If you were a product manager at Google, would you reinstate Orkut? Why?

This is a product strategy qn:

Step 1- Clarify qn

1) Orkut was transformed into Google + which was itself discountinued in 2019. Are you referring to Orkut or Google+?

2) Is this question w.r.t to any geography or platform?

3) Are there any specific corporate objectives in mind e.g. payment platform, short form video, photo focussed etc.

Step 2- Describe company and product

Google's mission to make organize world's information and make it universally accessibe to all. Google has extended their search service into other associated businesses e.g. Photos, Cloud,Maps etc.

Specifically with respect to Orkut, it was extremely popular among APAC geography but was was shut down in 2014 as Facebook was a strong competitor and Orkut was not one of Google's priorities

Any social network site will face tough competition from Facebook, Instagram and  platforms such as Twitter, Tinder, Anon etc.

Google benefits from its strong search and AI backbone as well as financial muscle to keep a loss making company afloat for a few years

Step 3: Strategic Imperatives for Google with Orkut

1) Revenue(through advertising)

2) User base( for data collection)

3) Competitive landscape

4) Implementation cost(should be low)

Step 4: Strategic Imperatives for Google with Orkut

a) Launch a full fledged networking platform like Facebook with all bells and whistles

b) Focus on a niche medium e.g. interactive video, live streaming or AR/VR based functionalities, knowledge focussed e.g. maths, science etc.

c) Focus on a specific user group e.g. students, parents, singles, enterprise(e.g. Yammer) etc.

d) Buy out a smaller competititor e.g. Anon,  Wayne, Dribbble etc,

e) Drive engagement on top of an existing product e.g. Google photos

Step 5: Evaluate each strategic choice

Step 6: Recommendations:

From this recommendations, it makes sense for Google to either focus on a niche medium e.g. interactive video, live streaming or AR/VR based functionalities, knowledge focussed e.g. maths, science etc. or Buy out a smaller competitor