Orkut was nothing like current social networks. It didn't have any kind of feed. You had to manually visit user pages if you were looking for something. Also, user pages had no "blog space" for posts, just main description, "testimonials" (for friends describing you) and scrapbook (like a public email inbox, later turned optionally private). Oh, and a photo gallery.
Another thing that was massive in orkut - but still niche as most users didn't use this feature - was community forums. It was great to be able to read and talk about any topic using the same account, in the same website and the same layout. Worldwide, what filled this gap was obviously Reddit, but it's still English-only for most subjects. Also the format is different, Reddit is not a typical flat internet forum.
Another thing that was massive in orkut - but still niche as most users didn't use this feature - was community forums. It was great to be able to read and talk about any topic using the same account, in the same website and the same layout. Worldwide, what filled this gap was obviously Reddit, but it's still English-only for most subjects. Also the format is different, Reddit is not a typical flat internet forum.