
Hello from Orkut - shardul111
http://orkut.com/
======
icebraining
Maybe I'm just being cynical, but I see a large dissonance between this
message and the 'hello' presentation.

He laments that "we stay with locals when we travel abroad but we don't even
know our neighbours at home", yet the new social network seems to push more in
that direction (it talks about connecting people based on their interests, not
their proximity). He says "we are afraid of what we don't know [...] we are
hateful toward what we don't understand", but hello's "folio" feature seems to
dig in on that by carefully filtering out what's not "relevant to your
interests".

And then there's the gamification ("leaderboards, milestones & rewards") which
to me at least seem prone to encourage empty activities that don't really help
with the loneliness mentioned in the message.

~~~
curried_haskell
Because guess what, the letter is just a promotion for this new social network
that they hope to sell everybody on. It doesn't matter if he really cares
about any of those things, only that we think that he cares about those things
and then go use his social network and divulge our private lives to yet
another foreign entity.

~~~
lallysingh
Or the letter was written by one person and the presentation and app were
designed by a group, and the latter's type of work rarely is as cohesive.

------
rburhum
First, let me say something I would not have said a few years ago... a new
social network to meet people interested in the other things I do... awesome!

I get why there is not a web version at first. Unlike most people, I dont see
that as a deal breaker.

I downloaded the app and tried it out.

The good: I like the idea of limiting yourself to five personas. It made me
sit down and think what I wanted out of this. See, FB has a big chunk of my
social graph and meetup gives me access to events that are interesting to me.
Reddit and HNs filter content that I find interesting. Nevertheless, as an
engineer and startup founder, those mediums keep bombarding me with
Startup/C++/Django/etc meetups/news and articles about scaling startups. All
topics I like to read about.

But there are other things I like that get overshadowed by this content.

I like surfing and consider myself a curious foodie for example. That content
does show up in those other mediums, but gets really overshadowed by the
strength of my network around the other topics (be it my FB graph or meetups I
keep an eye out for). Another network - concentrated on meeting other people
that share these distinctly different personas is an interesting proposition.
So I tried!

The bad: It is empty once the setup was done. I dont see anything except the
ability to add a photo for a persona. not sure that you can get away with
this.

Also, you made me type information that was available somewhere else. Why???
Think of it this way, even if Gitlab is competing with GitHub, they let you
log in with your GitHub account. Do this. Import the information from FB, G+,
or whatever other place that already has this info...

Anyway, I'll keep an eye out to see how this plays out.

Update: I see content now. It has an Instagramish feel

~~~
toyg
_> Import the information from FB, G+_

I expect that would be against TOS and would result in an immediate ban.

~~~
palakchokshi
Not if as part of sign in the app asks permission to get that information.
That is how all oAuth logins from FB to Google to LinkedIn to Github work. You
ask for permission to get exactly what you want and once granted the app can
get that information without violating any TOS or getting banned

~~~
toyg
It's not the gathering per se, it's what you do with it.

When I checked their platform policies (admittedly several years ago), they
explicitly forbid other social networks from using FB-provided logins and
data. This seems to have changed, and at the moment I can't find anything of
the sort in their current platform policies; but there is a "no
reimplementation" clause that is so broad, it could easily be used to ban apps
that reimplement anything FB already offers (friending, image sharing etc
etc).

------
TheAceOfHearts
I'm echoing what others are saying: no web version means I won't bother at
all.

My phone has access to multiple great browsers. Building a good lightweight
web app means I can access the content from anywhere without having to deal
with annoyances of push notifications or (as much) creepy tracking.

My favorite example of a mobile web app is currently Twitter Mobile [0]. I
even like using it from my desktop. It's very lightweight, fast, and easy to
read.

[0] [https://mobile.twitter.com/](https://mobile.twitter.com/)

~~~
overcast
I've had this sentiment for a couple years now. I'm so sick of having to
download an app for everything. I want a slick web version that isn't half-
assed, and is responsive to all devices. This is my number one priority
building any new application.

~~~
zodPod
Yes! Absolutely! The worst thing is when you're on a site and you're browsing
it and something pops up saying something along the lines of "Click here to
get our app!" or it overlays the screen and tells you to use the app. NO I
don't WANT your app. I'm on your WEBSITE. If you made THAT usable and didn't
try to interfere with the stupid app, I'd be set!

~~~
pritambarhate
I am same as you. Downloading an app for something which can be done in a
browser annoys me a lot. Being in programming, many of my friends show similar
behaviour.

But I think for non technical people, apps are main way to use mobile devices.
For example, I got married recently. My wife is a doctor. She uses iPad for
personal computing. She tries to find the app for everything she wants to do
on her iPad. In fact she uses Google app on her iPad a lot. Want to search
something, start the Google app. I was surprised to see this. I tried to tell
her that she can search straight from her Chrome browser. But I think it's
matter of habit for her now and still prefers to use the Google App for
search.

------
vowelless
I must say, I loled at this:

> hello is the first social network built on loves, not likes.

