VKontakte: App, applications & users
Origin and history of VK.com
In 2006, brothers Nikolai and Pawel Duro developed the first version of VKontakte. Initially, it was mainly students who could be found on the social network, which was originally also to be called Studlist. Only gradually did the brothers start advertising campaigns, promising VKontakte users benefits and prizes if they recruited new users. From then on, things took off and since 2007 it has been one of the most popular social networks in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine. The “professional contacts” sub-platform was launched in 2008. This is a network for professional users from the IT, legal and finance sectors. In addition, VKontakte was expanded to include the Ukrainian language, as a large proportion of users come from Ukraine.
Since the cooperation with the Russian search engine Yandex, VKontakte has become the most popular social network in Russia. The new messenger, which makes it possible to receive private messages from Y.Online on VKontakte.
Pawel Durow – The man behind VKontakte and Telegram
Even as a schoolboy, he cracked passwords from school computers, defied the FSB several times, for example in an attempt to lock out the blogger and anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny, and simply because he doesn’t care about money, he let 5,000-ruble bills fly out of his office window onto the street as paper airplanes. Together with his brother Nikolai Durov, he founded what is now vk.com in 2006. In 2014, the entrepreneur was asked by the Russian secret service to close down groups of protesters and hand over data on Ukrainian opposition members – Durov refused. And was dismissed as general director of VKontakte. Now the network is probably completely in the hands of Igor Sechin and Alisher Usmanov, both of whom are considered allies of President Vladimir Putin.
After leaving Russia, he donated to the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation and was granted citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis. In addition, he secured $300,000,000 from a Swiss bank. This enabled him to focus on his next company, Telegram. An alternative to the messenger Whatsapp.
The “Russian Marc Zuckerberg” travels a lot, sometimes working in London or Paris, sometimes in Finland or New York and sometimes in Berlin. In the meantime, however, he has probably settled down in Dubai.
Functions and special features
Profiles, groups and photo albums – what makes VKontakte different from Facebook?
It’s true, VKontakte is very similar to Facebook. The creation of a profile, the search function for other users, groups for discussion forums and photo albums with tagging function are all the same as on Facebook. The design is hardly any different either. Just like Facebook, it is kept simple in blue. On the left you can see a row of functions such as the link to your own profile, messages, friends, groups and photos. The timeline also shows hardly any differences, but there is one small difference. Unlike Facebook, where posts are displayed according to relevance or popularity, everything on VKontakte is in chronological order. The latest posts always appear right at the top. Despite the many parallels to Facebook, VKontakte also has some special features.
1. the music functions
VKontakte not only offers many social aspects but also free music. Whether current charts, oldies or death metal – you can find everything on VKontakte. For years there was a lot of trouble with major record companies, but the social network has now become legal.
A paid subscription model is planned for the future, similar to Spotify. However, the unlimited music stream will not cost €10 as it does here, but the equivalent of €2.40 for VKontakte.
2. video search similar to Youtube
Not only can you see videos on the timeline or on profiles like on Facebook, but VKontakte also has a similar video search function to YouTube. You can find many different music videos there, but also some content from Russian news portals.
New marketing perspectives
Unlike Facebook, companies can not only place advertisements with links to the website, but the network itself even has a shopping function where you can order products directly within a profile or group.
Criticism of the Russian app
VKontakte in the middle of the Ukraine conflict
15 million Ukrainian users were last counted on the popular network. As a result of an extension of the sanctions against Russia, some Russian internet services were blocked in Ukraine – including VKontakte.
Kiev accuses Moscow of supporting the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. By blocking internet services, Ukraine wants to prevent the use of online services from Russian companies and thus extend the sanctions against Moscow due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Source: spiegel.de
The blocking of internet services has been in place since May 2017 and is set to last for at least three years.
Users who are blocked on Facebook because of calls for murder or right-wing extremist postings often register on VKontakte. The reason: although anti-Semitic propaganda is also banned on VKontakte, the postings are not deleted. Profiles on the social network that greet you with “Heil Hitler!” and swastika postings are not uncommon. The neo-Nazi organization “Der III. Weg”, the party “Die Rechte”, as well as the AfD and the Islamophobic Pegida movement are also represented on the social network.
The switch from Facebook to vk.com is also a political statement for convinced right-wingers. For them, Facebook often means “lying press” or it is also called “Jewbook”, as Marc Zuckerberg comes from a Jewish family.
The shopping function offers more than just fashion and the like. The “Migrant Scare MS55 Lady”, a scare pistol for “the modern woman”, is also offered on the social network.
4.9 / 5.0