Orkut Büyükkökten
{{Short description|Turkish software engineer}}
{{Lead too short|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image = Hello Orkut Büyükkökten 2015.jpg
| caption = Büyükkökten in 2015
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|02|06}}
| yearsactive = 1987– present
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Product manager
- software engineer
}}
| employer = {{plainlist|
- Affinity Engines
}}
| known_for = {{plainlist|
}}
}}
Orkut Büyükkökten (born February 6, 1975) is a Turkish software engineer who developed the social networking services Club Nexus, inCircle and Orkut. He is a former product manager at Google.{{cite magazine|author=Jesse Lichtenstein|first=sarupam|date=2004-03-24|title=The Wired World The Real Orkut|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/03/29/040329ta_talk_lichtenstein|magazine=The New Yorker}}
Early life and education
Originally from Konya, Turkey, Büyükkökten obtained a B.Sc. degree in Computer Engineering and Information Science from Bilkent University in Ankara. He received both a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University. His research at Stanford focused on Web search and efficient PDA usage.
Social media platforms
He has been building and working on online communities since 2000. He introduced his first social network, named Club Nexus,{{cite web | title=A social network caught in the Web | date=2003-06-02 | url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/53501/Orkut-A-Social-Network-Caught-in-the-Web | work=First Monday}} at Stanford in the fall of 2001. Club Nexus was the first college-specific social network.{{cite book | title=The Facebook Effect | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RRUkLhyGZVgC | author=David Kirkpatrick | date=2010-06-08 | page=79| publisher=Simon and Schuster | isbn=9781439109809 }} It was a system built to serve the networking and communication needs of the Stanford online community. Students could use Club Nexus to send e-mail and invitations, chat, post events, buy and sell used goods, search for people with similar interests, place personals, display their artwork or post editorial columns. Within a few months of its introduction in 2001, Club Nexus had attracted over 2,000 Stanford undergraduates.
Later, Büyükkökten introduced an alumni social network, named inCircle, for the Stanford Alumni Association intended for use by university alumni groups. In 2002, Büyükkökten launched a company, Affinity Engines, to commercialize inCircle and Club Nexus.{{cite news|title=The Facebook Effect|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gIgYDMd5cgkC&q=affinity+engines+orkut+launch%2F%2F&pg=PA78|access-date=7 August 2016|work=venturebeat|date=5 August 2016|isbn = 9780753547731|last1 = Kirkpatrick|first1 = David}}
After leaving Affinity Engines and joining Google, he decided to use his 20% time to develop a social networking service. He said: "My dream was to connect all the Internet users so they can relate to each other, it can make such a difference in people's lives." The product manager and Marissa Mayer thought of naming the service after its creator. "Orkut.com" belonged to Orkut Büyükkökten himself. Google convinced him, and its social networking service was called Orkut.{{cite book | title=In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1u1f8sv3k8C | author=Steven Levy | author-link=Steven Levy | date=2011-04-12| publisher=Simon and Schuster | isbn=9781416596714 }}
Büyükkökten and Google were sued by Affinity Engines in 2004 for trade secret misappropriation. Affinity Engines claimed that Büyükkökten and Google had stolen Affinity Engines' code to launch the "Orkut.com" social networking service at Google.{{cite news|title=Lawsuit: Google Stole Orkut Code|url=https://www.wired.com/2004/06/lawsuit-google-stole-orkut-code/|access-date=7 August 2016|work=venturebeat|date=5 August 2016}} The lawsuit was settled in 2006.
In 2016, he launched a new social networking service, Hello.{{cite news|title=Orkut founder launches Hello|url=https://venturebeat.com/2016/08/05/orkut-founder-launches-hello-a-social-network-focused-on-your-passions/|access-date=7 August 2016|work=venturebeat|date=5 August 2016}} The social networking site can be customized in three languages — English, French and Portuguese. By August 2016, Hello was available in the US, Canada, France, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Brazil — both on iOS and Android.{{Cite news|url=http://www.bgr.in/news/orkut-attempts-a-comeback-with-new-social-networking-site-hello/|title=Orkut attempts a comeback with new social networking site 'hello'|work=BGR}} Hello announced its entry into the Indian market in April 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://www.livemint.com/Companies/UuVDfpDkyEykbZHJCMT9cN/Hello-its-Orkut-again.html|title=Hello, it's Orkut again!|work=Live Mint}} By September 2022, Hello had shut down.{{cn|date=September 2024}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.instagram.com/orkutb/?hl=en Instagram profile]
- [https://www.facebook.com/orkut Facebook profile]
- [https://www.twitter.com/orkut Twitter profile]
- [http://www.orkut.com Orkut.com]
- [http://www.hello.com Hello.com]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buyukkukten, Orkut}}
Category:Turkish male non-fiction writers
Category:Turkish computer scientists
Category:Stanford University School of Engineering alumni
Category:Bilkent University alumni
Category:Turkish LGBTQ scientists
Category:21st-century Turkish scientists
Category:Turkish expatriates in the United States
Category:21st-century Turkish LGBTQ people