I know that the intention is great; it's just that I automatically pictured
this as a scene in "Silicon Valley" (the TV show).

~~~
swenn
Totally. It reminds me of the hooli web page:
[http://hooli.com](http://hooli.com)

~~~
avckp
What is hooli?

~~~
throwanem
_Silicon Valley_ 's theoretical-lawsuit-friendly version of Google.

It's interesting to me that a lot of shows do this, and I'm not sure why.
_Silicon Valley_ has Hooli. _Veep_ has Clovis. _Person of Interest_ had "Fetch
and Retrieve", which honestly guys are you even trying. None of these shows
seems to shy away from portraying other large tech companies, and it's
trivially obvious even to someone nowhere near the industry what these ciphers
are supposed to represent. I don't know of a case where anyone has actually
gotten sued over depicting an actual company. So I'm not sure whether these
"not really Google but yeah totally Google" companies are meant to defend
against that threat, or exist for some other reason of which I'm not aware.

~~~
dack
It doesn't exactly fit Google - there are definitely several products that are
a Google thing, but many other aspects that diverge. I think not naming them
has multiple benefits. 1) Less likely to get sued, 2) They want to be able to
diverge where it makes sense for the story, 3) They don't want to distract
viewers with the real companies (since people have preconceived notions and
might be pulled out of the story if it's inconsistent).

In fact, I think I remember at least one episode where Hooli mentions Google,
so in this universe, it's a new company.

~~~
exadeci
It's a new company but it's a caricature of Google or Alphabet and Alphabet
has a link to Hooli hidden on their page source
[https://abc.xyz/](https://abc.xyz/) as if they acknowledge it or as a joke.

------
woollysammoth
"We are living in a strange time. We hide behind our devices, ignoring the
people around us."

So... a mobile app is the solution?

~~~
drostie
I mean, the people who have adopted Pokemon Go are now connecting with each
other outside in their cities' public spaces, often reconnecting with old
friends to go out together. I'm not sure this was intentional on the app
designers' part (maybe "go outside" was, but the residual social effects of
getting so popular so fast in combination with "go outside" probably wasn't so
well-appreciated, since they deployed v. 1.0 as a mostly-egocentric game).

There is the definite potential for a device to change the way we hide behind
devices into an opportunity to meet people and connect.

~~~
imissmyjuno
Right but don't criticize devices if your solution is to use a device?

------
cm3
If you click on the turkish version of the announcement, "gay" is replaced
with "different" (in Turkish of course). Do people in Turkey say "farkli"
(different) when they mean "gay"? Checked and all other translations actually
say gay or homosexual.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20160708083122/http://orkut.com/...](https://web.archive.org/web/20160708083122/http://orkut.com/index_tr.html)

~~~
afsina
I think in some contexts using word "farklı" (different) may imply the
meaning. However, in the Turkish version of the article this is not the case.

Most proper word for "gay" in Turkish is "eşcinsel". He should have used it.
"gay" is also used as a loan word in informal speech.

------
prajjwal
Orkut was our go-to social network as teens, before we all moved to Facebook
in 2009. I'm was going to join this out of sheer nostalgia, but it appears to
be lacking a web app.

I'm curious as to why they went with ONLY native Android / iOS apps. That will
not only drive away people like me, who prefer to use things from a desktop
web browser, but also people in developing countries who might not have access
to a smartphone. That sounds like straying away from "I want to help connect
people" to something more like "I want to help connect people who own an
Android / iOS device".

~~~
technomancy
> people in developing countries who might not have access to a smartphone

I live across a river from Burma, and I can tell you it's at least an order of
magnitude easier for people there to get access to a smartphone than a desktop
or laptop.

[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/the-
fa...](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/the-facebook-
loving-farmers-of-myanmar/424812/)

I mean, I agree that it's a deal-killer for people like you and me, but the
idea that it would make it less suitable for underdeveloped countries is just
silly.

~~~
Al-Khwarizmi
I live in a first-world country, I do have an Android phone, but I'm always
out of internal storage and need to delete apps. Most people in my
friends/family circle are in the same situation. So even if we have Android,
services based exclusively on mobile apps have an accessibility problem for
us. I suppose this problem will be larger in places like Burma, where
smartphones will be cheaper and older on average.

~~~
tacomonstrous
Most devices in the developing world have micro SD slots.

~~~
Al-Khwarizmi
Mine also has one, but the apps just don't want to go there. In fact, some
apps like spotify insist on storing even their data in the internal storage.
So I have a full internal storage and an almost empty big SD card. I know
these things can be solvable via rooting, but most people doesn't root.

~~~
hrnnnnnn
I was really frustrated by this for a while. There were some instructions on
the Spotify website about re-installing the app when the SD card was plugged
in, but it never seemed to work for me.

Recently they added the ability to explicitly choose where you want to store
your offline data.

------
iplaw
Wow, this has to be the worst social network I have ever made the mistake of
joining. And I joined Google+. The UI is sloppy. The navigation is atrocious.
The personas are needlessly complex. The cartoon "Archer" character is
childish. It's a mutant spawn of Facebook and Instagram.

I see no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

------
Rainymood
I'm just sitting here wondering how much they paid for the domain name
hello.com

~~~
lode
Hello.com was a product of Picasa when it was acquired by Google. Given
Orkut's history at Google, I assume he was able to get a good deal on it.

~~~
cpeterso
I had the same question about orkut.com. Did Google allow him to keep or buy
the orkut.com domain when it shut down the Orkut service?

