Social Networking Finds A Business Model: Crime!

from the ok,-not-really... dept

Okay, the title is a bit of a joke, but since the whole "social networking" bubble first came about, there have been plenty of questions about what exactly the business model really was for those sites. While some have started to figure it out (or sold out trying), others are still struggling. One of the big question marks has been Google's Orkut, which has been pretty much taken over by a huge Brazilian user base -- some of whom apparently found the site quite useful for one thing: drug dealing. Brazilian police apparently used Orkut to monitor and track down a Brazilian drug ring who used the site to deal drugs. Of course, considering the very public nature of Orkut, you have to wonder what those using it for this purpose were thinking. Either way, how long will it be until some uppity politician starts talking about the evils of social networking sites because they heard that they're used for drug dealing?

2 Comments | Leave a Comment..


If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1.  

    Just blame the ISPs some more

    identicon
    Dino Morelli, Jul 21st, 2005 @ 7:29pm

    ...how long will it be until some uppity politician starts talking about the evils of social networking sites because they heard that they're used for drug dealing?

    Idiot Politician is way ahead of you, chief. All them Internets and everything that looks like 'em? Eeevil. Must be stopped.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Hush!

    identicon
    Spanky, Jul 22nd, 2005 @ 6:51am

    You're going to give Senator Clinton more ideas!

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
Save me a cookie
  • Note: A CRLF will be replaced by a break tag (<br>), all other allowable HTML will remain intact
  • Allowed HTML Tags: <b> <i> <a> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>


A word from our Sponsors...
Follow Techdirt
Flattr rss rss
From the Techdirt Archive...
A word from our Sponsors...

Close

Email This