Google’s Page & Brin Visit Brazil
Before getting into the details of Google’s visit to Brazil and their plans in this emerging technological giant, I’d like to put an emphasis on the popularity of Google and Orkut in Brazil. Almost everyone with a computer or Internet connection in Brazil uses Orkut, and Brazil has 26 million active Internet users.
Having an Orkut account in Brazil is like putting sugar in your cafezinho, eating paozinhos for breakfast, loving Silvia Santos, watching Globo telenovelas, or heading to the beach from Christmas to Carnival. Orkut has become a bom successo in Brasil beyond what anyone at Google had ever planned. Wired Brazilians (Brasilieros que usar Internet) live sleep and eat coffee, Guarana, com Havianas, Pao de Quiejo, Netinho, arroz feijao, FUTBOL and Orkut.
Having lived in Brasil for two years in Curitiba (I think the whole city uses Orkut) and being married to a wonderful wife from Sao Paulo, I cannot emphasize this point enough. In Brazil, Orkut is the Internet and Google is search. Just like an average Paulista will not think twice about having a Saturday churrasca and inviting the whole barrio, Orkut usage and friendships are spreading like wildfire in Brazil (Brasil)… faster than Globeleza can Samba, but not with the speed and finesse of Ronaldinho or the late and great Ayrton Senna.
Beyond the current online community in Brazil (which is made up predominantly of the middle and upper class), computer usage and Internet access will also be spreading to the povao (the normal people), as Brazil is a country which is taking part of the MIT Laptop For Every Child Movement – which is sponsored in part by Google.
Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin just paid a trip to Brazil to explore expanding Google in the economic leader South America and the Mercado Sul.
For an explanation of all the Brazilian referrences in this post, please see this comment on my explanations of other Brazilian cultural phenominas besides Orkut.
Gavin Tachibana, Editor of Orkut, has a rundown on the trip to Brazil, which includes the duo’s credit card being shot down in Ipanema’s Gula Gula restaurant (Meu Deus do Seu! Is this the ValleyWag effect rubbing off?).
Here’s a rundown:
* Page & Brin paid a visit to Belo Horizonte, where Google’s research and development center for Latin America is located.
* Page & Brin greeted the Brazilian media wearing a couple of cool Brazilian-themed Google jerseys (which is much smarter than Mike Tyson showing up in Brazilian court wearing an Argentinian Futbol Jersey signed by Maradona)
* Sergey says he’s optimistic about Google’s future in Brazil and how different it will be than the headaches in China; “There’s already a lot of Internet activity and it’s such a large country that it’s going to grow very rapidly. There’s no particular hurdle to get more people. It’s not like the wires aren’t there, it’s not like there are any laws, regulations to make it hard to access. Once you have more broadband, you’re going to have much more activity.”
Hmmm… hear that Brasil Telecom? Google looking to offer affordable broadband in Brazil? Hint hint.
* Brin commented on Orkut: “I’m very excited about it as a service . . . orkut is unquestionably very large now.” When asked why orkut is so popular in Brazil, Brin said, “We don’t know. What do you think?”
This was a very exciting piece of news and I’m very excited about Google’s future in Brasil. Please feel free to comment below, in English or Portuguese. Parabens Google e Parabens Brasil!
By the way, I want one of those Brasil Jerseys… if anyone knows where to get one, please email me or comment below. En taum, quero uma Google camisa de Futbol, mas voces sabe onde da para comprar o mas Google Brasil quer da uma para mi, enviar um mail por favor.
Count me in, I need a XXL
Let me know if you find a source of those jerseys, too.
Wonder how many of them they would sell if they included them for sale at the Google Store. :)
Great, you know a lot about Brazil. It would be nice to understand your post. Your comparisons seem more about parading your knowledge of Brazil than getting a clear point accross to your readers. You are a great blogger, but today you let your ego get in the way. Example – com Haviannas, Pao de Quiejo – Do you expect your average SEO to know these terms?
I am a Brazilian, that for instance participates at Orkut, and has 110 friends connected to it; and pretty much look at the Orkut site every week.
Why is it so popular? My opinion:
1-It is really a matter of the Network effect; and specially the advantage of first-entry/adopted network.
2-In general, BR is a warm place, with warm people. People just hang out more out there. And that gives a boom to the network effect.
The testimony: One of my friend last year told me about Orkut. When I sign-in, I found dozens of friends (actual, and old friends from college to kinder garden), even family. As time passed by, new people keep adding me. I received several requests from other types of Brazilian social networks but none have the widespread adoption as Orkut does.
Now the experience: . It is a kind of weird concept, you have access to other peoples profiles and pictures, and most of people in BR, ad photos to their profiles. You can be sure that thousands of people you don’t know will look at them. Even me, sometimes I caught my-self looking at unknown people’s profiles, just because it is easy and most of time fun. As Pictures worth more than 1000 words:I constantly change my pictures; as a convenient way to keep in touch with my actual&very-old friends, without even saying a word…
Brent, great point. I made this post in excitement last night before sleeping and hoped that the references to all-things-brazilian would bring in some readers like Gui-Leal, who has contributed much insight to the Orkut Phenomina in Brazil. I will be putting together explanations of the staples of Cultura Brasiliera listed in this post.