~~~
nuggien
seems like google is actually an investor in his new hello.com venture.

------
jxn
Read/Write API or it didn't happen. There was a time a few years ago when I
thought companies were moving in the direction of ensuring their products
could be extended through APIs first and foremost and launching those APIs a
the time of product launches, but either I dreamed it or that time seems
passed.

Is there some kind of organization out there whose mission is (at least
partly) to pressure companies into providing data import/export and full
access API's to prevent lock-in, data loss and such?

~~~
blantonl
Since when was there an obligation to provide an API for every new platform
release?

Frankly, I get the sense that a lot of people want an API so they can build
their own little businesses on top of someone else's good idea, only to feel
shafted when the originator of that good idea goes in a different direction.

~~~
jxn
I guess I've been burned enough by drastic application/feature reworks, policy
changes, and product shutdowns that I'm extremely wary of any new product that
doesn't offer a publicly documented programmatic option for getting data in
and out (and preferably basic interaction). Maybe my experience is unusual,
but I can't believe it that more people aren't clamoring for APIs or at
_least_ data export options from their services before wasting time getting
tied to them.

------
captn3m0
The HTTPS version of the site presents a cert for hello.com, which breaks the
site for me.

~~~
karussell
both [https://www.hello.com](https://www.hello.com) and
[https://hello.com](https://hello.com) work for me on FF

~~~
miahi
The orkut.com https site.

------
arscan
Yikes, crashed during registration, then after restarting it wouldn't let me
upload a square profile picture (blocking progress on the crop screen), then
once I took another picture it gave me a "Backend error" on the next screen,
once again blocking progress. I give up. I hate to be negative, and I usually
would cut a new app some slack, but the whole reason I am trying this is that
I expected a high level of quality given the background of the founder.

~~~
TekMol
Guess it managed to upload your phone ID and other stuff just fine in the
process.

To the developers: Give me a website or leave me alone.

~~~
arscan
Yeah, I am always hesitant to give my phone number, but I had enough trust in
this app since the founder had a solid background. I don't often give up that
info. I regret that I did now...

------
kid0m4n
Why oh why limit it from being available in countries like India? You want
users, we got users. Can never comprehend behind a geo wall for things like
this (and can totally understand why Netflix wasn't earlier).

PS: I wonder how much hello.com cost, and how did he have control over the
orkut.com domain?

~~~
philsnow
I wouldn't surprised if this is an attempt to get it established in the states
/ Europe before it gets popular in India / Brazil. One of the reasons a lot of
people left Orkut is because it got too popular in Brazil and the default
language on a lot of user groups / communities became Portuguese.

~~~
bato
Yeah that was quite annoying, to say the least.

Any and every group would be spammed to death by Brazilians until you gave up
and left them one by one.

------
mikkom
> We even got married and had kids because of orkut.

This has a totally different meaning in finnish as orkut means "orgasms" in
casual speak.

~~~
timje1
Wait, so the guy's name means orgasms? Oh dear oh dear. This must cause
problems for Turkish men in Finland. Kind of like the unfortunate Indian
family name Dikshit.

~~~
eknkc
My last name is koc (turkish..) and it's funny to observe english speaking
people trying not to spell it like "cock".

~~~
elros
But wouldn't Koc be pronounced something like "Kodj"?

~~~
afsina
more like /koCH/

------
geekamongus
A. Major bummer I can only use a mobile device. First choice for this sort of
thing is my desktop/PC.

B. I had a lot of issues signing up. White screens of death, inability to
progress further. Had to restart the app no less than 4 times to complete
registration.

C. Now that I am registered, I see a "Welcome to your folio" screen that
doesn't let me do anything.

What did I just download?

------
tinco
Bold move to launch it without a web frontend. I browsed the 'best of' gallery
which looks nice, but I haven't seen anything yet that would entice me to grab
my phone and go through both a sign up and an app installation process.

From the outside it looks like a Reddit meets Imgur type of application,
perhaps like Pinterest. None of those have really strong communities in my
opinion, not as strong as for example Facebook friends are. How are the
community members connected to eachother?

~~~
type0
> How are the community members connected to eachother?

Good question, is it tied to phone number or email adress?

I wish someone would do the social network that is crossbred between indieweb
and diaspora/friendica, that would seem like the way forward at least.

------
Aaron1011
For some reason, orkut.com is serving an SSL certificate for hello.com (the
new social network the site is referring to).

------
mtgx
Getting a certificate error here. I'm using HTTPS Everywhere. So I assume they
didn't anticipate people using the HTTPS version of the site, and
misconfigured it?

------
ebarock
It is strange for me in a era with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat,
LinkedIN to imagine a new social network.

Nothing against it, just sound as a enormous work to learn this soon-to-be-
sensation of the internet. We keep looking for ways to improve our social
relationship and skills, but in the end we still in from of a computer texting
and prioritizing the people that is far, instead of the people that is closer.

It seems to me that social networks are really good at keeping closer those
that are far and keeping far, those that are closer.

