James Green's Reflections

A professional editor's thoughts about media, marketing and communications.

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My name is James Green, and I have been a professional print journalist for 25 years and an editor for 23. I am expanding my knowledge into the world of marketing through continuing education.

  • Orkut: Google’s fumbled chance to dominate social media

    The website Orkut from Google is displayed on a screen in a cybercafe in Brazil, on April 09, 2008. (EVARISTO SA/AFP via Getty Images)

    The site had lots of potential and was even hugely popular in Brazil and India before mismanagement resulted in its demise.

    By James Green

    No one is going to feel sorry for Google. The tech company is so prominent in our lives that we don’t simply search for topics on the internet, we “Google” them. Just this year, a relatively minor Google Cloud server issue became such a disruption in people’s lives that it became a news story picked up by major journalism outlets. But there’s one huge realm of online culture Google has tried and failed to dominate: Social media. Everyone knows about the failure that was Google+. But that platform probably wasn’t Google’s best chance to be an industry leader with social media.

    That was Orkut.

    Orkut was a social media platform launched in early 2004 by Google employee Orkut Buyukkokten, shortly after the company unsuccessfully tried to acquire then-popular social media site Friendster. MySpace was on the rise, and Facebook was just about to be created. This was Google’s window. The problem was, Google either didn’t realize it or didn’t believe in it.

    Orkut initially enjoyed success in the U.S., but it was Brazil and, to a lesser extent, India where the company had the greatest impact. In fact, the site’s early performance in Brazil could be considered a prime example of peak success for a social media platform.

    The Rise

    Orkut didn’t set out seeking success in Brazil. In fact, it seems like its popularity in the country came as total surprise. But the site wasn’t just popular; it was ubiquitous.

    Here are some indicators of Orkut’s level of popularity in Brazil, according to a New York Times article from 2006:

    • 11 million of Orkut’s approximately 15 million users at the time hailed from Brazil.
    • At that time, only 12 million Brazilians had home internet access.
    • That figure of 11 million users only included Brazilians who registered as being from Brazil, and some did not.
    • Brazilian news outlets referred to the site without providing further context.
    • The success of Brazilian pop culture figures was measured by their level of presence on the site.
    • A popular Brazilian stage show was replete with references to the site.
    • The site’s terminology had entered Brazil’s mainstream discourse, including the word “scrap,” which was the act of leaving a message on another user’s page, or “scrapbook.”

    Clearly, Orkut wasn’t just a website in Brazil. It was a part of everyday life for Brazilians and deeply established in the country’s culture, much like Facebook is now in the United States. But what was the cause of this unexpected phenomenon?

    While the site might have received something of a boost from its association with Google, that does not seem to be the driving factor (particularly since Google didn’t really tout it, but more on that later). The real reasons for Orkut’s success in Brazil seem to be a combination of its functionality and the nation’s culture.

    At a time when Facebook had yet to achieve prominence, Orkut provided many of the benefits of modern social media: personal profiles, the ability to post messages, an easy-to-maintain list of connections, and a then-intuitive interface. Users could reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and communicate with and keep tabs on all of them. Orkut also became a popular site for discussing topical issues, joining fan communities, and finding potential love interests. Büyükkökten opined that Brazil’s general population had an outgoing, social nature that was a perfect fit for this early introduction of the social media functions that are taken for granted today.

    “Brazil’s culture is very welcoming and friendly. It’s all about friendships and they care about connections. They’re also very early adopters of technology.”

    Orkut Büyükkökten, to Wired.com

    Additionally, the site’s limited scalability meant users could only join by invitation, providing an air of exclusivity to the site. Furthermore, Orkut benefited from Brazil’s reliance on online advertising, making it an attractive site for marketers. So what went wrong?

    Indian muslims hold placards against Google and Orkut websites as they protest web pages against Islam, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 26, 2007. (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi)

    The Fall

    From the outset, Google seemed to treat Orkut more like an interesting experiment than an integral part of the company’s long-term strategy. The tech giant never threw its full weight behind the project, which wasn’t even based on Google’s own servers, hence those scalability issues referenced earlier. Orkut basically operated autonomously, which had its benefits in terms of a lack of red tape but became a problem when issues started to arise.

