What are Women from the FSU looking for in Men from the West

[Misha]

My wife has accounts on Facebook, Odnoklassniki and VK. She rarely visited Facebook, though now my mother go her hooked on Bubble Witch, but visits her Russian sites daily. Why? All her friends, acquaintances, relatives are there. Social networking sites are just that: places where you go to socialize. If nobody else that you know is there, why would you go?!? My wife visits FB now more often as she has more friends in Canada, but why would a Russian living in Russia be drawn to Facebook when they have their own sites?!?

[chivo]

Couple of things. Facebook is in Russian. My interface is all in Russian and I can search "only" Russian things on it. So, hopefully you all can stop arguing about that. Like many things in Russia, change happens fast. Some of you really have a hard time wrapping your head around this simple fact.
 
Facebook has added almost 800,000 new users in the last 6 months alone. I doubt they all speak English.
 
And while it significantly trails both Odnoklassniki and Vkontake in users, it has shown more growth. Matter of fact, Facebook s expected to grow faster than the other two in the coming years. Some other facts you might find interesting about this; The country has put Facebook in a strange position, since two competitors (Odnoklassniki and Mail.ru’s MyWorld) are backed by Facebook investor DST. Now that DST has been eliminated with Facebook’s IPO, the networks can compete on a more even playing field.
 
2) “The figures suggest that local social networks will not be able to hold onto their dominance much longer,” eMarketer said in February. “The real question may not be whether Facebook will overtake local social networks in Russia, but when.”
 
3)  Market leader Vkontakte’s popularity may decline if it complies with a court ruling that it breaches copyright by removing its file-sharing feature. This is something that has come under scrutiny as part of the pact for entry into the WTO. Many of the people who use Vkontake do so mainly to download movies, music and American TV shows.   

[Misha]

It is all about the tipping point IMHO. To be successful, a new social networking site must attract enough people to build up a following. Yes, many Russians are joining Facebook, but the question will be how often will they visit the site and how time will they spend on the site. I still have my MySpace page, but I never visit it, for example. Likewise, some friends rave about Google+, but until you have a mass migration to this site, I don't really see the need to be there. Will Facebook win out in Russia? Maybe. To do this, they will have to build a very strong following very fast where most will find their friends there. If they don't, then it will certainly fizzle out...

[Fashionista]

Seriously guys, let's ease up on Russian profanities, particularly in the "What are Women from the FSU looking for in Men from the West" topic, because that's definitely not it. 

[LAman]

Hell, what does Facebook even mean in English?

Since Russian is a much more sensible language, one can not just hodge-podge words together and call them acceptable.( Although It would be nice and fun too )

I have translation suggestions..

If you believe what they claim...  it comes from  - Yearbook - Contacts. Since a yearbook is a book of head shots- or faces.  just Mash Book With Face and have a word FACEBOOK  that makes totally no sense at all linguistically. Since it is an New English Word - it may be translates as FACEBOOK or
maybe      лицокнига  ( litso kniga ) ?

some alternate suggestions...

опизденевший место
лицо место
вещи мои
мои бардак 
связи ежегодник
лицом альбом

 

 
 
Actually....maybe best to just translate by letter or sound, like
фасбук
 
Just like the word Hot Dog in russian is
 Хот дог   Hey, at least i got to add russian on my new computer....        

[Jumper]

Couple of things. Facebook is in Russian. My interface is all in Russian and I can search "only" Russian things on it. So, hopefully you all can stop arguing about that. Like many things in Russia, change happens fast. Some of you really have a hard time wrapping your head around this simple fact.

It does happen fast ,it isn't surprising to me at least,  and i'm glad you chimed in.
 
The OP  kept making assumptions on FB's , FSU usage past and present.
Living there you have the inside scoop.800,000 new uses in 6 months is a lot!
Oddly all the RW I met don't care to use it.As I mentioned , that is despite the russian language interface,or being in Russian.
I'm sure that will change in the future?



 

Facebook has added almost 800,000 new users in the last 6 months alone. I doubt they all speak English.
 