~~~
michaelmior
This looks incredibly familiar to me. We basically tried the same idea at
Bunch starting around 2012. The core idea was the same: connect people based
around sharing content related to their interests. We made it into the
thousands of users but ultimately weren't able to build enough traction. I
think there still might be room for something like Hello.

~~~
astrange
The website where you share content based on your interests is called Tumblr.
It solves the personas problem too.

~~~
michaelmior
What's the solution to the personas problem on Tumblr? (I'm not an active
Tumblr user.) Interestingly enough, we did see a lot of the type of content
relevant to this on Tumblr. We built a Tumblr import tool to allow people to
pull in their content from Tumblr. We also cross-posted some of our content
out to Tumblr.

~~~
astrange
You make sideblogs. Accounts can make as many blogs as they want, and viewing
them doesn't give any links back to the owner, so they're private.

------
duderific
The red flag for me is all the gamification (points/coins etc.), which is
clearly all about increasing engagement for the sake of advertising, and
strongly contrasts the opening message from Orkut ("I did it all for the
love").

------
eknight15
It feels like a college project. Some of the stuff seems ironic: Comic sans in
onboarding, burger icon for menu, the weird character (I imagine one artsy
person in the group probably made that character in their free time and they
insisted "Oh! I've got a mascot we can use...").

------
fizzbatter
I wonder how public this is?

I've been thinking a lot about social networks recently, and what i want _(as
far as i can tell)_ is the ability to conversationally share with a group, but
in an either private or ephemeral manner. The goal of ephemeral being, i don't
like the permanency of the web. I want to join twitter, following tags and/or
individuals i like, but i don't want anything i say to be locked in time.

I'd like to build real relationships, with real people, and have it feel like
real life. Where there is no record of everything[1]. I'm sick of everything
being recorded in stone.

[1]: Note that _some_ record makes for a good UX. Logging onto FB to see what
someone posted yesterday is nice. Beyond a relatively short timeframe though..
meh.

~~~
squeaky-clean
Something like Snapchat for text only would be amazing. You post a thought, or
maybe a link to an article. People can do the typical like / comment stuff. If
a post doesn't receive any comments for 48 hours it is deleted from your
profile and other people's feeds.

~~~
o_____________o
Ephemeral Reddit

------
NelsonMinar
What was the eventual outcome of Affinity Engines suing Google over copyright
infringement with Orkut, the product? Back in 2004 they claimed Orkut, the
person, copied source code when he left the company. I've always been curious
what happened to that suit.

[http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB108870389649953006](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB108870389649953006)

~~~
zevyoura
Looks like it was settled:
[https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/5:2005cv...](https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/5:2005cv00598/27980)

------
king_magic
I think people who build these kind of services greatly overestimate peoples'
desire to "connect with people who share your passions".

------
dharma1
I tried the app. It's lame. Super childish UI, things cost coins (you buy more
coins), looks like a quasi dating app for teens - there is actually no one
there! And the Android app crashes a lot

Orkut was a million times better. Wonder how much they paid for hello.com

------
newjersey
Not my intention to bikeshedding but I think it is possible to change the
configuration so the server has a valid certificate for Orkut.com and not just
for hello.com

------
saevarom
It's a bit ironic that this new social network that is supposed to connect
people is not available in my country...

------
jv0010
I must say it's light & easy to use. Most importantly really fast and minimal
taps. This is very important for any new app.

As for the mobile only situation I would say this is a good business decision
to minimise (not eliminate) spam accounts and possibly would be a good idea if
people get indexed into search or people share this will promote
installations. It worked well with IG this concept so I'd say in its early
conception it was a wise move.

It's also very obvious that this team has experience with social networking.

Now for my negative comment, I'd say gaining traction in the app era of today
is hard when it comes to social networking due to the reason is that everyone
is bombarded.

I would recommend focusing on the need or the feeling of why one would want to
open the app again which as of now I am finding hard to see personally. This
is the most crucial part and All energy needs to put towards exposing the app
in an organic way with that need.

As much as of a no brainer it sounds we have seen previous start ups fall from
this lack of identification

~~~
neogodless
Teach me. How did you get through registration? (I'm on Android, and typing in
my 4-digit code just whites everything out. I can't finish registration!)

~~~
moultano
Hit back, then when it asks if you want to leave registration hit continue.
(I'm stuck on a later screen though.)

------
skynetv2
Mobile only doesnt make any sense. I am not sitting on my mobile all the time,
I am on my laptop, my gaming desktop, my android tablet, and now a beautiful
surface. And I rarely ever install an app, I prefer web sites mainly because I
hate the tracking, the permission grab, the clutter, the push notifications,
and everything that comes with an app.

------
JTenerife
Shameless marketing bullshit. All they want is our money (personal data). I
don't have to install the app to already know that you have to agree to allow
access to everything on our phones.

