Technology News: Facebook Overtakes Google’s Orkut in Brazil

Facebook Overtakes Orkut in Brazil

Is this the beginning of the end for Orkut in Brazil?…

…Looks like it. I closed my Orkut account about a year and a half ago because I was finding that all of my Brazilian friends were flooding to set up facebook accounts, making it unnecessary for me to use both social networks to keep in touch with Brazilian friends and family. (Plus, Orkut just started getting weird after Facebook came out, it started nervously updating all the time to keep up with the fb look, which I think hurt it in the end because it just got creepily similar and lost its simplistic charm. The only unique thing that Orkut may have had going for it in the end was your ability to see who looks at your profile the way that linkedin does….)

In his blog post at Forbes, Ricardo Geromel confirms that last month, Facebook overtook Orkut for most number of users in Brazil for the first time. An Ibope Nielsen survey shows that Facebook’s 30.9 million users (almost 69% of internet users) trumped Orkut’s 29 million on the strength of adding 2.1 million users in August to Orkut’s flat to negative growth.

Geromel points out two considerations:

First, although Ibope Nielsen Online survey is the reference for ranking of Brazilian web audience, it measures the amount of Internet users accessing from work and home. Regrettably, Internet cafes and phone access are not counted. Orkut would probably have more advantage in the first case and Facebook on the second. Second,the survey doesn’t reveal how much time Brazilians spent in each social platform. I strongly believe Brazilians are already spending more time on Facebook than on Orkut.

Noted. But the actual total user numbers don’t really matter at this point. The important numbers are growth rates. And while Facebook is on a significant uptick, Orkut is declining. So even if it’s too close to call, it won’t be by Christmas. Brazilians are still joining Facebook, building their network and adding new friends.

orkut vs. facebook in numbers

 

Orkut…weird name for a social network right? The website is actually named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten.

Social Networks: Where Are Brazilians Meeting Up Online?

Social Networking: Where Are Brazilians Meeting Up Online?

An interesting graphic representation of the use of popular social networks in Brazil, thanks to Marco Vergotti…

Pérolas do Orkut – Brazilian Self-Deprecating Humor

The Brazilian Sense of Humor

I have often thought that I prefer the dry sarcasm and irreverence of American humor to Brazilian humor, which in popular Brazilian culture is often quite obvious, banal and lacking depth (I frequently use the movie “se eu fosse voce” as an example of everything I dislike about Brazilian humor for the masses.) However, if you search deeper, you will find Brazilian humor that is much more intelligent, with a delightful self-deprecating quality in many instances. Brazilians are great at making fun of themselves, they seem to have it down to an art. Brazilian culture and mannerisms have so many idiosyncracies and there is a certain playfulness or silliness with which people speak about the (sometimes harsh) realities of day-to-day life that I have seen nowhere else.

"se eu fosse voce" - an example of bad brazilian humor

I just have to give props to this Brazilian website that i’ve been following for years now, it’s called “Pérolas do Orkut,” (pérola means pearl) it’s basically just a website dedicated to posting the ridiculous conversations people have and photos people post to their Orkut accounts (similar to all of those “facebook fail” sites they have now, but it’s funnier because Brazilians are way more shameless with regards to what they will post on the internet).

This site is very typically Brazilian, take a look and you’ll see what I mean:  http://www.perolasdoorkut.com.br. If brazilian humor is at its best when Brazilians make fun of themselves, then this site exemplifies the aspects of Brazilian life that people find funny. There is almost a pride to it, which I love. Here are some examples of what you will find on Pérolas do Orkut:

making fun of Brazilian's bad spelling (this is an epidemic in Brazil - there is a whole section on "Perolas" dedicated to mispellings on signs etc.) this woman meant to write "Podem ficar com inveja ! Um dia voces vocês terão" "You can get jealous! One day you will!"

even in a country coming out of 3rd world status, you still see things like this

making the best of a bad situation? this is SO brazilian!

Please comment on this post if you have any thoughts on Brazilian humor or comedy, I would love to hear if you agree or not, or anything else you might have to say!

Technology News: Facebook Launches Ad Sales in Brazil

Facebook has opened an ad sales office in São Paulo, Brazil that apparently will serve as the social site’s headquarters for Latin America.

Facebook head of marketing Carolyn Everson mentioned her company’s expansion in an interview with ClickZ at Cannes Lions on Wednesday. “There is a wonderful creative community happening in Brazil. We just opened our São Paulo office,” she said. “That’s a growing market for us.”

In a follow-up email interview, spokesperson Kumiko Hidaka said, “We don’t have much else to share around the office at the moment, but it’s an ad sales office.”

The Palo Alto, CA-based company’s job board lists six sales and marketing positions based in São Paulo that appear to tell more of the story. For instance, it is hiring a sales associate to “sell, evangelize and successfully demonstrate Facebook’s advertising solutions to mid-market advertising agencies and companies.” In addition, under the title of director, online sales and operations, South and Latin America, Facebook is seeking someone to develop “a go to market plan and hiring teams of great people to support Facebook’s advertisers.”

Who else would Facebook find waiting for it in South America but Google? For Brazil in particular, the search giant owns the country’s most popular social networking site in Orkut, where marketers buy ads via the Google Display Network.

According to the Facebook stats site SocialBakers, Facebook has 20 million users in Brazil. It’s been estimated that Orkut has 100 million users worldwide, with more than half of them in Brazil and India. Facebook last year overtook Orkut to be the No. 1 social site in India, and it appears now to be bearing down on the Google property in Brazil.

