Orkut

(Newser) - Google couldn't buy a piece of Facebook, so it's going after the social networking site's software platform instead. Tomorrow a Google-led alliance will  introduce a common platform for software developers to write programs for Google's social site, Orkut, along with LinkedIn, hi5, Friendster, Plaxo, Ning and others. The hope is...

(Newser) - Google is set to launch its hush-hush rival to Facebook next month. Code-named “Maka-Maka,” the watershed social networking service will introduce a completely open source platform and a slew of new applications. Details are scarce, but the vision is a social layer that combines all of Google’s...

(Newser) - Google's attempts to capitalize on its Orkut social networking site in Brazil blew up when ads began appearing next to child pornography and racist screeds, causing a round of controversy and a lawsuit for the online giant. Google immediately yanked the ads, reports the Wall Street Journal,  but now...