------
xxdesmus
Your cert mismatch does not inspire confidence.
[https://cl.ly/3C213w1L3Y0b](https://cl.ly/3C213w1L3Y0b)

------
ajmurmann
The "personas"/ interests aren't working for me. This might be better solved
with a more organic approach like tags that get clustered. I was hoping to get
into pottery and Japanese language. The closest the app offers is "crafts". No
thanks. At the same time I must choose five interests. I guess I'm back to
Pinterest and Instagram for pottery and Tumblr for Japanese language.

Edit: those other apps also made it way easier to get to interesting content
quickly. On hello, I finally found a way to see profiles of other people with
the same persona. However, looking at their profile, I feel like I'm just
stalking some stranger rather than getting valuable content related to my
interests.

------
abalone
Except there's already a social network called Hello that was launched a year
before them: [http://www.myhello.co](http://www.myhello.co)

hello.com must have been really expensive! Did they check for trademark
conflicts beforehand?

------
redwood
Wasn't Orkut dominant in Brazil? I suppose they killed it to pump Google+?
Anyway it makes you wonder if Google Cloud will really survive. Can the
world's #2 public tech company by market cap really afford to be a distant
third (fourth?) in a market?

~~~
alonmower
I think it (Google Cloud) can. I suspect there's a pretty big difference
between being a dominant social network vs being a dominant cloud platform.
People evaluating cloud platforms are going to be looking at cost +
functionality in a much more pragmatic way compared to people just joining
whatever network happens to have the highest number of their friends already
registered. While there are still certainly network effects for platforms
(third party tools, people with experience, etc...) Google can really compete
on cost + performance by nature of their existing scale without needing to
throw tons of money at the problem like another competitor would

~~~
redwood
One of my worries is that there seems to be the "Google way of doing things"
which the rest of the world can't easily adjust to, the way Google insider
policies can dictate. If they're too much of a special snowflake it'll slow
adoption. Hope you're right though.

------
tpowell
WOOF.

200 hello coins – $0.99 1100 hello coins – $4.99 2300 hello coins – $9.99 4800
hello coins – $19.99 13000 hello coins – $49.99

------
xcession
Feel slightly sorry for ello

~~~
stemuk
Same here. However ello stayed competetive in the niche of a social network
for artist and creators, which is probably fine for the people behind it.

------
fiatjaf
I tried this, because Orkut was different from all other modern social
networks, and I wanted to see if this one was going to be too.

Orkut didn't have a "news feed" where other people's content would appear
before your eyes, feeding the ego of content creators and making people talk
to themselves and about themselves, post pictures of themselves and all that.

This thing is the same. I started getting random "loves" (which are the same
as "likes") from strangers wanting to gain XP after 10 minutes using the app.

------
notananthem
No web version isn't the killer for me, its the terrible design.

The logo sucks, the app sucks, the colors are like Homer's makeup shotgun from
the Simpsons. I downloaded it just because I always try new things. There
isn't foresight as far as I see for username/URLification for web and its not
focused on being photography of in progress life so its more like tumblr than
it is instagram.

It looks like another social network built by engineers. The ONLY thing it has
going for it is the URL, hello.com.

------
dovdov
I always loved how one service launches in a 400m country, but not in some 10m
population countries.

------
ashley_pengilly
hello! My name is Ashley and I'm the Community Manager at hello. Stumbled upon
this and wanted to see if I could answer any questions you may have? I see a
lot of great feedback here and have passed this along to Orkut and our team.
Cheers!

------
f_allwein
I thought just the other day "if only there was another social network I could
use instead of Facebook (and convince my friends to join it)...", so seeing
there's a new social network by the guy who made Orkut sounded like good news.

However, from the website, I'm not sure "connect with people and content
around your passions" is what I want. I'll wait and see how this pans out.

~~~
dingaling
And the "passions" seem to be very coarse. Photographer, baseball fan...

I can see those bogging-down like the genetic Twitter hash-tags. Can you
imagine trying to follow #photography?

------
jevonearth
At first I thought Google released their new messaging app, but then realized
I was thinking about "Allo"[1] not "Hello".

[1]. [https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2016/05/allo-duo-apps-
messag...](https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2016/05/allo-duo-apps-messaging-
video.html)

~~~
ultramancool
Hello used to be some kind of picture messaging app related to Picasa if I
remember correctly.

------
robteix
PSA: There doesn't seem to be an obvious way to delete one's account.

If you're thinking of just giving it a go, keep that in mind.

------
0xmohit
How many apps can one have on a phone? Or how many would one want to have?

Each app would keep running its background processes and such; keep draining
battery.

Maybe people don't bother checking what permissions does an app want; from
reading your contacts to stuff on the SD card.

Nonetheless, it's intriguing to see that people still see room for new social
networks.

------
squeaky-clean
Well, I tried signing up, and can't get through the registration. Apparently
my email is not a valid email. I tried exiting and restarting, and it noticed
and asked if I wanted to start over or continue where I left off. So I tapped
continue and it sent me back to the first screen and erased the info I
entered....

edit: Managed to try again, and now my email is valid. It's crashed several
times in the registration process so far....

double edit: I can only choose 5 personas?! What if I have more than 5 total
interests like I'm sure everyone does? (For anyone who hasn't registered,
there's a least 100 choices)

Final edit: It crashed at least 5 times before I could get to any sort of
feed. Every "persona" is just filled with pictures of memes sometimes related
to the topic. All the other tabs are empty. And there doesn't seem to be any
way to delete your account. Just awful....

------
sschueller
Limited to some countries (I can't pick my countries phone prefix and you
can't skip that part)? Why?

------
msoad
I'm the age Of Snapchat and Instagram Stories I'm not sure how a Facebook
clone can be successful

