How successful have I been in infiltrating myself into Brazilian culture? I can speak the basics of Portuguese. I'm listening to Brazilian CDs, thanks to Vicente and Beth. I even store goiabinha in my cupboard. But there was one thing I didn't have that every Brazilian has. No, not a tan. An Orkut account.
Orkut is Google's social networking site, which provides separate personal, social, and professional profiles. In March 2007, 57% of Orkut's 44 million users were Brazilian.
"In Brazil, Orkut feels like it's as big as Facebook and MySpace put together."
-Bernardo Malfitano, Brazilian-born U.S. resident & former Google employee
In reality, it's only about half the size of Myspace in terms of users right now. But Orkut is to Brazil as snow is to skiers. Everyone uses it. Even local celebrities create accounts to promote themselves and control their relationship the public.
And so I decided that to become a full temporary Brazilian, and get everyone off my back about creating an account, I would join the uber-popular site. Otherwise known as a stalker's best friend.
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