Google Wants You To Keep Orkut Clean

Google is responding back to the negative criticism that it has received from the press, and at the same time is asking users to help keep Orkut clean.

(Keep Orkut Beautiful) We love orkut just as much as you do, and we want to keep it fun and clean -- or, as we like to call it, beautiful. Some of the attention orkut has received in the Brazilian media recently has given the impression that our community is rife with illegal activity and discontented users.

Any active orkut user realizes that this characterization is simply false, that our site's very success has always been driven by our members' ability to create the engaging content and communities which comprise the bulk of orkut's population and content. In fact, orkut's top 50 communities, with more than 37 million total members and nearly 1.3 million daily visitors, have no illegal content whatsoever.

Google also seems to be cooperating with law enforcement more closely, which may be why the number of black market Orkut sites that I come across has been decreasing recently.

This may be because more users are reporting these groups (I have, at least with child predators) or perhaps because the American Feds are becoming more aggressive within social networking circles.

On interesting note is that Google admits that the number of Orkut membership is above 37 million with the top 50 forums. I wonder how many people Google really has on Orkut?

Update: Forgot to add this link about Google wanting your help in keeping Orkut clean.