~~~
dijit
Based on nothing more than 30seconds looking at the page, it seems to be
attempting to connect strangers via common interests than by being a facebook
clone which connects already established friends.

~~~
themihai
Google+ already tried that. Why do they beat a death horse?

~~~
type0
Ex-googlers stuck in the same mindset, is it that strange though?

------
Annatar
In the time when every mobile telephone and every computer have a web browser,
why would I want to download a proprietary binary executable application for
"hello" to run on a proprietary operating system on my mobile telephone? Um,
no, that is not how I am going to play.

------
pun_Krawk
I downloaded this application a few weeks ago, and I had such high hopes.
Connecting to people based on interests is such a great idea. I think it's a
significant reason that Reddit is so strong, and I would love to see a product
take it to a deeper level (multi-interest connections).

I was immediately disappointed by hello. The pre-defined interests are
limiting and the presentation is nothing more than an instagram feed. Over a
period of days, people were adding me as connections, and I had no idea why.
None of it made any sense. When I log into the app, all I saw was random
content completely unrelated to any interest at all.

This isn't about connecting based on interests. It's about being bored and
needing instant gratification from notifications.

------
Steve0
Bit disappointing it's not available in my country.

------
ktta
no no no no god no

It looks like a points based social network[0]. So I doubt they're going to be
similar to snapchat/fb. With this I don't think many people are going to take
it seriously, because some are going to take it very seriously and try to get
to the top[1]. This is going to one of the many reasons that this will go to
crap. This won't be living long enough to justify the purchase of the domain
name. I hope I'm wrong because I hate fb buying/doing everything

[0][http://imgur.com/pCCrLW6](http://imgur.com/pCCrLW6)
[1]:[http://imgur.com/a/juSKP](http://imgur.com/a/juSKP)

------
chillingeffect
I figured I would try it even though there's no web app... It might be nice to
get in on the ground floor...

but there's no desktop app, either.

I don't live in my phone. I live at my desktop/laptop. On vacation, I've spent
long periods on my phone without a desktop/laptop and the power of the user
interface is not sufficient for me.

Steve Jobs said we should all use phones instead of desktops, because we all
drive cars and not trucks. That's true for the majority, but I am a "truck
driver." I want my freedom to exercise power, not the constrains and strain of
using a phone to be social and do business.

Perhaps a tablet would work, but I find my iPad to be a media-consuming
device, not a media-leadership device.

~~~
f2net
If you are a "truck diver" you may like TagsChat: same concept, web based. The
UX and colours are being replaced in a few days by a new version, exiting
beta. You may try it and give me your opinion! Thank you, Matteo (TagsChat
founder)

------
themihai
Still... no love for free software.

------
webtechgal
Well, hello there and welcome back (I guess).

What I'm wondering is does the Internet need another social network today, in
late(ish) 2016? With the sheer number of people online today (be it via the
web or mobile) and the undeniable usefulness of social networking to the users
at large, I'd say the answer is yes, sort of.

Would he (they) be able to (re)gain critical mass? I'd say my guess is as good
as anybody's guess, but with the still lingering brand recall of orkut of the
past, he has a better shot at it then, let's say, a totally new entrant.

Also, I did not find any info on how this is funded - it would certainly be
interesting to know something about this.

------
unixhero
Okay, I'm going to be open minded and I want to try it.

What will you do with these private data? Is your company aiming for a privacy
quagmire on par with Facebook (loaded question I know, but it also shows what
my worries and reservations are).

------
erikb
Strange move. The social networks are dying afaik. To me it looks like social
is integrated more and more with other things you do every day. Even Facebook
seems to be struggling. This is not the time for another social network. Maybe
there won't be any serious time for social networks again.

Maybe a businessmodel would be to think of social networks not as a standalone
thing but as middleware that connects other services like video, short
messages, quotes, cat pictures, games, work environments. Make a social
middleware business model, not a new app.

------
DelaneyM
Crashed 3 times in installation (Nexus 5X).

Finally get it installed, and there's nothing in the home area but bad
gamification.

If it _has_ to have gamification it should be linked-in style, tracking
profile completeness. But there is no way I'm installing a social game on my
phone. The social connections should be their own reward.

I'd love to have a new social platform to meet people and connect with old
friends without the creepiness of FB. Just basic communication fabric to share
& communicate. This isn't that.

------
pasbesoin
So, this is Google? I approach Google "consumer products" mostly
chronologically, now, and also with an eye to "dog food".

If it came after Docs ("Drive", whatever you want to call it, now), and/or
it's not being used heavily, even at first primarily, within Google itself, I
won't invest (my time, effort, learning, data) in it.

Simple as that. Because odds are, it won't stick around, nor get better.

------
dagaci
Is this a Google app? "hello.com" feels like very expensive domain! feels a
bit downplayed. It would also explain the lack of desktop support.