And while it significantly trails  both Odnoklassniki and Vkontake in users, it has shown more growth. Matter of fact, Facebook s expected to grow faster than the other two in the coming years. Some other facts you might find interesting about this; The country has put Facebook in a strange position, since two competitors (Odnoklassniki and Mail.ru’s MyWorld) are backed by Facebook investor DST. Now that DST has been eliminated with Facebook’s IPO, the networks can compete on a more even playing field.

2) “The figures suggest that local social networks will not be able to hold onto their dominance much longer,” eMarketer said in February. “The real question may not be whether Facebook will overtake local social networks in Russia, but when.”
 
3)  Market leader Vkontakte’s popularity may decline if it complies with a court ruling that it breaches copyright by removing its file-sharing feature. This is something that has come under scrutiny as part of the pact for entry into the WTO. Many of the people who use Vkontake do so mainly to download movies, music and American TV shows.

I'm  it will grow faster  than the others ,and I mentioned the mail.ru / DST 6 billion in  ownership connection to FB.

The real issue was the OP seemed hell bent in several threads here ,
that FB just has to be very popular  in the FSU , that most everyone has a profile,
and likely had them in the past as well,before vk.
While that may be a future possibility, it dint seem realistic for the past, or now?


It significantly trails other sites now , and trailed far more  in the past.
Since he was working on things now, in contacting RW, and mentioned some RW not wanting to share thier FB profile with him, it seemed reasonable to point out that a lot of RW wouldn't have a FB profile,that other sites are significantly more popular now.
Just because he assumes everyone in the FSU  has FB, or speculates on FBs advantages and growth potential in the FSU marketplace,wont help him if he ignores that many don't?


As GQ eluded ,  I really doubt many RW are that concerned over what social networking site they use, they go where there friends are currently , if that changes they change too..
It's also doubtful they would be concerned at all, over what networking site some man uses, unless he is obsessed with it..which the OP almost seems to be.

[mendeleyev]

Your argument that most people who use social networking websites in the FSU use vk.com over facebook, because of the language, is not valid.  If it is true that most of them don't, it's really not because of language.  At least, not now.

It is valid. VK is available in languages other than Russian so using your logic, Americans should hustle over and open billions of VK accounts immediately! See a screen shot from my vk below.

What part of being comfortable in one's language do you not understand?

[mendeleyev]

The debate is not whether or not Facebook is in Russian or if vk is in English: That isn't the issue nor has there been any argument about it. The debate is as to which service a typical Russian speaker might first turn to for social media.


vKontakte: Reach and engagement: 23.4 million users (54.2% of the Russian online population), 20 minutes average daily duration (Source: TNS-Aug 2011)


MoiMir (Mail.ru): Reach and engagement: 18.9 million users (43.8% of the Russian online population), 9 minutes average daily duration (Source: TNS-Aug 2011).


Odnoklassniki: Reach and engagement: 16.5 million users (38.1% of the Russian online population), 25 minutes average daily duration (Source: TNS-Aug 2011).


Facebook: Reach and engagement: 10.7 million users (24.7% of the Russian online population), 3 minutes average daily duration (Source: TNS-Aug 2011).

(Additional sources: http://www.dreamgrow.com/social-media-in-russia and http://2010.tnsdigitallife.com)


Note: there are talks between VK and Mail about merging their social networks and content systems and that would have a significant impact on the social media landscape in Russia. Mail.ru owns 39.9% of vkontake and 58% of Odnoklassniki so putting the 3 together sometime in the future could seriously threaten Facebook viability in Russian market.



 

Facebook has added almost 800,000 new users in the last 6 months alone. I doubt they all speak English.

Even if all of those new members were new Russian users they'd still be #4.

