TechNayak(mirror)

Was just checking out the new social network that is gainign popularity in India, Gazzag, and boy was I dissapointed. After the signup procedure i couldnt even get into the site.  The site is painfully slow if not down most of the times and even after a good one hour of trying i couldn’t get past the header and the menu. The site again is again targeted towards the South American audience and hence provides a export of friends from its arch rival Orkut( another South American Socionet). There are some concerns i have about Gazzag and i shall quote from their wiki and their company page

Social Health concerns :-)  ( thats terminology for the uninitiated) : Generally speaking, the members of Gazzags’s service are young adults in South America, Europe, North America, and Asia aged about 18 to 30. However, even that cannot be accurately defined as there are also many other users within other regions and age groups. The network doesn’t require any invitation from existing members, and anyone above 18 can join in.

  Other Concerns ( from the company site) : You will be able to meet lots of new people and even start dating if you wish. For this purpose you can use Gazzag Dating, a separate site where you can communicate using a nickname and remain anonymous as long as you wish. 

I think its the age for people to take more caution and control over their social network identity and contacts. With more and more impersonations and other scum in these kinds of network the question about security of such sites also is important. I think one of the main reasons for the successof facebook was their ability to control visibilty across the network. Gazzag also asks for peoples Orkut aka Gmail and Yahoo passwords; This procedure requires certain protocols and security certificates, which I could not find.  Lets see where Gazzag goes from here. Well if I can get into the site then i shall surely write about its features and offerings.