John Edwards Campains Via Orkut

It looks like John Edwards is using Google's Orkut in order to reach out to potential voters which you can see from the screen shot below.



For those of you who do not know, John Edwards is one of the (too) many political candidates running for President in 2008. Their are a host of others on both sides, although he is the first that I've seen using Orkut as a way to reach out to potential voters.

The profile is currently being maintained by the One America Committee (whatever that means) whose site redirects back to John Edwards homepage.

I can honesty say I am not exactly a fan of John boy (or any candidate for that matter) but its good to see a politician using Orkut to their advantage.

Note: And it looks as if he even has a twin on Orkut. His political group may want to have that profile removed as he has already suffered enough controversy online.

Global Trade, Orkut Style

For many people Orkut is a place to find the next date, talk with friends, spam the world (may they be flogged stopped) or find an interesting hobby to share.

But many people do not realize that a lot of businesses use the forums not only to hire people but also to find contacts to market their goods around the world.

A prime example of this can be found in the Import-Export forum (which has become fairly active this month) where you can find:

• Anneke (originally from the Netherlands) helping businesses from Pakistan, India, etc. locate buyers and importers in her home country for their various products (which range from shoes to musical instruments to polyurethane foam).



• Sanjay and Jimmy are offering their export services, and their seems to be plenty of clients for the both of them.



• Konstantin is looking to import products to Europe (he's not picky about the type) and has already received several replies.

Much more could be sited in other forums (but I lack the time to cover them) so if you have a business with a global outreach you may want to consider getting your share of the profits by joining Orkut.

75,000 Dollars Worth Of Business?

If anyone (or rather any company) is looking for some extra cash within the IT industry, their is a post by ERP WAR in the Startups forum looking to contract some IT geeks professionals with his company.

Hi! I Help companies in US & Uk to get thr project done at a very low cost in Indian offshore development centres.I'm looking for an offshore development centre for J2EE Financial project.
Description.

J2EE Financial applications, supporting/enhancing current applications, developing new applications, and assisting on a data conversion project.This is a contract assignment expected to last through Mid of 2007.
Project cost estimation- around 75000$

People are already submitting their proposals/interests in the offer, but if you are more of the web designer type, then this may interest you.

Looking For A Job?

One of the cool things about Orkut is that you can use its various features to not only find new hobbies, products, lovers (the latter being very rare) but also new employment as well.

I decided to dip my head in the Jobs forum, and to my horror I discovered spammers were already targeting this community.

In order to help out users honestly seeking a job or career, here are some offers posted in the forum.

• .Net professional: We are looking for Asp,VB, .Net professionals with at least 2 years of experience. [...] Candidate would be sent to london for 1 month and will work with Top IT company project
  
  6 positions open, more details inside Orkut.


• Finance professional: We are looking for Finance professionals with at least 1 year of experience. [...] Willingness to relocate to NCR (note: where is NCR?)
  
  10 positions open, more details inside Orkut.


• Software Engineer: Candidate will be a part of very dynamic and highly skilled team. 3-5 yrs of experience required.
  Telecom Experience preferred but not required.
  
  Location: Chatsworth, CA
  
  More details inside Orkut. (same link as the one below)


• Business Analyst: 4 to 6 yeers of experience as Business Analyst. Financial, Banking experience preferred.
  .NET Technologies and Testing background is required.
  
  Location: Simi Valley, CA
  
  More details inside Orkut. (same link as the one above)


• Java job: 4-6 years of IT industry experiences as programmer or analyst. Good communication skills.
  
  Location: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune [India]
  
  More details inside Orkut.


• .Net developer: Local company sees a .Net Developer for a long term contract in Memphis, TN USA. Position requires 3+ years experience with VB.Net, ASP.Net, and MS SQL Server. Must be a good team player.
  
  More details inside Orkut.


• Senior System Analyst: Local company seeks a Senior Systems Analyst / Internal Business Consultant for a permanent position in Memphis, TN USA.
  
  Position requires 3-5 yrs MRP/ERP experience; 2-3 years experience as a Programmer/Analyst; project management experience; or any combination of education and experience that provides the skills and abilities to perform the job.
  
  QAD MFG/PRO experience, supply chain experience, Progress 4GL experience, Unix, or Lean/Six Sigma experience are all pluses.
  
  More details inside Orkut.


• If you can not find anything above, there are almost a dozen other positions listed over here.

I'd like to thank Vissu, Poorni, Want a *USA JOB* and the various anonymous profiles for helping to contribute towards the economy by posting offerings on Orkut. Many of these were today, so if you are looking for a job in those fields (and are willing to relocate for them) then contact the people on the forums for more info.

Note: If you need an Orkut Invite, click here.