 
To get a sense of technology companies valuations of vk, read the CISCO report on vk's growth: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/vkontakte_customer.pdf

For "equal time" sake, here is a source which while admitting that FB is weak in Russia today, believes that VK will stumble and FB will in time lead the market: http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/595-facebook-s-next-foreign-growth-asia/


From Russian new agency RIA Novosti:
Facebook representatives announced (April 29, 2011) that it now counts 5 million active users in Russia, reported news agency RIA Novosti. That figure, however, represents a mere one Internet user out of ten, and Facebook still lags behind Russia’s social networking behemoths Vkontakte (23 million unique users in February 2011, according to TNS), MoiMir (20 million), and Odnoklassniki.ru (18 million).

Vkontakte.ru (“In contact” in Russian) was designed as a Facebook clone when it was launched in 2006, but important differences now distinguish the two sites.

“In Russia, our audience is indeed particular,” Angela Zaeh, Facebook’s development director for Eastern Europe, told RIA Novosti. “We are slowly starting to attract a broader range of users, and our main tool for doing this is the users themselves, who are inviting each other to Facebook.” Zeh says that Facebook’s next objective for its Russian site is to amass 10 million users, after which Facebook can consider itself to be a truly significant player on the local market.

(source: http://www.ewdn.com/2011/04/29/facebook-reaches-5-million-active-users-in-russia)

[Muzh]

Post the T-shirts again. Where are the T-shirts? 

[BC]

Me thinks someone here bought FB stock...

[Muzh]

Nope. THESE pictures. 
 
http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=14957.msg305845#msg305845

[LAman]

Nope. THESE pictures. 
 
http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=14957.msg305845#msg305845

And you noticed the T-shirts???  Come on!!!!!

[pemdas1983]

Seriously guys, let's ease up on Russian profanities, particularly in the "What are Women from the FSU looking for in Men from the West" topic, because that's definitely not it. 

What profanities?  I am coming back into this kind of late.  Were people throwing Russian curse words  because of the vk.com vs. facebook thing? 

Well, my argument was that the reason why more people in the FSU might go for vk.com isn't because of language - at least not now.  I'm not aware of how old vk.com is, and if they started it when facebook was for college students or in English only.  But, now facebook is in multiple languages, so that is definitely not the case.

Also, it might be because I'm a software developer, but I might have more of a bias towards facebook due to how easy that they make developing apps for their platform.   Much of the code written for the little facebook games that many of you like to play can't work anywhere else, because they use libraries that are exclusive to facebook only.  It's partly why it's dominating the social network market in most of the world.

[pemdas1983]

The debate is not whether or not Facebook is in Russian or if vk is in English: That isn't the issue nor has there been any argument about it. The debate is as to which service a typical Russian speaker might first turn to for social media.

No, someone's argument was that more Russian speakers might turn to vk instead of facebook, due to language.  I could go through this thread to bring it up, but I think that the guy who said that knows who he is and you're aware of his comment.

Anyways, I have to come to the rest of your stuff later.   My point is, the language issue is out.  We've already established that the reason why people in the FSU would prefer using facebook over vk.com is NOT because of language.  If it ever was, then it no longer is now.

[mendeleyev]

No, someone's argument was that more Russian speakers might turn to vk instead of facebook, due to language.  I could go through this thread to bring it up, but I think that the guy who said that knows who he is and you're aware of his comment.

Read your words carefully.


Now read my words carefully:

The debate is not whether or not Facebook is in Russian or if vk is in English:

You were trying, unsuccessfully, to make the case that since FB has a Russian component that Russians use it more than vk.

We've already established that the reason why people in the FSU would prefer using facebook over vk.com is NOT because of language.  If it ever was, then it no longer is now.

We have established that people in the FSU prefer FB?!

What planet do you live on?

I've listed FB news releases, current media from FB, in which they admit to being BEHIND.

I've posted charts from authoritative ranking sources showing the same.

You prefer FB and that is fine. Frankly, I use it every day. VK, too. But I'm not blindly trying to change reality.

If FB wins the battle long term, I hope you own stock. You won't hurt my feelings but to say that FB is higher in the rankings today is simply not true.


