If you live in Russia, you are much more likely to have an account on the Russian social networking site VK than Facebook. But what is VK? Is it worth subscribing to it? Let's see it better.
When we refer to social media, our first thought is on Facebook and somewhere in the background comes Twitter second. But if you live in Russia, you are more likely to think about it first vk.com, known as VKontakte, as it is one of the leading Russian social networks.
There are very few things you can read about VK in the western world, making the site a mystery to anyone outside of Russia. If you've never heard of VK, hold on because it's going to excite you.
1. VK is the most popular social media site in Russia
With Facebook at number four on preferences of Russia (behind VK and other popular social media sites like Odnoklassniki and Instagram), VK has in fact double the response from its closest competitor in terms of monthly messages and posts exchanged between users.
According to Alexa, VK is the third most visited site in Russia, just behind Google and YouTube. The site's daily mobile audience peaks at an average of almost 45 million visitors.
2. VK is more popular among young people users
The majority of VK users are between 25 and 34 years old. This is an interesting demographic to approach, as Facebook users are mostly over 35 years old.
Some possible explanations for this difference include:
- VK 's focus on sharing audio and video files between friends (does that remind you of something?)
- The tendency of the site to encourage users to expand their social circles, as opposed to staying only with those of whom it is already a part.
- The popularity of the social media site Odnoklassniki to adult Russians, older.
3. VK offers a lot in terms of profiling
Facebook as a company tends to encourage users to fill in their dates with the latest in their lives, in contrast by creating a highly detailed information profile for themselves.
This is not the case with VK. Creating a website profile is honestly more detailed than anything we have ever seen on any social networking site !.
To give an example, the registration process asks you to add your education to your profile. You would logically write the name of your university and move on.
But this site goes on to show a list of individual university faculties. He will then ask you for your specialty, the direction you took, as well as your current status (if you have graduated or are in graduate school, etc.).
Needless to say VK speaks Greek, English and a host of other languages. It has lists of universities in each country.
This level of detail transferred to almost every part of your profile.
4. VK has a complicated political history
Just like Facebook, VK was created by a young man who had finished college. Pavel Durov (Pavel Durov) was a great success before facing problems with the law in 2012.
Many groups of activists, in contrast to the Russian establishment, often used the platform, both as ordinary users and as a means of advancing their goals. When asked to ban these groups and individuals permanently, Durov refused.
Needless to say, things got complicated. Durov was eventually forced to lose his stake in the company in 2014. It all went to Alisher Usmanov (Alisher Usmanov), the richest man in Russia at that time.
5. Russian users believe that VK is better than Facebook
Call it the "healthy feeling of nationalism" or just a matter of convenience, most Russians prefer VK to Facebook.
It is not just that VK is used more often in Russia. According to a study by the German University of Henrich Heine, VK users consider the platform as the superior choice on social media, and in fact with a double preference in relation to other social media brands. VK was generally considered by the research participants to be more enjoyable and fun, easier to use and more reliable.
6. VK has suffered significant security breaches
In June 2016, VK did indeed experience a major security breach, disclosing the data more than 171 million users.
These included: names, email addresses, passwords access and other sensitive contact information, which was eventually found to be sold on the dark web. VK is not the first, nor the last. Still, it makes you think. You should always be careful about what you share online, even on a site as huge as this one.
7. The most common VK password is "123456"
One conclusion to be drawn from the violation described above is that the most common VK password is "123456". If you are to blame for this, change your password now.
Many of these stolen passwords were stored in plain text. It was found that over 700.000 people used the password "123456" and another 400.000 used the code "123456789".
Other popular passwords were "qwerty", "1111111" and "123321".
8. The design of VK's website rarely changes
In fact, based on the current design of the VK website, if you log in you can assume you were on Facebook a few years ago.
Facebook users are more than familiar with the feeling of the constant changes of the site and in fact with today's appearance it is far from five years ago. VK is much more oriented towards maintaining a familiar design. VK designers give the following reason for their design choices:
"We like minimalism and simplicity. That is the way it was in the beginning, and it is the way it is now. "
So the VK maintains its appearance throughout its existence, like an old good car.
There is a world outside of Facebook
VK is a social networking platform with mostly young people flirting with piracy and illegal groups. If you have friends in Russia or Ukraine, this site is a great way to connect with them.
Even if you do not have one, subscribing to VK offers western cultures an unusual look through social media.
Thank you very much for accepting.