Brazil has emerged as a hotbed for digital advertising, partially fueled by the country’s role as host of the 2014 Soccer World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. 

On Tuesday, online video creator network Poptent opened its first office in São Paulo. Poptent CEO Andy Jedynak told ClickZ that he selected Brazil in part because it is “an extremely vibrant and creative marketplace,” and the company wants to harness some of that energy.

*Sources: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2081090/facebook-launches-sales-brazil

Instant Messaging / IM / MSN In Brazil – List of Portuguese Chat Abbreviations

Dictionary of Portuguese Internet Abbreviations

Most Brazilians use MSN to chat online with IM. Like in English, Brazilian chat lingo tends to shorten many words, so it takes a little getting used to. Here is a quick reference for some very common online abbreviations used in Portuguese:

portuguese internet slang

rsrsrs – “risos”, dar risada (represents laughter)

ñ, naum – não (no)

vc – você

cd – cadê? (where is…?)

Oq, oke, o q, oque, or oqe – o que (what)

pq – porque? (why?)

q – que (that)

p/, pra or p – para (for)

tbm, tb – também (also, too)

td – “tudo” (all, everything)

blz? – “beleza?” (what’s up, everything good? *full explanation Here)

aki – aqui (here)

vlw – valeu (thanks)

mara – maravilhoso (marvelous)

qlq or qq – qualquer (whatever, whichever)

rpz – rapaz (guy, dude)

msm – mesmo (really, same)

mto, mtu – muito (many, much, a lot)

qro – quero (i want)

qdo, qd, or qnd – quando (when)

qto – quanto (how many)

qm – quem (who)

jah – Já (already)

c/ – com (with)

cmg – comego (with me)

+ ou – – mais ou menos (“i’m ok” {in response to “how are you?”})

flw – falow (slang for “bye”)

xau – tchau (bye)

to – estou (i am)

ta – está (he/she is)

Also, Z’s and X’s are often used to replace other letters in MSN abbreviations, and words with double letters are shortened. Observe:

chocolate – xocolate; achar – axar; passar – pasar; assassino – asasino; asas – azas

 

Lastly, here are some of my other posts which may be helpful when chatting or posting online in Portuguese:

Slang Greetings in Portuguese

List of Words For Dude / Informal Words For Your Friends

Popular Slang Phrases in Portuguese    and finally…

Emoticons in Portuguese

Enjoy! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Networking in Brazil

Brazilians LOVE social networking.

Brazil adores social networking. A study from 2010 revealed that 86% of internet users in Brazil regularly used an online social network…10% more than Italy, the nearest contender.

But rather than Facebook ruling the roost in Brazil, Google’s Orkut has always outgunned its social networking peers by quite some distance. In August, it was reported that Orkut had around 28 million users in Brazil, almost 500% more than Facebook, which has less than 6 million users.

Traditionally, Orkut has always had a strong following in both Brazil and India, but the latter of these was overtaken by Facebook as the number one social networking platform in August. So can we expect Brazil to follow suit any time soon?

Figures released by Inside Facebook last week revealed that Brazil just crept into Facebook’s top 20 country list at the bottom of the pile. But on closer inspection, Brazil enjoyed the fastest growth in Facebook uptake in the second-tier – ‘11th-20th ranked’ – countries, with the number of users jumping over 250% in the twelve months to October 2010.

Continuing on this trajectory, Brazil is likely to hit 10 million users sometime in 2011. This growth may in part be due to Facebook’s activity in the area, as it has tried to lure the local online population away from a network that has over half its users in Brazil.

In September last year, Facebook’s existing users in Brazil were invited to import their contacts directly into Facebook thanks to a new tool. They were then told which of their Orkut contacts also had a Facebook account – then were invited to send a friend request. So this may well have a large part to play in the growth of Facebook over the past year.

As online populations start to grow at a faster rate in developing countries, there’s bound to be a Facebook boom in Brazil very soon, with an exponential growth spurt on the horizon.

Furthermore, Orkut had a big head start in Brazil and has been growing in popularity for over five years there. Facebook has only been available in Portuguese for a couple of years, after Google had already upped its Orkut sticks and shifted permanently to be managed and operated on the ground in Brazil.

As Facebook goes from strength to strength in Brazil, there’s a fair chance the country will be Facebook’s first South American hub. It may be the only Portuguese-speaking country on the continent, but with around 200 million people living there, it is the world’s fifth most populated country and constitutes roughly half the population of the whole of South America. That’s a lot of amigos for Facebook to make.

*Sources:

http://thenextweb.com/

Here is some good vocab and terms used in Brazilian social networking:

Orkut – this social networking site was for a long time like the Brazilian Facebook, everyone had an Orkut page. but these days Facebook is becoming about equal in popularity. (Check it out: Orkut.com)

comunidade – means community, is used in social networking to refer to a group, such as a Facebook group.

senha – password

bate-papo – means “chat,” used also to mean: chat room. (The most popular site for online chat rooms in Brazil is UOL.com. Check it out.)

cadastrar-se – sign up/create an account

fazer login/entrar – to login

sair – to log out

adicionar – to add (a friend)

Vocab: The Internet: Emoticons in Portuguese

Internet Emoticons in Portuguese

Here are some pictures of emoticons used commonly on MSN, etc. and their description in Portuguese: Click HERE for a list of Brazilian Portuguese abbreviations commonly used in In MSN, Orkut or chat.