As a result of complaints from Brazilians about offensive content found on the social networking site Orkut, Google (News - Alert) has opted to remove Orkut ads from it’s Web pages. Google said the ads that came from Orkut represented a type of test of online marketing, and that the ads appeared on only 1% of Orkut pages. The social networking site is well known in countries like Brazil and India.

 

The trouble started when SaferNet, a Brazilian nonprofit group, lodged a complaint with the Brazilian advertising body alleging that some of the pages in Orkut carry child pornography and other illegal content. Defending itself, Google, which owns Orkut, says it removes such pages when their existence becomes known.

 

It has not been smooth sailing, by any stretch for the social networking site in either Brazil or India. Orkut had to head off fundamentalist groups in India when derogatory comments were allegedly made regarding Chhatrapati Shivaji, the great Hindu King. Even in Brazil, Google has faced legal challenges, with prosecutors threatening to levy heavy fines against the Internet giant unless it turned over user data in response to judicial orders.

 

Other popular social networking sites all over the world, sites like MySpace and Facebook, have also come under the scanners of government and media time and again. So, while social networking sites are considered to be among the chief vehicles to carry the Web 2.0 wave, there unpredictability is a concern, as posted content is entirely user generated.

 

This can be concerning to advertisers, since they can be embarrassed by having their ads posted beside content they disapprove of. Recently, Facebook faced such situations in Europe, where companies like Vodafone (News - Alert) and the UK government pulled ads from Facebook.com. Facebook’s solution was to remove the offensive content and provide advertisers an option as to where their ads will appear.

 

Worldwide, social networking sites are growing in popularity, and advertisers are discovering that it’s a medium they would be wise not to ignore. But, unless the sites can offer better control to the advertisers, the negative consequences will threaten to thwart the momentum these sites are now experiencing.