Google seems to be taking a page out of the Facebook playbook and giving its social network a more musical experience. Unfortunately for many of you, we’re not talking about Google+, but Google’s other social network, Orkut.
“What could be better than listening to your favorite favorite music? Sharing the experience with your friends!” writes Google engineer Eduardo Ferreira. “Now you can do this directly from your Orkut page: just type in the artist or band name on the YouTube search bar while we select a playlist for you to enjoy. You can watch your favorite video clips while using Orkut, or you can minimize and leave them as background music.”
Songs users listen to will be posted as activities on their homepage, and friends can listen, he says.
Google, of course, does have the YouTube playlist feature on Google+:
It’s not quite the same social listening experience they’re offering with Orkut, however.
Though it was recently surpassed by Facebook (it’s quite noteworthy that it was only recently), Orkut is pretty popular in Brazil and India, even though it did not have the same level of success in other countries, like here in the U.S.