Fundraising For Hezbollah? (Or Rather Hizbollah)

It looks like networking works for anyone--even Hezbollah (or is it Hizbollah?).

Over in the Hizbollah forum, one of the members asks where he can donate Khums towards Hizbollah (and if you do not know what Khums are, simply Google it or visit Wikipedia for an explanation).

Here is a screen shot below of the request:



...and here is another snap shot showing the assist:



Although not a good thing to discover, I'm not too surprised to see these types of activities happening on Orkut. After all, if drug dealers are using the forums, what prevents terrorists from doing the same?

Related:

• We don't want Al-Qaeda's money


• Lebanon war debate--Who's at fault?

So, Are You Unemployed?

A new forum by Adith has appeared within Orkut. Simply called We-The unemployed, this forum's serves its members by (seemingly) laughing at their current status in life.

(Description) We r the ones who politicians say will get jobs ASAP...For cool people like us, jobs are sooooo uncool and boring...we are the ones who have so much time at our disposal that orkuting has become our profession...Welcome 2 WE-The Unemployed

Adith has already started a forum listing the benefits of being unemployed, while Tannu has started a thread listing everyone's previous area of expertise.

Note: I wonder if any of them have check out the Jobs forum, as there are several openings listed in the community.

A Short Film In The Works

Over in the Short Films community, Tejas is organizing a group to produce a short film.

We are gearing up for a short film. The script is ready. Lets put it on the table and discuss how can all people join. Please specify the job one can handle if a complete production, including pre-production, production and post-production is to be done!
Looking forward to work with you all!

Madhumitha (who claims to have won a short film award) is interested, with Vishal volunteering to do the music score and Javed seeking to handle the editing.

It will be interesting to see what this mini crew develops, as the quality of short films is a lot better today than it was in the past. Several examples of this are Star Trek and Star Wars which have launched some actors (and directors) into mini-stardom and increased their exposure.

Spots seem to be filling up fairly quickly, so if anyone is interested they can either post in the forum or contact Tejas directly.

Drug Trafficking Forum? Not Good

This will probably not make Google or the FBI happy, but it seems as if child predators are not the only ones using Orkut. Here's a description from the Online drugs/alcohol shop:

BUY, SELL & BARGAIN any where---->ALCOHOL+DRUGS

p.s: plz dnt publish your ph.nmbrs/details on the main menu.. but msg in private...credit-cards/other modes are admissible for smooth transactions......cheers

Although many transactions have taken place in Pakistan, there seems to be some hash dealing in the United Kingdom and even in America's capital, Washington D.C.

Some of the main deals seem to be hash, although there are people offering heroine and cocaine.

Travel The Globe, See Orkut Friends

Perhaps I should have retitled it "Travel the Globe, See Orkut Strangers." Either way, it looks like Nirav is taking a global backpack trip around planet Earth, and is looking for places to crash as he travels.

Gday! all fellow backpackers,

Im travel lover who needs to touch the other side of the horizon and come back,

please join in to add destinations for the world trip of 1 to 2 months and nominate if you want to be on the tour.

STARTING FLYING SYDNEY -
First stop Auckland - do North island...

With several postings in the Orkut Travel Hospitality Club, Nirav has already gathered destination points ranging from Finland, to Pakistan, to even Hawaii! Another member was able to travel the world and gives her account below.

(Sandra) Hey fellow, I've done this trip before and I could tell you it was nice, wonderfull. I started from Brazil, my country, than I went by bus to Argentina and Chile; In Santiago i took a flyght to Auckland, car to Queenstown and Milford Sound (south island), back to Auckland flying to australia: Sidney, Melborne, Queensland. After that I went to Honk Kong, singapure, most countries in Asia, Europe and I finished my trip here in canada, where I found my soul matte and never left again :)... Have a good trip

Nirgav's itinerary isn't done yet as he is looking for some friendly people in China. Any takers?

Note: I wonder if this forum would help him out?

Finding Customers Without SPAM

Steven asks an important business question over in the Sole Traders/Small Companies forum that all business owners (and self employed people like me) ask, or at least the good ones. How do I find more clients without SPAM?

(Note: SPAM in my opinion includes randomly cold calling the masses.)

Elena provides a great answer towards this by saying:

[...] I recommend reading the "Guerrilla Marketing" series by Jay Conrad Levinson. These books have a lot of great low-cost (or free) marketing ideas. I also suggest you do some market research of your own. For individuals who want to give up smoking, I think it might be harder, but maybe you could just get on the phone and call some potential retail clients?

Ask them what their needs are, whether they are already selling this product, etc. Maybe you could just walk into a health foods store and speak with the owner? The input of clients and potential clients will give you some ideas about how best to reach them.

Peter also reminds Steven that he could also email potential clients as long as he provides an introduction of himself as well as a disclaimer at the end with an "opt out" measure for future emails.

