Orkut and Facebook are two of the most popular social networking sites, with both offering very similar features and capabilities.

I do have access to both an Orkut and Facebook account and find myself using Orkut the majority of the time. I am exploring Facebook only now. Right now, I actually prefer Orkut when comparing Facebook vs Orkut from a usability perspective. Here’s what i think.

>I like Orkut, because i got used to it. The ease with which you can work in Orkut is really cool but Facebook is qite complicated. I remember when i started using Orkut in 2006, i never had any issue. I joined Orkut on my friend’s recommendation that it was quite useful for him to find old friends. And, It actually helped me find my childhood buddies too.

>Navigation in Facebook is quite confusing. Whereas, Orkut is very intuitive.

>In Facebook, It is difficult to search for friends, as you can only see the profile photo before adding as a friend. But, they have “Discover People you might know”.

>Facebook gives unnecessary updates, which are trivial as to who wrote on whose wall… which quite frankly, becomes annoying after a while.

>Orkut gives you much easier personalization, where you can choose which friends you want to see updates on, birthday reminders, photos, etc. Though, i would like to control parts of my profile, scrapbook and communities too, like that.

>Orkut has themes, Facebook doesnt.

>I feel the communities in Orkut are quite useful and many use it to their advantage. But, Orkut can do something to restrict people whom you do not know, to see what are all the communities you are part of. It sometimes affects your privacy.

>Facebook has lots of ads. Orkut too has started adding advertisements, but i feel its in a designated slot, so doesnt affect the users much.

>It depends on the Country. Here in US people havent even heard about Orkut. Whereas in India, Orkut is quite popular.

>Finally, it comes to where you have more friends and in which Social Networking Site your friends are active. So you go to the site in which he/she is active in and check for their updates. Isnt it?!

So, Which one do you prefer?