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Yesterday I received an invitation to be someone's Orkut friend. That invitation persuaded me to spend some time in the Orkut network. While doing so, I saw some familiar faces at the forums I attend on a regular basis. So I went to add a few as a friend. However, back in early March Orkut upgraded their friend's module to allow for five categories of friends.
- haven't met - acquaintance - friend - good friend - best friend -
Now, this might be considered a good upgrade but to me, it makes things a bit more confusing. Most my "orkut friends" I have never met in real life. Would they go under the "haven't met" category of friends? If I put those friend's under the haven't met category, will they be insulted? For now, everyone goes under "friend" - in order to be neutral. The "best friend" category will probably not be used by me for a long time. None of my real best friends would join this network, or not at least within a years time.
This just adds more to the dynamics of social communication on the Internet. All those that are in the Orkut network know about the other methods of categorizing friends (with stars, hearts, cool, etc.). Those are just my thoughts on this complex social community technology.