~~~
Mahn
Yeah this is confusing. The domains appear to belong to Google, but then the
apps are listed under "Hello Network, Inc.". The overall language and design
seem to be a bit unpolished for a Google product too.

------
benhardy
Been fooling around with it. The UI is very buggy (using iPhone). Despite
this, it is attractive. I would like to see better support for doing purely
text posts. Otherwise I don't see much of a difference to Instagram. I like
the personas idea, but I'd like it to go a step further: say if I had a writer
persona and wanted to have a nom de plume different to my own, that would be
very useful.

------
cenkozan
The original creator of this product graduated from my school. Stories about
him was told all the time. He was a very eccentric guy. Deserves best.

------
tedmiston
By the way, I don't think this is "new".

The page has been up since (at least) June 27, 2016 -
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160627134942/http://orkut.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20160627134942/http://orkut.com)

The first release of Hello listed in TAS is 1.0.8 on Nov 17, 2015.

------
beilabs
Hello hello...

Oh wait...you don't send SMS to my country even though I am Irish but without
access to an Irish mobile number (Nepal).

Goodbye hello...

------
notananthem
Update. I posted one photo. I got rewards, which was like, little winks and a
"kick me" sign I can put on I think someone elses profile. This app fucking
sucks officially. Who signed off on releasing this? Its like orkut's poor
design plus candy crush game incentivation. Goodbye, hello.

------
kin
At the moment it feels very much like Instagram except with the ability to
filter by tags or something.

Only with Instagram I can curate my content based on who I follow and they
also provide a better means of discovery.

As a new social media platform I don't see yet what this offers that will
allow it to take off.

------
waylandsmithers
Not super excited about this, but if the attention scares facebook into
improving its user experience, I'm all for it. Kind of like how github got
some bad press and competition from gitlab and then magically started pushing
out features people had been requesting for years.

------
grenoire
The gamification seems really unnecessary for a social network. It may improve
retention rates, but only for a very small demographic (that I'm definitely
not a part of).

The consensus in the comments seems to be that there are some other bad
decisions that went into it too...

~~~
f2net
In the new version of Tagschat.com (same concept, web-based) you won't have
gamification, but only endorsements by whom recognize your knowledge in the
field of your interest.

------
qwertyuiop924
I'm not a social networking fan, but this is very interesting. We'll see where
it goes.

~~~
type0
The bigger question is what is their business model? Same as fb, to sell ads?

~~~
0xmohit
You also get access to a _lot_ of user information.

Performing analytics on user content gives you even more information.

Information means $$.

~~~
astrange
Is there a single company outside Facebook that actually makes money this way?
Seems like a complete myth like the idea that Google "sells your personal
information".

~~~
M2Ys4U
I think a lot of people just want to play the "we have lots of user data" card
when the VCs and/or IPO offers come calling.

------
skapadia
Don't really care for yet another social network, but the letter Orkut wrote
was beautiful.

~~~
tempodox
File under “refined marketing ploy”.

------
andy_ppp
I love how confident people seem to be that this won't be successful (the
truth is I'm still shocked that airbed and breakfast was so popular ;-D). I
for one don't mind a gamified version of Facebook that's about real world
interaction.

~~~
arkitaip
HNers are just as terrible at predicting the (tech) future as regular people.
Maybe even worse because they tend to be biased against social software.

~~~
sotojuan
If you believed HN users' tech predictions, Snapchat would've shutdown a month
after launch.

~~~
andy_ppp
What is snapchat? ;-)

------
imissmyjuno
Male or female, honestly? In 2016?

------
coolrivers
Very cool. I've seen Bumble (dating app) trying to do this (connect people to
new friends) but it's tricky as it's originally a dating site.

There must be a better way to connect with new people when you move somewhere
(or just need new friends).

------
kstrauser
I don't mind installing Yet Another App, but seeing a brand new non-Retina app
on an iPhone 6S Plus is jarring. The enormous fonts and buttons are hugely
offputting, liked I've launched an iOS 5 app I haven't loaded in years.

------
zodPod
So... it's green Instagram?

------
pisarzp
The UI is so full of bugs its unusable. Someone forgot to assign text to
variables.

------
hitokx
I used orkut a lot, so I will give this a chance and see where it goes. My
favorite thing about orkut was the mini-forum on the communities, something
that Facebook communities lacks. I hope this one have something similar.

------
tempodox
This has nothing to do with orkut or the specific product, but if the NSA
wants to know “what I'm passionate about”, they'll have to ask me themselves.
I guess I'm just not the social network type.