    And issues should have been anticipated, as great popularity naturally will bring with it an army of malicious users. Brazilian authorities accused the site of being a haven for “child pornographers, pedophiles and racist and anti-Semitic groups.” Additionally, there were major security issues, with the site being bombarded by spam accounts and being hit with at least one major data breach. Making matters worse, when the issues were brought to Google, the company seemed either unwilling or unable to deal with them.

    Then there was the problem of just falling behind. Google’s lack of oversight and/or interest in the platform seems to have contributed to Orkut falling too far behind sites like Facebook by the early 2010s. Orkut became outdated in terms of appearance, access to information, mobile engagement, and, not surprisingly, security. And instead of trying to salvage Orkut, Google opted to launch a competitor in Google+, all but abandoning the earlier site. By late 2012, Facebook had overtaken Orkut in Brazil, and, in 2014, Orkut was shut down.

    Maybe Google could have saved Orkut. Maybe Orkut could have eventually evolved into the go-to social media site in the U.S. Or maybe Facebook was always destined to overpower it. Either way, there are definite lessons to be learned from this case. No matter how popular or how functional, a social media site must receive complete attention from management and undergo constant evaluation and improvement, or it risks being left behind by the competition. In the digital age, it’s possible no site is too big to fail.

  • Weixin: China’s one social media app to rule them all

    In this Aug. 7, 2020, file photo, an icon for the smartphone app WeChat is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

    Weixin has taken a constant place in its users’ lives by striving to offer everything they need in one place.

    By James Green

    Think of all the things you do online, and particularly with mobile apps, in any given day.

    You probably check news sites for the latest headlines.

    You probably text your friends, family, and/or work colleagues.

    You might send those friends money or gifts.

    You might purchase goods or services.

    You might even sell goods or services.

    What if you could do all those things and more in one site?

    That is the type of all-in-one functionality that Chinese app Weixin, also known as WeChat in English, provides its more than 1.3 billion users. The app combines the primary functions of all of the powerful social media sites with the features of eBay, Uber, and text message services. As a result, Weixin serves as a type of one-stop mobile shop for its users, who rarely have to leave the app to perform and online function. The app targets, young, urban, on-the-go users who want to be able to perform each function as quickly and easily as possible. This is a generation of users who were conditioned by their phones and other apps to view texting as the primary mode of communication. Weixin has positioned itself as a constant partner in these users’ lives, which is naturally the ultimate goal of any social media site or social media marketing campaign. Weixin is there to help its users with any task they need to complete as they go about their day.

    A card displaying QR codes to pay electronically with WeChat Pay and Alipay sits on a vendor’s table at a farmer’s market in Beijing, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

    A Must-Have App in China

    Weixin isn’t just an app for its 1.3 billion users, a number that accounts for nearly 80% of China’s total population. The app has become so commonplace in the country that people and businesses ask for others’ Weixen ID as their primary contact information, rather than email addresses or phone numbers. Weixin also offers indispensable services for anyone in China that needs to be constantly up to date on the latest breaking news in their industry. Professionals commonly conduct business on the app, negotiating, setting up meetings and even exchanging important documents. Email services and other texting apps have been virtually killed off in the country by the all-in one app. If you want to communicate with someone in China, you pretty much have to use Weixin.

    Beyond communication, the app provides essential, one-stop-shopping tools for anyone who needs to stay informed and on the move. These include:

    • Blogs where companies, government entities, and other officials post the latest news concerning their organizations.
    • A video service where users and organizations can post shortform videos and livestream.
    • Access to services that include (but are not limited to) banking, food ordering, securing taxi rides, and reserving tickets.

    If you need to pay for something in China, chances are you can do it through a Weixin QR code. And if you want the latest news from government or corporate organizations, chances are you have to be on Weixin. These entities often post essential information only within the app. Much like other messaging services, traditional media outlets have been in many ways eclipsed by Weixin and forced to use the app to distribute their information. And in a country where information is often hard to come by due to government restrictions, users even serve as a type of media source for their contacts.