First off, one lesson in Portuguese (well, Brazilian Portuguese) : adding inho or zinho to the end of the word is like saying mini, little, or ‘lil in English. If you saw Cidade de Deus (City of God), one of the main characters names in English was Lil’ Dice. In Portuguese, Dadinho.
* Cafezinho is a small cup of very strong coffee (shot glass size) which is preferred by most Brazlians. Cafezihnos generally come with sugar, lots of it, and are consumed 5 to 10 times a day.
* Paozinhos are little freshly baked rolls of bread usually eaten for breakfast in Brazil and for Cafe de Tarde (Tea Time) with ham, cheese, hot dogs, or whatever.
* Silvia Santos is the Dick Clark of Brazil. He owns SBT (which I believe is partly owned by Disney), one of the major television networks in Brazil and has been a television innovator in the country for decades. In my experience, not very many people watched the programs of his network as they were mostly imported US programs and Mexican soap operas. But the games shows, news, gossip and variety shows that Silvia hosts were widely watched and followed around the country. He also runs some sort of privatized version of the Brazilian Lotto.
* Globo is the number one television, movie, magazine and entertainment network in Brazil and their telenovelas (soap operas) are more popular in the country than films or any other form of entertainment. They are filled with a variety of characters, celebrity actors, Brazilian music, and plot twisting dramatics which keep the entire country on the edge of its seat every night (except Sundays) for the run of the show, which is usually about 9 months.
* Guarana is a soda made from the extract of the seeds of Guarana fruit, an Amazonian plant. Guarana tea, juice, soda and supplements have been quite popular in Brazil for decades. It has recently become a staple of American energy drinks after the banning of Ephedra in the United States.
* Havianas are Brazilian flip flops that EVERYBODY seems to wear in the summer (which can range from 12 months out of the year in Nordeste (Northern Brazil) or 4 months out of the year in Rio Grande de Sul (Southern Brazil near Uruguay & Argentina). There are other brands of flip flops in Brazil, like Ipanemas (named after a famous beach in Rio), but everyone calls flip flops Havianas – like Americans call tissue Kleenex.
* Pao de Queijo means Cheese Bread and is a little salty ball of chewey bread with cheese. Almost as popular as paozinhos and great for afternoon snack.
* Netinho is a Sambista (Samba singer) who had a large success as the singer of the Samba band Negritude (Negro Attitude). He now hosts a Sunday program on television which includes Princesa, a show where a down & out girl is chosen from the poor class of Brazil, given a make over, an University or trade oriented education, a shopping spree in a shopping mall, and confidence. He also has a line of affordable coffees, toothpastes, hair products, and other items targeted towards the black, moreno, or mullato residents of Brazilian favelas (ghettos) or people of Arfican decent in general.
* Arroz Feijao is rice and beans and is an important part of the Brazilian diet.
* FUTBOL is soccer, the lifeblood of Braziian sports. Brazil has won the World Cup multiple times and probably will again this year. Almost any Brazilian who has feet and can kick plays one amazing game of futbol.
* Paulista is someone from or who lives in Sao Paulo, one of the largest cities of the world.
* Churrasca is Brazilian barbeque, usually consisting of the world’s most delicious beef, sausages, chicken and Kaiser or Skol beer.
* Barrio means neighborhood.
* Globeleza is the symbol of Carnival and Samba on the Globo TV Network. There is a new Globeleza in Brazil this year (being Globeleza is like being the Miss Universe of Samba and the title can be held for years).
* Ronaldinho is the best futbol player in the world, plays professionally for Barcelona Dragons of the Spanish League, and will anchor the Brazilian World Cup team this year in Germany.
* Ayrton Senna was the greatest Formula One racer ever, a world champion, a Braziian, and died behind the wheel of his Formula One car in one of the saddest days in Brazilian and Racing history. Senna was also a great idol for Brazilian children and gave much of his riches back to the community via different charitable projects.
Ayrton Senna is more or less worshipped like a God in Brazil, I cannot think of one person in US history who Americans hold to the same level – maybe Abraham Lincoln. Senna is not just a sports hero of the people of Brazil, but a cultural figure. He was handsome, articulate, a champion and hero of the country until his tragic and young death. More on Ayrton Senna at the Wikipedia.
* Mercado do Sul is free trade between South American countries, with Brazil as the center. It is the South Amrican answer to NAFTA, which threatens the economic stability of the Southern American Hemisphere.
Loren, thank you for the explanation. You are a good man and it is great to see that did not take offense to my comment. Keep up the solid work; you have won at least one daily reader through your ability to be objective and, of course, through your thorough knowledge of search and search marketing. Maybe some day we can sit down for pao de queijo, watch some Globo, and have a cup of cafezinho!
It’s amazing how the ‘herds’ in the IT sector of N. America get consumed by the ‘buzz’ of China & India, w/o realizing the huge opportunity that Brasil presents. Way to go Larry & Sergey – thinking outside the box! This is also a great market for Google’s version of Linux…..
Chek my blog for AN EXCLUSIVE photo of the duo in Brazil.
http://poucas-e-boas.blogspot.com/2006/01/brinpagecalegaretti-essa-voc-s-v-aqui.html
Let me know if you need assistance in Sao Paulo. I can organise someone to show you the city. Very nice town. Visit also Rio and Salvador!