~~~
beamatronic
"I'm passionate about my privacy"

------
zlatan_todoric
Yet another proprietary social network. No thank you, I will stick with
Diaspora* as it is already really good.

If you really love people you would be open and not create another walled
garden/closed ecosystem.

~~~
riffic
Hear! Hear!

This would be a fantastic opportunity to design and operate an implementation
of OStatus, and run a service designed from the ground up to federate, not
separate -
[https://www.w3.org/community/ostatus/](https://www.w3.org/community/ostatus/)

------
1_2__3
This has all the hallmarks of another vanity project for a Google exec.

------
kkotak
"hello is the first social network built on loves, not likes." \- Finally!
Thank you Orkut for dedicating your life to the betterment of humanity. You
had me at hell...

------
vmp
> This app is incompatible with all of your devices.

Seems like it's region locked (I'm in Germany) or (less likely) only
accessible from a very select few devices. :/

------
kkotak
"hello is the first social network built on loves, not likes." \- Finally!
Thank you Orkut for dedicating your life to the betterment of humanity.

------
zyngaro
I wonder how did they obtain the hello.com domain?

~~~
crudbug
I was thinking about the same. Looks like they used GoDaddy service [0] to
obtain it ?

I would be interested in this more.

[0]
[http://whois.domaintools.com/hello.com](http://whois.domaintools.com/hello.com)

------
lllorddino
They should also buy the domain name goodbye.com it seems empty. Why do people
buy domain names and leave a blank screen like that????

------
curried_haskell
Why oh why does it need to be called "hello"? How the fuck am I supposed to
Google for "hello"?

~~~
havetocharge
site: hello.com ?

~~~
beamatronic
I wonder how much that domain cost?

------
uptown
App has a built-in monetization channel through "coins" you purchase. Wonder
what those are good for.

------
ovet
I'm probably in the minority but I really like hello, its web 1.0
sensibilities made into a social network

------
pmlnr
100+ personas - still a limited list of choices.

Dead wrong, especially if you're interested in niche territories.

------
chopi
still not available in my country :(

------
moultano
Looks like it is falling over from demand. I can't get past the set up profile
screen.

------
Zigurd
All you "Hmmph! No Web UI!" people are old. They don't need you.

~~~
philsnow
Not having a desktop interface means all the typing on the platform will be
done on soft keyboards on tiny phone screens, which will hobble discussions
and lead to at-best superficial interactions.

Phone-only means this is an "Ow! my balls!" social network. You're right, they
don't need me.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Not having a desktop interface means all the typing on the platform will be
> done on soft keyboards on tiny phone screens

Mobile OS's power more than just phones, including devices that not-
infrequently are used with separate keyboards rather the on-screen variety.

------
Paul-ish
Does anyone knows what happens if you select "Nudist" as a persona?

------
konart
Goint to give it a shot as a Instagram alternative when available in Russia.

------
thatgerhard
"this application is incompatible with all of your devices"

------
type0
Just another app, will they be featured in planet of the apps?

------
a_small_island
A _social_ network built by "ex-Google" engineers.

------
nurettin
Google play page says "Cannot be used in Turkey."

~~~
ismailunal
not available yet. see the flags on the page.

------
sergiotapia
Persona match... now that is an interesting feature!

------
codazoda
White screen of death upon registration in the app.

------
padiyar83
.. beautiful words ! I signed up just for that :)

------
donretag
I am not signing up because there is no web version, but if someone did, can
you please tell me if there is the capability to create your own handle in
hello.com?

------
nissehulth
Yes, I'm sure he likes people, at least if they come from a few selected
countries.

The promo message doesn't really match the actual offer.

------
beshrkayali
Such drama...

------
johnwheeler
Is this owned by Google?

------
artursapek
How do I short this

------
arekkas
another social network? really?

------
LeonM
The new service is written in lowercase, and Orkut is the guys name, so the
title should be: 'hello from Orkut'

~~~
LukeB_UK
HN capitalises the first letter of the title if I remember correctly

~~~
Jtsummers
It does, annoying when I posted an article titled "iOS ...". But you can edit
the title after submission and the change will stick (that is, they only alter
it on submission, not on edit).

------
ommunist
Given the value of hello.com, I suggest the orkut guy has a very special
blessing from Alphabet Inc.

------
coderdude
I'll look into this again if I ever hear my sisters talking about it. Until
then (doubt it), this was just a weird front page advertisement for a social
network that only some guys from HN are on. No thanks. Sports bars do a better
job of creating social networks.

------
meeper16
Time to replace facebook, like facebook replaced myspace. Thanks goodness. I
welcome our next more high quality social network!

------
nether
Wow the gamification is super lame. I got coins and badges welcome to 2006.

------
maverick_iceman
Why another social network?

------
ychompinator
got the app, signed up (which takes about 10 minutes), turns out it's a pile
of dog turd. shame.

------
f2net
Tagschat.com is just the same concept, but web-based. We are about to exit
beta with a completely new UX in a few days. Meanwhile you can subscribe!
We'll launch the mobile app in a few months too.