    In a country where information is tightly controlled by the ruling party, a voracious demand for news catered to specific interests has given way to a boom in what directly translates as “self-media”—user-generated content created by one person and inspired by the slogan “be your own media outlet.”

    Mia Shuang Li for Columbia Journalism Review

    Additionally, Weixin’s all-in-one services and login function discourage users from ever leaving the app. Basically, once you’re in, you’re in, and Weixin has made it so there isn’t much reason to leave anyway.

    In this photo illustration, the WeChat Pay logo is seen displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    There Are Downsides to Using the App

    Naturally, with any app this powerful and all-encompassing, there will be some negative consequences. Misinformation spreads quickly and easily. Users acting in bad faith can circulate rumors that are even sometimes picked up and shared by official news organizations. Fact checking can be difficult, and on an app with such a vast user base, once misinformation spreads, it is difficult to undo the damage. Additionally, news outlets have found shortform video content is a profitable way of posting information on the app. These outlets will often eschew more important news in favor of sensational, highly edited videos in the hopes they will go viral and maximize profitability.

    Additionally, the app has allegedly been used to meddle with foreign governments, particularly in Canada, which features sizable Chinese-speaking communities. Multiple Canadian officials have claimed that the app has been used to launch smear campaigns against them, which the Chinese government has denied. The United States government has been concerned by the potential threat, with the Trump and Biden administrations both taking steps to curb the influence of the app. As for China itself, with so many users so dependent on Weixin, the app has been accused of becoming a tool for its authoritarian government to tighten its grip on the population. There also are significant concerns about the safety of private data on the app.

    The lesson, as always: It’s important to vary your sources of information so you can weed out the bad actors and develop a well-rounded perspective. It is the goal of any social media marketer to influence behavior change. But sometimes the motivation behind the behavior change is nefarious in nature, and sometimes a social media app can become arguably too influential. In such cases, users might be paying a steep price for the speed and convenience offered by Weixin.

  • Awareness is key to behavior change, but what follows is just as important

    Pink Ribbon volunteers throw up bras to raise women’s attention on breast health at a public service activity at Song Dynasty Town on June 22, 2015, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. Families of breast cancer patients from the province received donations from the public service activity held by China Fenhong Sidai Breast Cancer Foundation and Song Dynasty Town. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
    These memes raised awareness, but did they have the desired effect?

    By James Green

    Awareness is, naturally, a very important early step in influencing behavior change. This is especially true for health causes, such as the fight against breast cancer. That’s why we see products colored pink and sports teams wearing pink uniforms during October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. These types of campaigns are designed to get their audience thinking about the cause, with the hope that they will be mobilized to join the fight and help society to take a more proactive stance.

    But sometimes awareness campaigns don’t have all the intended effects.

    Memes Can Create Awareness

    The book Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change by L. Meghan Mahoney and Tang Tang presents a controversial case of raising awareness through social media memes. This case, which is an excellent example of internet activism, involved social media marketing campaigns that urged users to share memes on Facebook with the intention of raising awareness of breast cancer.

    These memes included:

    According to Mahoney and Tang, these campaigns caught on and were successful at motivating people to get involved by posting memes. But how effective they were at fighting breast cancer is up for debate.

    Elizabeth Hurley, bag in hand, attends the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) New York Symposium & Awards Luncheon at New York Hilton Midtown on October 27, 2022, in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for BCRF)

    Memes Can Create Controversy

    These social media memes were, of course, designed to be provocative and grab attention. And with any provocative marketing campaign, not all reactions were positive. According to Mahoney and Tang, these were some the most prevalent criticisms of the memes:

    • The memes tended to sexualize breast cancer, which is obviously going to be controversial.
    • The memes didn’t generally provide links to further information to help people take action after their attention was grabbed.
    • As memes posted to social media accounts, they required little actual effort or action from those taking part.
    • The memes did not fight misconceptions about the disease, such as the notion that only women are effected.

