Orkut

 Orkut was a Google product that gained in popularity mainly in Brazil where "with 90% of page views in Orkut accessed by users in Brazil (Feigenbaum, 2014)." Orkut appeared to be famous because it encouraged ranking your friends on different levels of sexy, cool, or trustworthy you found them to be. 

The article states that, "In order for brands to be successful in Brazil, they must allow users to blog, engage through social gaming, and incorporate online video into marketing campaigns (Translate Media, 2015). Brazilians are especially responsive to brand strategies that include online video, something that was difficult through Orkut." While I don't believe this strategy is exclusive to Brazil, catch all applications are popular around the world. We just did the one about Weixin, the Chinese spyware app which was a catchall app. 

The case study is about how a multitool platform worked in Brazil and "Early users were eager to try Orkut because of Google's strong reputation. Orkut also carried a high prestige factor due to its invite-only membership list." By creating an element of exclusivity, Google helped create buzz around their platform. However as with most Google products, privacy was a concern. "In Orkut, the user privacy concerns were neglected and stagnant. The platform allowed anyone to view anyone’s profile and his contact information (if it was added by the user), unless the person was on a person’s ignore list(Singh & Shreya Singh, 2020)."

While privacy wasn't the only issue plaguing Orkut, Google continually redesigned several features leaving users confused about what worked and what didn't work. Performance issues with slow loading pages were a constant hinderance as well that contributed to the failure. 

Multitool platforms are great, when you can do more in one place in a convenient way, that's the dream. That's why old fashioned department stores went away in favor of large scale WalMart style stores where you can do a lot of things in one place. When you can combine video, audio, chat features, and make it easy to find your friends then you have a good idea going.

Feigenbaum, G. (2014) Brazil to Google: please don't close our beloved Orkut. Available at http://www.vocativ.com/tech/internet/brazil-google-please-dont-close-beloved-orkut/ (accessed February 22, 2022).

Singh, S., & Shreya SinghBio-Statistician by day writer by night. If i am not writing then find me singing tonight. (2020, June 9). 7 reasons why orkut failed. Feedough. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://www.feedough.com/why-did-orkut-fail/

Weixin

 Ok, when you get older you can get grumpier. It's a fact of life. Yes I would resist the urge to yell at kids to get off my lawn if I lived in a neighborhood where that was a thing. 

You are young, you can operate faster than the world does and nothing is a big deal. 

Then you get a bit older, you realize you don't know as much as you think and you start to accept some limitations. 

A bit older still and you just want a good night's sleep. 

Then one day you realize the world is moving one mph faster than you can and that's when you start to realize you're getting old and things are passing you by now. 

That's where I find myself with Weixin. It's a nightmare of an app used in China that combines the functions of several social media platforms. I can't find anything good about it.  

"For those of you who don’t know, WeChat is the most popular messaging app in China with well over 600 million users. It’s an alternative to services like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, a lot of which are actually blocked in the country. The Chinese government is doing everything it can to get rid of foreign services in an effort to control online activities and get access to as much sensitive data from local companies as possible."

I think that says enough about Weixin and why it's evil. 

WeChat accused of sharing users' personal data with Chinese authorities [update: WhatsApp now blocked in China]. Android Authority. (2017, September 28). Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.androidauthority.com/wechat-sharing-personal-data-chinese-authorities-802548/

What They Don't Tell You About Retirement

You still have thought patterns that you have to get over. Priorities that were engrained over three decades can be purged now because they no longer have any bearing over your life. Also retirement income goes quicker than you think it does so for you young readers, kick into your 401k at a higher amount. 

You'll be grateful you did later! You're doing your future self a massive favor by giving them the resources they need to enjoy the life you want them to.

Priorities change and that's what you start to understand. Everything that your professional life was structured around has changed, I mean academically you realize retirement brings change but you don't realize what that means until you experience it.

A weekend is fine, two days off but you know that you are going back in to the same job.

A vacation is the same, just extended a few more days.

Leaving the job is vastly different because there is a defined ending and after that is the wide open promise of opportunity. 

So kiddos, if you get a matching 401k as a job benefit, kick in as much as they match. That's going to benefit you so much later on! You'll thank yourself so much and curse yourself so much if you don't.