In its newest avatar, the original social networking site is a luxury limited only to a few If it was years ago that you wrote off Orkut as a poor cousin to the funner Facebook, chances are, the former's newfound 'exclusivity' might draw you back. Seeing the big fight in the social networking domain, Orkut has just undergone a revamp. Not just a facelift, but an inside out transformation. The catch: only a privileged few can access and enjoy it. MiD DAY received a special invitation from papa Google, and roamed the block for a week. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/nov/orkut.jpg" border="5" /> Facing the book Ever since it was launched back in 2004, Orkut got busy building fans and followers. Till, of course, the big F struck. Facebook wiped out many of its diehard devotees, and until now, Orkut was clearly unable to recover. However, now back with a bang, it promises to settle the score. Parent brand Google has created a viral that serves as an invite to their revamped portal, thus expanding the network further, yet in a word-of-mouth way. The first thing that you notice is the change in the homepage colour pattern, with an option of five fresh hues. And now, instead of a list of recent visitors, there are visitors' thumbnails for a quick see. Other features, like those that enable you to post a comment on status updates, and suggest new friends, are clearly copied from Facebook, but they work well anyway. User-friendly fundas Now, you can chat, watch videos, browse and search within your friends and communities lists without ever having to open a new page. Following activity streams has become easier, too. "The user wants everything in one place, and thus we planned to integrate GTalk, YouTube, video scraps, video testimonials and other features that were earlier not on Orkut," reasons Rahul Kulkarni, product manager, Google India. Uploading processes come easier, too. A high resolution picture or video gets uploaded three times faster than the time taken initially. Moreover, there're photo-editing options too. "At the backend here is an intelligent algorithm at work, which ranks your friends according to the engagement with them, and shows their profile above others accordingly," adds Kulkarni, assuring total convenience of conversation. And if you're not happy, there's always the option of switching back to the good old Orkut till the newer version gets better. Yes, more improvisations are underway. "I think it's just baby steps yet. There's a long way to go before it can reach Facebook's finesse," says Rohan Oberoi, an MNC manager who happened to hop in, besides us. Want to make it to the coveted circle? 1: Join the official community (<a href="http://www.orkut.co.in/neworkut" target="_blank">www.orkut.co.in/neworkut</a>) for insights into the new version of Orkut and participate in one of the many activities that are taking place there. 2: Find a friend who's already using the new version of Orkut and ask for an invite. You can see who's already gotten access via your activity stream or by the icon 'O' that appears on your friends' profile pages, next to their names

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In its newest avatar, the original social networking site is a luxury limited only to a few

Orkut's out of the make-up van, but meetings only by invitation

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Orkut's out of the make-up van, but meetings only by invitation

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