As Google+ Revs Up, What Will Become of Orkut?

Orkut, Google’s existing social network system, will still be active, even as the widely anticipated Google+ site starts up.

However, according to a report in IDG News, Orkut, which has been round since 2004 and has millions of followers around the world, may eventually be combined with Google+ sometime in the future.

A Google spokeswoman told IDG: Orkut and Google+ are different products, and will both exist. Over time, we'll determine what makes the most sense in terms of integrating these products.”

She added: We will continue to invest in the product [Orkut].”

The report speculates that perhaps Google could somehow allow existing Orkut users to export their friends and profile data to Google+ or perhaps the company will add Google+ privacy features to the Orkut platform.

Orkut was named after its creator, Google employee, Orkut Büyükkökten, a Turkish computer engineer.

The vast majority of Orkut users are in either India or Brazil, and has very low penetration rate in the US.