New Orkut layout is out

Orkut has started sending out selected invites to some of its users to try out its new layout. I got the invite thanks to Rahul Bansal. The layout is pretty good and handy and with a lot of changes. It seems to be incorporating a lot of thing from Facebook as far as functionality is concerned.

How different will be the new look?

New look home page for Orkut

• One thing that stands out immediately is your profile pic inside a blue box (color can be changed to green, orange, pink and black). The predominant thing about it is the ‘What are you upto?’ text box. It seems Orkut has realized people like to write more about themselves and what they are doing rather than write scraps to others. 😛
• There is the added functionality to add applications (another Facebook like feature). But accessing the application is neatly tucked in under a ‘Add’ button on the main page.
• The main difference seems to be all a higher priority to updates rather than scraps. The format seems to be designed around it.

I was quite impressed with this new design even though some may complain it has taken a lot from Facebook. But I think they have got the balance right. It still has the Orkut feel to it and hence I doubt it will have much negative reaction.