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Odnoklassniki

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Odnoklassniki
Type of site
Social Networking
Available in13 languages:
OwnerVK
Created byAlbert Popkov (founder and head)
URLok.ru
Commercialyes
RegistrationRequired; no payment needed since August 31, 2010
LaunchedMarch 4, 2006; 19 years ago (2006-03-04)

Odnoklassniki (Russian: Одноклассники, lit. 'Classmates'), abbreviated as OK or OK.ru, is a social networking service and online video sharing website primarily in Russia and former Soviet Republics.[1] The site was launched on March 4, 2006, by Albert Popkov and is currently owned by VK.[2]

The website currently has more than 200 million registered users and 45 million daily unique visitors. Odnoklassniki also currently has an Alexa Internet traffic ranking of 56 worldwide and 7 for Russia. Odnoklassniki is the second most popular social network in Russia, behind VK (VKontakte) but ahead of Facebook, which is in 3rd place.[3]

History

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Odnoklassniki was launched on March 26, 2006,[4] by Albert Popkov, a telecommunications professional residing in London. Having previously been involved in similar projects in other European countries, Popkov initially developed Odnoklassniki as a hobby project from March to November 2006. During this period, it was only mentioned commercially within a friendly advertising agency as an advertising platform.

However, due to a significant increase in userbase, Popkov established a separate legal entity for the service. By July 2007, Odnoklassniki had grown its audience to 3 million users. In November 2009, the British company I-CD accused Popkov of copyright infringement, alleging that he used proprietary information to create a site similar to I-CD's social network Passado. Popkov was previously employed by I-CD but had resigned in November 2005. Popkov denied these allegations,[5] but was eventually dismissed as managing director of Odnoklassniki.[6] In November 2009, after the first day of trial in the Royal Courts of Justice,[7] I-CD dropped all charges against Popkov and Odnoklassniki[8] after they agreed to pay an undisclosed amount as settlement.

In September 2008, Popkov sold a controlling interest in Odnoklassniki to Digital Sky Technologies (DST), the owner of Mail.ru. DST and its subsidiary, Forticom, acquired a 58% stake in the network.[9] Paid registration was introduced in Odnoklassniki in 2008, but this led to a decline in popularity as users began migrating to the main competitor, VKontakte.[10] As a result, Odnoklassniki reverted to a free model and discontinued user registration fees by August 2010.[11]

On January 23, 2009, a service was launched which allows a user to clear their personal page of uninvited guests by removing them from the list of views as well as allowing the blocking access from all users that they are not "friends" with on the service.

In early April 2010 beta testing games became available on the site, developed by i-Jet, and on December 24, 2010, users of Odnoklassniki publicly released a beta version of video chat. Regular updates between 2011 and 2019 saw additional features added, such as the ability to divide friends into groups, a music section where users could upload MP3 files, and detailed customizable user themes.[10][12] Odnoklassniki reached 40 million users per day in 2013 [13] and in 2022, following the block of Instagram by Roskomnadzor, about 4% of the former Instagram users polled by Zarplata.ru said they had switched to Odnoklassniki.[14]

Additionally, Odnoklassniki introduced advertising formats, launched its messenger called OK Messages, included live broadcasts in communities, and developed a video app called OK Video for Smart TV. The social network also faced challenges, such as being blocked by the Ukrainian government in retaliation for the annexation of Crimea and dealing with technical issues that temporarily affected site availability.[citation needed]

In recent years, Odnoklassniki has continued to add features such as the "recommendations" service, new emoticons beyond the "Class" button, a video feed on the mobile app, and an ad account for small businesses and content creators.[citation needed]

Service blocking in Ukraine

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In May 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree imposing a ban on Mail.ru and its social networks, including VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, as part of its continued sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and involvement in the War in Donbas.[15][16] The move was widely criticized as censorship, and Reporters Without Borders condemned the ban, calling it a "disproportionate measure that seriously undermines the Ukrainian people's right to information and freedom of expression."[17][18] Respondents in an online poll on the UNIAN site declared that 66% were "categorically against" the ban of Russian sites and another 11% said it would be easier to "ban the whole internet, like in North Korea".[19]

