The main reason could be Myspace is mostly dominated by Americans and both have different lifestyle and cultures so mingling is not possible
Orkut is generally a social service and a way through which one indian gets connected with other. So indians enjoy this site a lot and hence it is popular.
Facebook isn't just popular in india yet.. When u go and ask a normal internet user about facebook, he would say "What is it?" And most of them are very much knowing about Orkut.. just mostly because of Word of mouth!
Orkut captured the market at the right time, I believe. Something like how it did with the Brazilians too....
Let's say all your friends use Orkut. Wouldn't you, as well then? I'm guessing that's the case in India, just like how mostly everyone in the US uses Myspace.
Orkut was choosed the youth icon of india http://www.mtvindia.com/mtv/mymtv/events/youthicon/ Thats a clear example how popular orkut is in india!
There are even debates on orkut in the news channels. How often do you see a debate on a website in an Indian news channel. I think most of the popularity came from word of mouth and people stayed on because of the simple features it provides.
Orkut is big brand in India. (& Brazil of course) The reason Myspace (even it's older and bigger than other SN sites) failed in India because the main page (home page) of myspace shows you all stuff mostly related to USA. where as orkut's front page is simple and the first page you see after you log in is your own page...
Yes! Why not! It's just that people got to know what's myspace is all about. With so many interesting services to offer MySpace can grab the market. May be they should invest in TV ads (just like bigadda & zapak is doing) we have a success story of yahoo.co.in (used TV ads) People might say its too late for MySpace to do anything in India but I believe it's a growing market and it's a great potential