    Some of the loudest critics were those who found the campaigns cheap and tawdry. But perhaps even more relevant were complaints that the campaigns did not achieve much, and that they might even be called pointless. Mary Carmichael of Newsweek criticized the bra-color campaign for not being clear enough in its message, for not really being that risqué, for not providing further information, and for generating heavy online backlash. Carmichael went so far as to claim the campaign was really more about social media flirtation than breast cancer awareness.

     “This campaign is roughly equivalent to buying something — that just happens to be pink — from a company that gives zero to breast-cancer research, then claiming you’re doing it for medical science. It’s harmless, I guess, but also pointless.”

    Mary Carmichael, Newsweek

    If Carmichael’s reaction was was any indication, these campaigns probably could have been more effective at fighting breast cancer.

    How Can Memes Be More Effective?

    Yes, these memes were attention-grabbing. And, of course, breast cancer awareness is a cause worthy of going to extreme lengths to raise awareness. But if the awareness doesn’t lead to any further action, then what was achieved?

    It’s certainly a good thing that people who saw the memes were directed to take time out of their busy day to think about breast cancer. And posting attention-grabbing memes are effective at getting a social media marketing message to resonate with audiences who are constantly bombarded with information in the digital age.

    But awareness is only an early step in the process of generating behavioral and societal changes. If viewers of the memes weren’t told what they should do to help, and how they could take those steps, it’s open to debate whether the memes were effective at all. After all, most people who viewed the memes surely knew breast cancer existed and was a terrible thing. And many, if not most, probably either knew someone effected by it or were effected by it themselves.

    For a social media marketing campaign to be successful, especially when tied to an important social issue, it must do more than simply raise awareness. It must have an impact. According to the University of Florida’s Center for Public Interest Communications, a campaign’s messaging should feature the following elements:

    • A call to action: Audiences need to be motivated to take the next steps through personal appeals.
    • A plan for change: Audiences must be convinced that taking certain actions will result in the desired outcomes.
    • Stories that resonate: Real-life stories of those effected by the issue can have a deep emotional impact and encourage audiences to take action.

    The breast-cancer meme campaigns were successful at creating awareness, and they certainly encouraged some action, in the form of posting memes. But after viewing the memes, audiences were left entirely on their own when it came to taking the next steps in contributing to the cause. If the campaigns had incorporated the above elements, they probably would have been more effective at generating real change in the fight against breast cancer.

    An effective social media marketing campaign for breast cancer awareness might be better off sharing real, personal, stories about people who were impacted by the disease to create an emotional impact that resonates. It might also provide links to educational materials, breast cancer statistics, and sites that provide advice on ways to help. These elements would encourage audiences to take impactful action, rather than simply puzzling over a cryptic meme before continuing to scroll on.

  • What does Warby Parker’s strategy shift signal for the future of eyeglass retail?

    Warby Parker co-founders and co-CEOs Dave Gilboa, left, and Neil Blumenthal pose for photos outside the New York Stock Exchange, before their company’s IPO, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
    The pioneering company recently decided to shutter its signature try-at-home program. But that doesn’t mean the endeavor wasn’t a tremendous success.

    By James Green

    Eyeglass retailer Warby Parker made headlines last month when it announced that it would be ending the try-at-home program that had been the hallmark of the company since its early days.

    This must mean the program was a failure, right? Not so fast.

    The company was launched in 2010 by a group of Wharton Business School students who believed that shopping for eyeglasses in stores had become too much of a hassle.1 The company launched exclusively online at time when, according to Caroline Janson of Retail Dive, only 2.5% of eyeglasses were being sold over the internet. The company was able to shake up the status quo and achieve success partly by offering a “Home Try-On Campaign” where buyers could have as many as five frames sent to their home with the option to send back the ones they didn’t want free of charge.2

    After achieving tremendous success, the company is now reversing course. So what happened?

    The Pandemic Boom

    According to Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times, Warby Parker, like many online retailers, experienced a boom in business during the pandemic in 2020. The company’s sales rose significantly at a time where many established competitors who relied on brick-and-mortar sales struggled due to shutdowns. This led to the company going public in 2021 with a value of $6 million, double its private value of just a year earlier. This seemed like a sign that the future of eyeglass retail was online.

    But the company was quietly moving in a different direction.

