早在脸书、X以及Instagram风靡全球、让每个人都成为“网红”之前，Orkut便是人们热衷使用的社交平台，尤其是在印度。如今，该网站的创建者奥尔库特·比尤克科滕希望“撤销”这一决定，重新推出Orkut，旨在“让互联网重新变得有人情味”。这种怀旧情怀固然动人，但也引出了一个关键问题：既然大家都如此喜爱这个平台，为何谷歌会在2014年将其关停呢？为何Orkut会关闭？
Long before Facebook and X took over our lives and Instagram made everyone an influencer, Orkut was the place to be, especially in India. Now, its creator, Orkut Buyukkokten, wants to hit the undo button and bring the site back to "make the internet human again." The nostalgia trip is real, but it also raises one big question: if everyone loved it so much, why on earth did Google pull the plug in 2014? Why was Orkut shut down?
在了解该平台最终消失的原因之前，先了解一下它的诞生背景与初衷会很有意义。当时，科技巨头谷歌未能成功收购正风靡一时的社交平台Friendster，于是决定在2004年自行推出名为Orkut的社交网站。
Before knowing why the platform finally disappeared, it is interesting to know when and why it was launched. After failing to acquire the then-viral platform Friendster, the tech giant Google decided to launch its own site, Orkut, in 2004.
起初，Orkut成功吸引了大量用户，许多人开始用它来结识世界各地的朋友。然而不久后脸书问世，并迅速超越了Orkut的人气。尽管如此，谷歌的这款社交平台依然坚持运营了近十年，直至2014年才彻底关闭。
Initially, Orkut captured people’s attention, and many started using it to connect with people across the world. Soon after Facebook was launched and it surpassed Orkut’s popularity in a short time. However, Google's social networking platform held on for nearly ten years before ultimately being shut down in 2014.
最初，以创建者名字命名的Orkut拥有数百万用户，这一数字甚至是脸书的三倍之多。不过仅仅六个月后，脸书便后来居上，到2012年时更是成为社交领域的绝对霸主。
Initially, Orkut, named after its creator, Orkut Büyükkökten, had millions of users, three times as many as Facebook. However, Facebook took the lead within six months and became a dominating platform by 2012."
谷歌在2014年发布的一篇现已无法访问的博客文章中写道：“过去十年间，YouTube、Blogger以及Google+均取得了巨大成功，世界各地也涌现出了众多社群。由于这些社群的发展速度远远超过了Orkut，我们最终决定让Orkut退出历史舞台。”奥尔库特·比尤克科滕是谁？
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 bid Orkut farewell," Google said in a now-unavailable blogpost in 2014. Who is Orkut Büyükkökten?
他是一位土耳其软件工程师，在谷歌工作期间开发了Orkut。根据他的领英资料，他毕业于比尔肯特大学并获得理学学士学位，随后又在斯坦福大学获得了博士学位。
He is a Turkish software engineer who developed Orkut while he was working at Google. According to his LinkedIn, he completed his Bachelor of Science from Bilkent University and then a PhD from Stanford University.
他的职业生涯始于斯坦福大学的研究助理岗位，之后于2002年加入谷歌，并在那里工作了近12年，直至2014年。
He started his career as a research assistant at Stanford University and then joined Google, where he worked for nearly 12 years, from 2002 to 2014.
除了Orkut之外，他还与约翰·墨菲共同创立了Hello Network。他为何想要复兴Orkut呢？“二十年前，我参与创建了最早的一批社交网络。从那时起，二十年间我们一直在努力优化互联网以吸引用户注意力，打造出那些能牢牢抓住我们眼球却无助于我们真正交流的社交信息流。如今，随着人工智能彻底改变人们的交流方式，我始终铭记着当初创建这些社交网络的初衷：那就是知道每一条信息背后都有一个真实的人在。”他在最近的一篇社交媒体帖子中这样写道。
Besides Orkut, he also co-founded Hello Network with John Murphy. Why does he want to revive Orkut?“Two decades ago, I helped build some of the earliest social networks. Since then, I've watched us spend twenty years optimizing the internet for attention, with feeds that hook us instead of helping us. Now, as AI changes how we connect, I keep coming back to what made all of this worth building: knowing there's a real person on the other side of every message,” he wrote in a recent social media post. Büyükkökten continued, “I see a different future, built around real people and communities that reward kindness, trust, and belonging. It's the spirit that made Orkut special, and the spirit I want to bring into its next chapter. Help me bring Orkut back.”
比尤克科滕接着说道：“我憧憬着这样一个未来：以真实的人与社群为核心，让善良、信任和归属感得到回报。正是这种精神让Orkut独树一帜，也是我希望带入其新篇章的精神内核。请帮我让Orkut重获新生吧。”他附上了一个网站链接，呼吁大家访问该网站并留下姓名，“以此支持打造一个真正以人为本的社交网络”。此外，他还发布了一封致广大社交媒体用户的公开信。
He shared a link to a website, asking people to visit it and add their name “in support of a new human social network.”He also posted a letter addressed to social media users.
信中他满怀怀旧之情地写道：“你还记得互联网充满人情味的年代吗？那时收到来自地球另一端陌生人的消息，感觉就像魔法一般。对方跨越重洋，只为了分享自己生活中的点滴。或许这种联系转瞬即逝，却无比珍贵，因为它真实不虚。”“我依然热爱这个行业，但对其如今的模样深感失望。‘快速行动、打破常规’曾是行业的口号，可如今一切都已支离破碎。如今人工智能时代已然到来。这项技术固然卓越，但它却正在瓦解社交网络最核心的价值所在——即信息背后有一个真实的人。”他呼吁大家“加入这场运动”，共同复兴那个已渐远去的社交平台。
Evoking nostalgia, he wrote, “Do you remember when the internet was human? When a message from a stranger on another continent felt like magic? Another person had reached across the world to share a small piece of themselves. Maybe the connection lasted only a moment, but it was thrilling because it was real.”“I still love this industry, but I despair at what it has become. Move fast and break things, so the slogan went. Well, things are broken. And now the machines have arrived. Artificial intelligence is extraordinary technology, but it’s dissolving the one premise that made social networking special and worth building: that there was a person on the other side.”He urged people to “join the movement” to revive the social media platform of the bygone era.
该网站还设有“签署请愿书”板块，据称已有超过266,102人加入了他的复兴计划。
The site also has a “sign the petition” section, which claims over 266,102 people have joined his mission.