Social networks have become an essential in our lives. Currently Facebook, Twitter or Instagram are the most acclaimed. These three platforms have managed to penetrate the population and currently have millions of followers who share their images or status daily. It has not been an easy process. It is not easy to get attention and stand for so long. In fact, some were left on the way. Social media projects that did not achieve their purpose.
A clear example of this we have in Google Plus. The service did not meet the expectations that had been raised since its inception, despite belonging to the king of the Internet. It has not been the only social network that has failed. Orkut, MySpace or Ping are others that did not survive the passage of time. If you want to know their history and why they did not come to fruition, do not stop reading.
1. Orkut
Google hasn't just had no luck with Google Plus. The internet giant also tried Orkut without much success. It seems clear that his is not social networks. This platform was born in 2004 to allow its members to communicate with other users. The network allowed making new friends, work contacts and all kinds of relationships. It offered the possibility of creating and maintaining communities that grouped users according to their tastes and interests. Different categories could be accessed: activities, business, games, music, pets, religion, school, food, sexual preferences, cinema, among others.
Orkut allowed you to create notes such as messages or testimonials that were visible to all. There was a limit of 1,000 friends. Orkut initially started in beta, allowing those who had received an invitation to enter the community. Some time later it was opened to everyone, being necessary to have an email account. Most of its users came from Brazil and India, places where the social network became very popular. It was also quite successful between 2006 and 2009 in Paraguay, Iran or Pakistan.
The end of Orkut was not exactly pleasant. The social network was created by Orkut Bí¼yí¼kkí¶kten, a Turkish Google employee, who for his previous job at Affinity Engines had already launched a similar system called “InCircle” targeting university student communities. In June 2014 Affinity Engines sued Google on the grounds that Orkut was based on InCircle source code . The accusation was based on the fact that several of InCircle's errors were also present on Orkut. That same month, the Mountain Viewers decided to shut down this social network, leaving more than 300 million people orphans. It should be noted that the creator of Orkut himself created hello some time later, which he says is the new generation of Orkut.
2. MySpace
Another of the social networks that failed miserably was MySpace. We can say that it was a pioneer in the bursting of the social media bubble, but without a happy ending. Its origins date back to 2003, the year in which it quickly became one of the hot spots on the Internet . Anyone who wanted to be in the sling opened a profile without thinking. The interest and the boom was such that in 2005 it ended up being bought by NewCorps, who paid a millionaire sum for it. The truth is that this company did not know how to manage it well and ended up selling it for a very small amount to a group of investors who became popular for taking singer Justin Timberlake with them.
Both Timberlake and investors have been fighting to bring MySpace back to the glory of its time , focusing primarily on the social network's major users - those interested in music. However, returning to the past is impossible and it is already very difficult for MySpace to go back to what it was.
3. Fotolog
In 2007 Fotolog was among the most visited Internet pages worldwide, according to Alexa. At its peak it had 20 million unique users per month, a pretty significant number. His audience was the majority, especially from countries like Spain or Portugal. The web was a pioneer of the concept of the social. That is, users could upload their photos in order to show them to others, who, in turn, could comment on them. We can say that it was the Instagram of the time. What was the reason for its failure? Basically not adapting to the changes that were taking place in the sector, as happened to MySpace itself. In addition, it began to fill with spam and there was no renovation at the functional or design level.
4. Ping
Google is not the only giant to fail with its Google Plus social network, Apple also suffered a nasty disappointment . In his case it was with Ping, a music platform integrated into iTunes introduced by Steve Jobs himself back in 2010. Jobs described it as if Twitter or Facebook had encountered iTunes. The truth is that they greeted each other, but in passing. They said goodbye right away. Ping failed to do its job and ended up closing two years later.
5. Diaspora
Diaspora was the great hope for lovers of social networks. It was even said to be a major threat to Facebook. Nothing to see. In the end it turned out to be a fiasco that ended in nothing. The young Grippi, Salzberg, Zhitomirskiy and Sofaer started the Diaspora project in February 2010, prompted by a speech by law and history professor Eben Moglen at Columbia University. Moglen described social media as "gratuitous espionage." Therefore, the goal of Diaspora was not to follow the path of its rivals, creating an open source social network.
To raise the necessary money, the project was launched in April 2010 on Kickstarter. A period of 39 days was established to raise the estimated 10 thousand dollars to start. However, the initial goal was fulfilled in just twelve days . In fact, the project ultimately raised more than 200 ”‰ thousand dollars from more than 6,000 users. The reality is that after being launched it had a relative success, especially because of the novelty, but beyond this, his idea was lost by the virtual universe, it was a total failure.