According to the Ukrainian Internet Association, the share of Ukrainian Internet users who visit Odnoklassniki daily had fallen from 35% in September 2016 to 10% in September 2019.[20]

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In October 2008, Odnoklassniki began requiring new users to pay a fee via SMS to activate their accounts and unlock many core features, including creating posts, uploading or rating photos, leaving comments in forums, or visiting other users' pages. Odnoklassniki claimed the measure was necessary to maintain order in the network and protect users from spam.[21] The site also offered a number of other, separate paid services: deleting ratings of their photos, disabling the user online status, and providing a wide range of emojis.[21]

By August 2010, Odnoklassniki canceled paid registration, claiming that new effective ways to combat spammers had been developed.[11]

In February 2016, the social network, together with its partner bank VTB 24, introduced the ability to make money transfers between users of the network. Transfers are made between MasterCard, Maestro, and Visa payment cards issued by Russian banks and linked to user profiles.[22]

Awards and recognition

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  • 2006 – Runet Award in the Health and Recreation category.[23][24]
  • 2006 – 4th place in the People's Ten of the Runet Prize.[25]
  • 2007 – Runet Award in the category "Culture and Mass Communications".[26][27]
  • 2007 – 3rd place in the "People's Ten" Runet Prize.[28][29]
  • 2007 is the "project of the year" in the ROTOR ++ network competition.[30]
  • 2007 – the first Russian annual nationwide award in the entertainment industry "Russian Entertainment Awards" in the nomination "Website of the Year".[31]
  • 2008 – Grand Prix in the nomination "Impact on offline" in the network professional competition of the Russian Online TOP (ROTOR) 2008 and ROTOR ++.[32]
  • 2008 – 1st place in the People's Ten of the Runet Prize.[33]
  • 2008 – Grand Prix in the Master of Brandbuilding competition.[34]
  • 2009 – "Disappointment of the year" in the ROTOR network competition.[35][36]
  • 2011 – 3rd place in the Technology and Innovation Runet Prize.[37]
  • 2012 – Venture Village named the site as among "The Top 10 Russian Internet Brands Out to Conquer the World".[38]

Technology

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The domain ok.ru is hosted on a server running Apache and located in Moscow, Russia, on VK's network.[39][40][41]

