What's the Deal with Orkut?

Perhaps not a common question, but who's made Brazilian friends or Brazilian contacts? And those of you who have never traveled, studied, or worked in Brazil--do you know any Brazilians of the university age? Well, chances are, if you know him or her well, he or she has sent you an Orkut invite. Never heard of it? Join the club.

Orkut is an extremely popular social networking site in this luso-hispanic South American giant of a country (and other countries including India). Orkut is maintained by Google Brazil out of Belo Horizonte although it began in the United States. Orkut is unique in that it began on an invite only registration system--not just anyone could join. As Orkut users, many of them from the beginning Brazilians, communicated in their native tongue, many Anglophones began to leave until it became the Portuguese dominated networking service that it is today. Okut offers basic features such as a chatting tool, photo storage, and comment boxes on profiles. It offers a rating system for various positive personality traits as well as a list on which one places his or her "crushes." Unlike Myspace or Facebook, any profile can be viewed by an Orkut member.

So why is Orkut is so popular in Brazil? I've heard simple explanations such as "it's easy to say in Portuguese, unlike friendster, myspace, or facebook." True, it is easier understood (sounds like horkooch in Portuguese). I've read an explanation that the color scheme of Orkut is that of the national soccer team's jerseys. I wasn't convinced. Some blogs reason that "Brazilians have a strong sense of community" or that they "love to talk with friends." But that doesn't explain why Orkut specifically is the preferred networking service.

I don't think one specific explanation or reason can be attributed to the success of a social networking site in a given country. Surely, reasons exist, but oftentimes, chance is the best explanation.

Additional notes:
In attempt to tie in a discussion with various other bloggers' comments (Ivana, Renskej, Sandra, and Tamara) concerning facebook's recent contributions to revolutionary activities in North Africa, I've discovered Orkut is either non-existant or blocked in the region. Tunisia (as well as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and United Emirates) have blocked Orkut users, and I've yet to find any evidence that of the existence of usage in Algeria, Libya or Egypt.