, Orkut Buyukkokten, as an independent project. In the US, Orkut never gained much traction and is much less popular than the leading social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. In Brazil, however, Google Orkut has been wildly successful, and is one of the most visited sites by Brazilians. A big reason for its success in Brazil is that Orkut is available in 48 languages, and the Brazilians use Portuguese.
Google Orkut has also attracted a large following in India, a country where there are many dialects in use, including Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. About 50% of the site’s users are from Brazil, and another 20% each are from India and US. Orkut has made its flexibility in language a key part of its marketing campaign, and is actively trying to grow in many non-English countries. However, the effort has not always been successful. Google Orkut was once a very popular social network site in Iran, but has now been banned by the Iranian government. Similarly, the site is also banned in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Still, the site’s language capabilities and its very customizable interface have made it very popular in many countries.
If you are looking to start or join an online community using a non-English language, then Google Orkut should be your top choice.
Link: www.orkut.com