The dominance continued for several years since it was backed by the powerful Google group, however, the jinx broke, when Facebook gained momentum since a couple of years making it number one in the world of social media. With lots of new features added at facebook and more privacy it has around 750 million users all across the world. Thus a huge paradigm shift was seen within a year or so from Orkut to Facebook for the reasons like it provided more room for privacy, clean design, plugins, pokes, feedback of activities and so on.

However, with Facebook ruling the current Social Media, Google though was seen trying a couple of things at Orkut like adding themes and renaming the section of scraps into conversations. Despite all efforts of defying Facebook with these features, Orkut was not able to regain its position of Number One. On the contrary, Facebook was consistent in its growth and embarked as the biggest competitor to Google. Moreover, this paradigm shift also led many brands and business house shift from Orkut to Facebook to cater a large number of chunks with their products and services. Though Facebook was not hard on the heels as groups like Google, yet its accelerating growth led a threatening call to cast its new image in the form of Google plus as Orkut was seen into fringes of internet at least for the users of Social Media.

Google has again entered into the world of social networking with Google Plus with new strategies and games section unlike what you get to see at Facebook. There is a section called ‘hangout’ which is nothing but a video chat, where more than two users can come together anytime, through the plugin ‘Check-in’ and share their whereabouts unlike what we see on Facebook Places and Foursquare. At one go, Google+ seems to resemble like Facebook though, with more grip on privacy control with clean and elegant design. However, still in the nascent stage, though have a sizeable amount of users signed up with it reaching to an impressive figure. However, on further analyzing this data, this figure merely indicates that most of these users are already active on Facebook, and have signup just to have a look over it and can be called as passive users, who will take time to gear up.

Now the question is whether Google+ would avenge its old networking site –Orkut and beat Facebook. However, it’s still a tough task to predict anything. Moreover, experts feel that the virtual war or competition between Facebook and Google Plus is nothing but a media created hype in order to keep the world busy in debating and discussing in the media. Second, experts also consider a search made on internet at any search engine and using social networking platform to be poles apart. Search engine are meant for different roles, their expansion of user base would always be limited, and however, social networking platforms have the capacity to enlarge users over them. Social networking websites work as per the people’s social psychology giving them virtual space to interact and communicate across people, which is not the case with search engines.

Google, however, would continue to lead the search engine world, though running the domain of Social Networking vis-à-vis business governed by search engine can be always a failure as how we saw in the case of Orkut. If Google treads the similar path with Google Plus, probably, the result would be the same and this is where the Facebook is different.

About the author: Amanda Kidd is a writer and blogger who happens to be a health buff. Apart from health and parenting, writing for a tech site is something she enjoys very much.  She also has a keen interest in Contemporary Design. She has a weak side for gadgets and beauty products and loves collecting them. Recently she added an Outlook Express 7 to her laptop.

For Orkut chrome has a very useful extension, through which you can easily post scrap, receive scrap updates and notifications. You can easily jump to new pages, friends section and search on orkut. There is no need to open orkut website in a new tab or window to chat with your friends.

You can easily surf the whole web while chatting with your friends on orkut. Whenever some one will leave a new scrap in your orkut account, you will see a notification in your chrome browser. Cliking on the button, you will see a drop down menu where all messages from friends can be seen.

Chrome Extension For Orkut

Orkut is a growing social community to chat with friends and entertain your self. Although Facebook has taken the place of Orkut, but still there are huge amount of fans for orkut community. Depending on the choice of internet user, it is quite difficult to say that weather orkut is the best or facebook.

Those who want to use Orkut with chrome, then download this extension in your google chrome browser and enjoy chatting with your girl friends, relatives and friends.

Download Chrome Extension for Orkut

In this post i want to share some useful tools and applications which can help a user to use orkut in more easy and simple way. Make your orkutting more better and beautiful.

List of Orkut Tools and Applications

1. Orkut Tool Bar

A Tool bar is a shortcut way to access almost every thing from just one place. Similarly Orkut ToolBar is also a very handy way to perform all important things from inside your Toolbar. If you are using FireFox, then this is a great add-ons for your to speed up your orkut activities.

Install Tool Bar

2. Orkut Cute

Orkut cute is another cool application to manage your orkut pages. It also allow you to chat with your friends using Gtalk and yahoo messenger. You can also send scraps to your friends (Group of friends or selected friends at once).

Download Orkut Cute

3. TOrKut

TOrkut is another useful application for PC. You can send scraps and other cool things using Torkut. System requirement for torkut is 1.5hz processor, 256 Ram, 600 HDD space and window XP,Vista OR Windows 7

Download TOrKut

4. Orkut Alert

Just like google notifiers orkut alert also perform the same functionality that when ever you get a new scrap, it will notify you. It is running in your PC background with light ram usage. You can continue your other works without missing all new scraps.

Download Orkut Alert

5. Orkut Scrap Helper

Orkut Scrap helper is a firefox add-ons which helps you in creating links to various pages, send scraps to specifics members, send scraps to the whole group etc. This add-ons will also help you to post scraps in more fast way. This is worth try for all.

Install Scrap Helper

6. iGoogle with Orkut

If you are iGoogle user, then you would like to add all your favorite photos from orkut to your igoogle account. You can easily add all pictures from albums to your igoogle account using the below link.

Link Here

7. Scrap Easy

Just like the 5th orkut tool which is Orkut Scrap Helper, this is also a very handy add-ons for orkut to send or replay to a scraps without refreshing the page. This extension is using AJAX which will make easy for you to send scraps without leaving the page.

Install Scrap Easy

8. Orkut Words Generator

Spell some thing with orkut’s little “People alphabets”? What does it mean. It means that click on the below link and enter a word or name in the search box and click on “spell” button. Now see the magic.

Words Generator

9. Scrap Boy

A beautiful orkut application to allow you to access almost all popular socail media website inside from Scrap Boy and use its great features. You can use Scrap boy for orkut, to send scraps to your friends from your PC desktop. Ne need to access orkut login.

Download Scrap Boy

10. Orkut Scrapbook Searcher

This last orkut tool is a very useful firefox add-ons for all orkut users to install in there firefox browsers. After installing scrapbook searcher in your browser you will see another box at the left side of your browser, where you can search friends scraps, username and other information easily.

Install Ad-ons