Google has finally realized that orkut is an important player in the social networking space and it could become more popular outside Brazil and India if Google invested more time and trust.

The latest orkut feature is similar to Facebook's mini-feed: a list of updates from your friends on the homepage.

The updates from your friends section on your homepage shows updates when your friends perform the following actions on orkut:

* make changes to their profile
* make changes to their photo album
* make changes to their video favorites
* accept new testimonials

When you make these changes to your own profile, your friends will see your updates on their homepages.

The feature is not available for everyone, but if you have it, this page should show updates from your friends. You can disable this feature from the settings, by clicking on the Privacy tab.

orkut will probably add many other missing features in the near feature. A simple addition that could provide similar value to Facebook's platform is the inclusion of iGoogle gadgets that could be shared with your friends. The gadget maker is also appropriate in orkut's social environment. </img> </img> </img> </img>