VK (social network)
Vk.com, until January 2012 Vkontakte.ru (Russian: В Контакте, in conjunction ',' Add Contact '), is an online network in several languages , and identically commercial enterprise. The complimentary offer the same except for a few details of the popular U.S. Web 2.0 platform Facebook. On Vk.com, registered members can create a profile and share information with other users.
According to the operator, there are over 100 million active users (as of March 2014), mainly in Russia, Ukraine and the other CIS states.
According to Alexa Internet Vk.com is the most popular website in Belarus. In Russia and Ukraine, the page is ranked 2 in Kazakhstan to rank third in Germany Vk.com is in the top 150 in the U.S. and in the top 400 Here come 66 per cent of visitors from Russia.
History
2006
In summer 2006, an alpha version of Vkontakte.ru was programmed by the two brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov. In September 2006, the first internal beta test took place. Originally, the web project Studlist.ru should be called.
On October 1, 2006 " Vkontakte " was established as a limited liability company under Russian law. On the same day the domain was registered Vkontakte.ru. The official launch of the project was on 10 October 2006.
By the end of November 2006, the registration with Vkontakte.ru only certain people were allowed under mandatory indication of their full name. The hitherto rather small Internet community consisted mainly of students.
In late November 2006, the registry for all users was released. At the same moment an advertising campaign was founded. Here Vkontakte users have different prices and benefits promised when they recruit new users.
2007
In 2007, the popularity of Vkontakte.ru in Russia rose rapidly. On 26 February 2007 Vkontakte.ru already counted 100,000 registered users ..
As on 22 May 2007 at Vkontakte.ru half a million users were registered, announced the founder Pavel Durov that Vkontakte.ru as many users would like the German online community for students StudiVZ and the Chinese social platform Xiaonei.com.
On November 18, 2007, approximately three million users were registered with Vkontakte.
In 2007 Vkontakte.ru was ranked the second most popular website of the Russian Internet. The Internet platform reached number four in Kazakhstan, seventh place in Belarus and tenth place in Ukraine.
Also Vkontakte.ru was modernized in 2007. Thus appeared a hosting system for video and audio files, a rating system and a Vkontakte toolbar for the popular browsers.
2008
On 16 January 2008, the new service has started "professional contacts ". It was a sub- platform Vkontakte.ru that was tailored specifically to users working in the information technology, law and finance.
As of February 2008 Vkontakte.ru was also offered in the Ukrainian language.
On 1 April 2008 Vkontakte was under an April Fool to VSojus long for a day. " Soyuz " means " union " and is the colloquial name for the Soviet Union. The logo of the side was decorated with a hammer and sickle.
Beginning of April 2008 was also announced that 10 million users are registered with VKontakte.ru. In the same month, the operator of Vkontakte.ru responded to the growing criticism regarding the data security of the social network and provided the users then be in advanced security settings.
A further boost in popularity experienced Vkontakte.ru in September 2008. This month, the cooperation with Yandex.ru, one of the most popular search engines of the Russian Internet began. Since then, there is the possibility of private messages from Vkontakte via messenger Y.Online which is developed by Yandex.ru to receive.
The site recorded in October 2008 about 5.8 million daily unique visitors and 800 million page views and over one million concurrent users in the evening peak hours.
In December 2008 Vkontakte.ru outdated with its number of users to competitors Odnoklassniki.ru.
2009
In 2009, the rise of Vkontakte.ru went steadily on. In July 2009, Vkontakte had 14.3 million users already almost twice as many users as Odnoklassniki.ru with 7.8 million.
On September 5, 2009 Vkontakte.ru bought the domain vk.com. As Investment Purpose operators gave the " development of Vkontakte.ru on the international market " to. The purchase price were not disclosed.
According to Alexa Vkontakte.ru In November 2009 was the second most popular site currently Russia and the Ukraine, and was thus the world to rank 30 (November 2009) ..
2010
On February 2, 2010 60 million users were registered on Vkontakte.ru. In July, there were 75 million, end August 86, beginning October 91 and in mid-November 99 million users.
On April 1, 2010, operators have to revive the custom of April Fool again. During 2008 Vkontakte.ru in the " Soviet" style was designed in the year, it was 2010, the " pre-revolutionary " style with designs from the Russian Empire.