I usually don't argue this long with the foolish, so here is one last piece of reality. The Russian FLEX program each year sends a group of top ranked Russian students to live in the USA for a year. Last week at one of the student orientation sessions in Moscow, instructor Yelena Formenko told the Russian kids this about social media: "You're going to America to learn about American culture. How can you do that when you're constantly talking to your Russian friends on Vkontakte?"

Source: The Moscow Times

[Misha]

Anyways, I have to come to the rest of your stuff later.   My point is, the language issue is out.  We've already established that the reason why people in the FSU would prefer using facebook over vk.com is NOT because of language.  If it ever was, then it no longer is now.

Language was a motivating factor when people first signed up to a social networking site and once they are on a site and all their friends are on a site, it takes a great deal to have them move to a new site and make it their preferred site. People are creatures of habit and tend to follow the pack 

[newjason]

Language was a motivating factor when people first signed up to a social networking site and once they are on a site and all their friends are on a site, it takes a great deal to have them move to a new site and make it their preferred site. People are creatures of habit and tend to follow the pack 

Misha is right. People go where their friends go. A mass exodus from vk to fb simply will not happen.
look at google+ for an example. When it rolled out it was hyped and google expected to have every person who had a gmail account would magicly start using g+ instead of or in addition to fb.

[BC]

IIRC 'odnoklassniki' means 'classmates'..  The premise of odnoklassniki.ru is for folks in FSU to connect to their old classmates in their native language.

Citizens of other countries like the US, Germany, italy, etc would have little reason to search their 'classmates' on odnoklassniki.  To some extent that is the same for FSU folk trying to find their 'classmates' on FB.

VK and odnoklassniki were simply 'there' first and acquired a good audience.  There is that old saying 'If it works, don't fix it~!' so there is little motivation to change if the feature set is comparable.  Odno even has their version of farmville.

The only way is for FB to simply buy up both of them and migrate users to FB.

Don't know much about FB, but is it possible to limit geographic scope of one's FB account 'reach'?  I'm sure some folks would be hesitant to get pings and friend requests from worldwide..

[Misha]

IIRC 'odnoklassniki' means 'classmates'..  The premise of odnoklassniki.ru is for folks in FSU to connect to their old classmates in their native language.

Before Facebook, I remember signing up to the site Classmates.com. It is still there, my account is still there, but for some reason they are asking for a new email so I can't be bothered to go any further.... It is fascinating how odnoklassniki took off in Russia but fizzled in North America...

[BC]

It is fascinating how odnoklassniki took off in Russia but fizzled in North America...

Different strokes for different folks.....  FB is not for everyone.

[Faux Pas]

Different strokes for different folks.....  FB is not for everyone.

pemdas's need for FB dominance seems to be classic textbook example starting with a conclusion and and then building facts to support it. IMHO, it has little to do with language or the bells and whistles software. More to do with the application that was filling the need as it arose

[Muzh]

Before Facebook, I remember signing up to the site Classmates.com. It is still there, my account is still there, but for some reason they are asking for a new email so I can't be bothered to go any further.... It is fascinating how odnoklassniki took off in Russia but fizzled in North America...

Classmate asks you for money to use it. I keep getting emails that so and so is available to chat. Just give them my credit cards number and I can chat all I want.

[BC]

Classmate asks you for money to use it. I keep getting emails that so and so is available to chat. Just give them my credit cards number and I can chat all I want.

I recall those ads... seemed to be from companies that make yearbooks for schools?  Basically let you peruse their yearbook archives in the hopes of hooking up with your HS flame?

[pemdas1983]

I moved my post to the correct thread.

[OmegaSupreme]

I'm on both FB and VK, and use both quite frequently. Within the last 2 years or so, I've made quite a few Russian and Ukrainian friends, which of course had prompted me to start an account on VK. There seems to be a good mix of them on both sites, with some favoring FB but most favoring VK. Like someone else said, it largely comes down to where a person's friends are. The ones I know that are on (and frequently use) FB largely have mostly foreign friends, while the inverse is true for VK. Many of my friends are on both sites, but most of those just seem to spend most of their time on VK. I also just don't see a mass exodus of Russians and Ukrainians to FB, at least not anytime soon.