Extremist content

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Mauricio Garcia, perpetrator of the 2023 Allen, Texas outlet mall shooting, reportedly used his account on Odnoklassniki to promote white supremacist and neo-Nazi views, and in particular to target Asians. A reporter for Bellingcat suggested that Garcia may have picked this platform because of its lack of content moderation.[42]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Social Media in Russia, Dreamgrow.com, 2011.
  2. ^ "About the project". Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  3. ^ "What you need to know when entering the Russian market". ecommercenews.eu. Archived from the original on 2016-06-07. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  4. ^ "Odnoklassniki social network birthday". infoniac.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  5. ^ Британская компания требует отдать ей "Одноклассники.ru" NEWSru, December 3, 2008. (in Russian)
  6. ^ Альберта Попкова сняли с должности гендиректора "Одноклассников" Archived 2011-01-07 at the Wayback Machine rb.ru, September 15, 2009. (in Russian)
  7. ^ Инсайд: Стенограмма прений в суде по иску i-CD Publishing к Альберту Попкову. ROEM.ru (in Russian). Archived 2011-01-07 at the Wayback Machine. October 29, 2009.
  8. ^ Британская компания отозвала иск к создателю Odnoklassniki.ru Альберту Попкову SNOB.ru, November 25, 2009. (in Russian)
  9. ^ (in Russian) Vedomosti, September 15, 2008 [1]
  10. ^ a b Pfauth, Ernst-Jan (2008-11-02). "Odnoklassniki.ru introduces SMS payments for monetization and security". The Next Web. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  11. ^ a b "'Classmates' canceled paid registration". lenta.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  12. ^ "Odnoklassniki social network translated into Uzbek". Gazeta.uz (in Russian). 2012-04-24. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  13. ^ "Odnoklassniki social network birthday". infoniac.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  14. ^ "Poll reveals how many Russians stopped using Instagram". tass.com. 2022-05-17.
  15. ^ Poroshenko, Petro (May 15, 2017). УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №133/2017: Про рішення Ради національної безпеки і оборони України від 28 квітня 2017 року 'Про застосування персональних спеціальних економічних та інших обмежувальних заходів (санкцій)' [DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE №133 / 2017: On the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated April 28, 2017 "On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)"] (in Ukrainian). President of Ukraine. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  16. ^ Додаток 2 до рішення Ради національної безпеки і оборони України від «28» квітня 2017 року «Про застосування персональних спеціальних економічних та інших обмежувальних заходів (санкцій)» ЮРИДИЧНІ ОСОБИ, до яких застосовуються обмежувальні заходи (санкції) [Annex 2 to the Decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated April 28, 2017, "On the Application of Personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)" Legal Entities under Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)] (PDF) (in Ukrainian). President of Ukraine. April 28, 2017. p. 185-6 (#422 mail.ru Group), 186-7 (#423 ТОВ «Вконтакте» (VKontakte)), 187-8 (#424 ТОВ «В Контакті» (In Kontakte)) & 189 (#425 mail.ru Ukraine). This is a prohibition of Internet Service Providers (ISP) to provide access to the internet service «Mail.ru» (mail.ru) and social-oriented resources «Vkontakte» (vk.com) and «Odnoklassniki» (ok.ru). Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  17. ^ https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-urges-ukraine-scrap-ban-russian-social-media-sites%7C[permanent dead link] RSF | May 23, 2017
  18. ^ Ukraine's Poroshenko to block Russian social networks, BBC News (16 May 2017)
  19. ^ Luhn, Alec (16 May 2017). "Ukraine blocks popular social networks as part of sanctions on Russia". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  20. ^ (in Ukrainian) Three years without VKontakte: what social networks do Ukrainians prefer, Ukrayinska Pravda (14 November 2019)
  21. ^ a b "Classmates' social networking has become paid". lenta.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  22. ^ "'Одноклассники' пошли ва-банк". Коммерсантъ (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  23. ^ "In 2006, almost 500 Internet projects competed for the Runet Prize". ИА REGNUM (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  24. ^ Runet Prize, 2006 Archived 2007-10-13 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  25. ^ "There are 4 Orthodox sites in the People's Ten at the Runet-2006 Prize". www.pravoslavie.ru. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  26. ^ "Runet-2007 Award presented". Газета.Ru (in Russian). 28 November 2007. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  27. ^ Runet Prize, 2007 Archived 2008-02-21 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  28. ^ "Одноклассники.ru". vesti.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  29. ^ Media. "Runet Prize 2007". lib.broadcasting.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2019-12-30. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  30. ^ "ROTOR ++ 2007: Russian TOR ++ Online Online Competition". ezhe.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  31. ^ "In honor of the ordinary Yekaterinburg Muscovites threw a grand party". ura.news. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  32. ^ "РОТОР 2008". ezhe.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  33. ^ "Anniversary 'Runet Prize 2008' named the Laureates". www.ng.ru (in Russian). 27 November 2008. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  34. ^ "'Classmates' became the first. Representatives of leading business media have identified the top ten companies in the field of brand creation and promotion". www.sostav.ru (in Russian). 2 June 2008. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  35. ^ "The winners of the ROTOR-2009 competition are named". lenta.ru (in Russian). 28 May 2009. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  36. ^ "РОТОР 2009". ezhe.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  37. ^ "Winners of 'Runet-2011 Award' Announced". РИА Новости (in Russian). 25 November 2011. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  38. ^ Top 10 Russian Internet Brands out to conquer the world Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine
  39. ^ "ok.ru WHOIS Domain Name Lookup - Who.is". who.is. Retrieved 2025-10-30.
  40. ^ "ok.ru Uptime, Downtime and Server Information - Who.is". who.is. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  41. ^ "Free IP Geolocation API and Accurate IP Geolocation Database". Free IP Geolocation API and Accurate IP Geolocation Database. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  42. ^ Douglas, Jack; Craig, Tim; Horton, Alex; Allam, Hannah; Shammas, Brittany; Kirkpatrick, N.; Mirza, Atthar; Canales, Manuel; Ledur, Júlia (2023-05-08). "Texas gunman fantasized over race wars on social media before mass killing". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
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