In the wake of the massive Facebook data breach scandal and the subsequent Congressional Hearing, the founder of the social networking site Orkut, Orkut Buyukkokten, launched a new social network “hello” in India.
4 years after shutting down Orkut, which once was a leading social networking site in India and Brazil, Orkut Buyukkokten announced the early entry of the social networking platform into the Indian market. According to their website, the app was founded by Buyukkokten along with a small group of ex-Google employees. Currently, the team consists of 20 members.
Speaking about the new networking platform, Orkut Buyukkokten said, “If you look at social media today, it has isolated people instead of bringing them closer. It has become more about broadcasting than sharing. We need a fresh start. hello is built around interest based communities where users with same interests can connect, leading to true connections.” In an official statement, the San Francisco based Hello Network Inc., said “hello” aims to bring people together around their interests to create positive, meaningful, authentic connections and sustained social engagement.
The app was first launched in Brazil and already has nearly one million downloads. The company claims, the app launched in the beta mode in India saw close to 35,000 users with users spending close to 320 minutes each month on the app. “We designed ‘hello’ to help you make connections in the real world. It’s a social network built on loves not likes and I’m delighted to say‘hello’ to India once again,” Buyukkokten further added.
Clarifying hello’s monetization model, Buyukkokten said the company “does not have to sell user data to get revenues.” This is after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed, nearly 5.62 lakh people in the country were “potentially affected” by its global data breach. Once users sign onto the platform, they are asked about five things that they are passionate about based on which they get recommendations that are non intrusive. Buyukkokten added, “We also ensure that every advertiser has a profile on hello (for greater accountability),” and no user information is shared with third party apps. The app ‘hello’ is available for download on the App Store and the Google Play Store.