On 24 November 2010, the one hundred millionth user has registered.
On 2 December 2010 announced the Russian Internet search service Yandex.ru that 25 million Vkontakte user profiles can be found with the search engine now. So it was even unregistered users will be able to view the public content of 25 million user profiles. This pushed both within and outside Russia to harsh criticism.
2011
On 19 January 2011 sued the Russian record company " Nikitin " a 26 -year-old Vkontakte users from Moscow, who had 18 audio files of an artist who is at " Nikitin " under contract uploaded. The public prosecutor brought against the young Moscow criminal investigations according to Article 146 of the Russian Criminal Code ( "violation of copyright "). The record company also provides a claim for damages in the amount of 108,000 rubles. The 26 -year-old Vkontakte users even threatening a prison sentence of up to six years. The name of the artist, whose pieces were uploaded, is not mentioned.
On 27 January 2011 the design of the side of a revision has been subjected.
On February 12, 2011, by the user released as public information of his profile were made visible to unregistered users. This measure, the operator came across numerous protests of users.
On 17 March 2011, a micro- blogging feature was introduced in Vkontakte.
On 30 March 2011, the developers introduced an iPhone app for Vkontakte.
On 21 May 2011, the News function has been modified. It was now possible to invite multiple users to a conference. Before that could have been exchanged between two users private messages.
As of June 11, 2011, it is possible to hide certain users from the friends list for others.
On 15 June 2011, Vkontakte client for the Android smartphone operating system was presented.
July 1, 2011 Vkontakte.ru increased safety standards on the website. Only the communication protocol HTTPS From then used during login.
On 28 July 2011, the official Vkontakte.ru chat was opened.
On 4 August 2011, the Profile field was introduced " beliefs ". In it, the user can enter, what is the most important thing in life for him and what attitude he has to smoking and alcohol.
As of August 19, 2011 There is the Vkontakte.ru users possible to completely remove their profile.
As of October 4, 2011 you can user posts with "Like" feature.
10 October 2011 Vkontakte.ru celebrated its fifth anniversary.
On 1 December 2011, the " validity check " on user accounts has been introduced.
2012
On January 26, 2012 Vkontakte has finally moved to the new domain Vk.com.
On March 28, 2012 Vkontakte opened its first diplomatic mission in Ukraine's capital Kiev.
On October 27, 2012, the Vk - users were given the opportunity to share their photo albums.
Since November 23, 2012, it is possible in the comment function to create attachments.
On 24 November 2012, the mobile version of Vk.com was subjected to an extensive update.
2013
On March 21, 2013 Hollywood star Tom Cruise has registered on Vk.com.
Functions
The system belongs to the so-called social software. It provides inter alia the following functions:
- Create a profile using the opportunity to make diverse information ( contact information, interests, hobbies, etc.)
- Function to search for other members using the profiles stored in shared interests and visited schools or colleges.
- Formation of groups with group discussion forums.
- Create photo albums and upload photos.
- " Photo - Tagging": single people in photos can be linked to their user accounts.
- Extensive audio and video features, including a database of over 10 million audio recordings.
The site is available in more than 30 languages , including Russian, English and German, is available.
Economic situation and financing
The Russian internet group and Facebook shareholder mail.ru Group was 112.5 million U.S. dollars bought on 17 November 2010, a further 7.5 per cent of the shares of vKontakte.ru and thus its share of the Russian online network to 32, 5 percent increases.
On July 16, 2011 Mail.ru has redeemed an option for a further 7.44 per cent and now holds 39.9 percent of Vkontakte.ru
People
The company Vkontakte.ru belongs to the founder and programmer Pavel Durov, who lives in St. Petersburg and in Turin alternately. His brother, Nikolai Durov, is a systems administrator of the site.
Criticism
As Facebook and StudiVZ, is Vkontakte.ru is open to the charge of data mining. Membership in the online community of Vkontakte.ru can also have disadvantages, such as the Aufgespürtwerden by bank agents, who are searching for debtors.
With the ability to upload any audio and video files, entire movies and music albums are now available there. About contracts with rights holders but nothing is known.