    Warby Parker had opened its first physical location in 2013, and by 2021 it had 145 with no intention of slowing down. Despite the headlines the company achieved with its try-at-home program, it still was making two-third of its sales in brick-and-mortar stores before the pandemic. Although that figure was closer to 50% in 2020, Warby Parker was prepared for a return to the mean once people were able to go out and shop again.

    A Warby Parker store is in the Westfield Garden State Plaza shopping mall in Paramus, New Jersey, on Saturday, December 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

    A Different Direction

    Now, in 2025, Warby Parker has seemingly undergone a complete 180, operating 300 retail locations and shuttering its try-at-home program.

    However, it isn’t that simple.

    The company isn’t putting all its eggs in either the online or brick-and-mortar basket. Yes, it is touting its retail presence and, according to Mitchell Parton of Modern Retail, claiming that “most” of its customers live within a 30-minute drive of one of its stores.

    But it’s not giving up the online initiative that spurred the launch of the company. Not by a long shot.

    Warby Parker still believes that offering the ability to shop at home is a big part of the future of eyeglass retail. But instead of offering customers actual, physical frames to try on at home, the company is shifting to offering an AI-powered, virtual trying-on experience. According to Parton, this technology can advise customers on what frames to buy based on an individual’s personal preference and face shape.

    As DeAnn Campbell, a retail consultant for AAG Consulting, told Modern Retail, this model makes sense for Warby Parker:

     “They’ve been … getting people to come in instead of having to ship everything, and slowly building that physical presence to reduce their operational cost and to streamline their shipping costs and their supply costs.”

    DeAnn Campbell, a retail consultant for AAG Consulting

    Campbell estimates that Warby Parker will save around $100 million per year by discontinuing the service. Add that to the fact the company finally reached full profitability this year, and you seemingly have a very bright future for Warby Parker.

    What Does This All Mean?

    It means that, like the future of retail in general, the future of eyeglass retail isn’t all online or all brick-and-mortar. The future is an omnichannel approach. There are, of course, benefits to both in-store shopping and online shopping that are here to stay. While online shopping provides the ability to make purchases conveniently and quickly, there are aspects to the shopping experience that ecommerce struggles to replicate. Shoppers like being able to see and touch their items before they buy them, and they like having the chance to receive personalized, one-on-one advice from salespeople. It remains to be seen whether virtual programs like Warby Parker’s will ever truly come close to replacing this experience.

    Warby Parker’s marketing strategy goes well beyond offering its frames either online or in physical stores. As part of its omnichannel approach, it is focusing on both converging technologies and influencer culture. The company has:

    The Google partnership already has been particularly lucrative, as its share price rose 15.6% after the announcement of $150 million deal.

    Warby Parker co-founders and co-CEOs Dave Gilboa, left, and Neil Blumenthal listen to specialist Peter Giacchi, right, on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, before their company’s stock begins trading, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    Challenges Lie Ahead

    It’s not necessarily going to be smooth sailing for Warby Parker from here on out, however. Like any other company, it always will be face significant challenges. And that’s particularly so during these turbulent times.

    A primary challenge for many retailers at the moment is finding a way to navigate the tariffs imposed this year by the Trump administration. Incredibly, Warby Parker has been able to maintain a $95 price point for its budget frames for 15 years. So far the company has been able to hold steady on this price despite the tariffs, choosing instead to raise prices on higher-end items. It remains to be seen if this approach will be sustainable.

    Ironically, another potential challenge could come from a surge in ecommerce. Some analysts are predicting just that, with Market Watch reporting that the surge could result in the closure of 45,000 brick-and-mortar stores by the end of the decade. If Warby Parker’s retail locations are among those affected, the company might have to make yet another strategy shift.

    1. Mahoney, L. M., & Tang, T. (2016). Strategic social media: From marketing to social change. Wiley‑Blackwell. ↩︎
    2. Mahoney, L. M., & Tang, T. (2016). Strategic social media: From marketing to social change. Wiley‑Blackwell. ↩︎

  • Hello World!

    My name is James Green, and I have been a professional print journalist for 25 years and an editor for 23. I am expanding my knowledge into the world of marketing through further education.