Google is shutting down Orkut

A social networking website Orkut will no longer be available from 30 September 2014.

Orkut will be officially shut down on September 30, 2014. Until then, you can:

• Log in, play games, & use your account as normal
• Export your photo albums to Google+
• Save your Orkut profile, scraps, testimonials, & community posts to your computer using Google Takeout.

After Orkut shuts down on September 30, 2014:

• You will not be able to log in to Orkut
• You will not be able to export your photo albums to Google+ 
• Apps, APIs, & games will no longer be available
• Public communities will be saved in a publicly viewable Community Archive. 

The reason behind the closing down this website is due to the immense growth of websites like Youtube,Blogger and Google plus. In the email came to all orkut users, the subject line was " A Farewell to Orkut" and the message given to them was-

""After ten years of sparking conversations and forging connections, we have decided it's time for us to start saying goodbye to Orkut. Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut's growth, we've decided to focus our energy and resources on making these other social platforms as amazing as possible for everyone who uses them.

We will shut down Orkut on September 30, 2014. Until then, there will be no impact on you, so you may have time to manage the transition. You can export your profile data, community posts and photos using Google Takeout (available until September 2016). We are preserving an archive of all public communities, which will be available online starting September 30, 2014. If you don't want your posts or name to be included in the community archive, you can remove Orkut permanently from your Google account. Please visit our Help Center for any further details.

It's been a great 10 years, and we apologize to those of you still actively using the service. We hope you will find other online communities to spark more conversations and build even more connections for the next decade and beyond"".

Source:Google