I also think Steven could use Orkut to contact potential clients, but for the sake of anti-redundancy, you'll have to see my answer over here.

Can I Get A Fair Trade?

This forum looks fairly interesting, and I love the overall concept of it. Check out their description:

Put your money where your morals are.

Fair Trade is a growing, international movement which ensures that producers in poor countries get a fair deal. This means a fair price for their goods, [...] long-term contracts which provide real security; and for many, support to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to develop their businesses and increase sales.

Within this forum their seem to be at least a couple of good discussion going with Sandra posting about the consequences of the Rainforest Alliance labeling food while Mats is looking for some fair trade clothing producers.

Nike And Google Launch Social Network

(Hat Tip: iPlot)

I do not know what is more surprising--Nike getting into the "social networking" jungles or that Adidas did not develop this first. Either way, I am glad they at least chose Google.

(BusinessWeek) Nike and Google, hoping to take social networking to a new realm, have quietly launched the first invitation-only Web site for soccer-mad fans around the world. Joga.com went live late last week and will soon be running in 140 countries and 14 languages.

The two companies have been working on the site for the past eight months and are expected to publicly unveil it this week, BusinessWeek has learned. Nike is supplying the content, and Google is the technical partner. But the site looks similar to other social-networking outlets such as News Corp.'s MySpace.

I have already requested an invite inside of Joga.com, which is a social network soley dedicated to the topic of football (aka soccer for those in the US).

You may need a Google Account in order to gain access within...I wonder if the football/soccer forums are aware of this?

Need Imports? (China)

Who says you can't network business on Google's Orkut? Apparently some users have in the Business in China forum (or at least are in the process of doing so).

(Peter) I am intested in importing Herbal Medication from China to UK - London and look for people based in China that would be interested in co-operation.

I need to find out various prices of herbal products in China. Please email me on [pfidelus (at) hotmail (dot) com] if you interested.

_______________

(Anderson) Hi man, I'm interested too, I want to bring chinese herbal medication to Brazil and develop a franchising. Nowaday's I'm living in Portugal but I got someome in China that can help us if you are relly interested.

Although the last post is less than 24 hours old, it would be interesting to see either business benefited from the contact. I'll try to do a follow up story later on about this (that makes two stories to write up on).

Business Networking (Pakistani Style)

Although this topic might bore some to death, I find it thrilling that more and more people are using Orkut for business networking as opposed to dating as (of this post) it is the second most popular reason people join Orkut in the first place (friendship is first).

The name of the community is Pakistani Business Forum and here is a description below:

All indiviuals engaged in doing business from to Pakistan. Regardless be it as a manufacturer/exporter/importers/industrialists/small or large business concerns owners may join. Even those who wish to do business with Pakistani business community from other countries are invited to join.

Discuss possible ventures and projects. Advertise your products etc. But all this business proposals and talk must be within the most sincere and honest and legal ways.

The forum looks like it just has started and I may check back to see how it is doing.

Note: With all of the business networking communities inside Orkut, I wonder if I should start making a separate list of them on the side bar? Hmm...

Seeking A Job, Eh? (Canadian Networking)

Canada Jobs is a forum for Canadians who are looking for work, looking for employees or for outsiders migrating to the "Great White North."

(Description) Can't wait to gab about this week's "hush hush" new job opening in your department? Please 1) post a brief job description in the forums; 2) reply to elaborate on details to those curious; 3) hook up your company with interested applicants who have replied to your post or have messaged you.

The longer I surf Orkut the more business networking communities I run across! My theory is that business, not romance will make Orkut into a thriving community (although Lexy and The Reckless Tongue will probably disagree with me).

If you are from Canada (or planning to move there), Loba is seeking Account Managers in Toronto while Sohail is looking for Business Development partners.

And if you are hiring anybody in the IT fields, there are several people looking for employment.

Need A Job? (Business Networking)

One Orkut community seriously taking advantage of the networking people for business would be the F-1 students looking for jobs. Started by Harsh Kumar, this community now boasts over 600 members with job seekers and those offering jobs posting their resumes or qualifications, respectively.

Abacus Software Technologies (under the profile of Abacus) has posted recently in the forum and is looking for job seekers inside Orkut:

We are fast growing Software Consulting and
development Corporation engaged nationally and Internationally in
providing professional IT and IT Enabled Services(ITES). We offer
technology solutions from small data conversion projects to the
development of custom software solutions using the latest technologies.

We have offices in Atlanta,GA, Detroit,MI andSilicon Valley, CA and we
currently have hot requirements in C++, Java and .Net Technologies.

They are willing to cover travel expenses and are offering $60,000-$75,000 starting pay. If anyone is interested, please respond towards their post.

Unrelated Update: This blogger is looking for an extra contributer. See this post for details...