Already back in 2006 in the history of the Russian Internet, their own social networks of domestic production began to appear actively. One of these projects is the Odnoklassniki website, founded by Albert Popkov.
Creator personality
Albert Mikhailovich Popkov was born on September 26, 1972 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, three years later his family moved to Moscow. Since childhood, Albert has been interested in technology and programming. From the age of sixteen he began to study at a technical school.
Albert Popkov took part in the creation of software for the first Soviet gaming computers "Corvette".
During perestroika, when numerous research institutes were closed, Albert Popkov changed many professions, even traded on the market. However, he soon left abroad, where Russian programmers were held in high esteem. He lived and worked in Germany, Spain, the USA, and at the beginning of the 21st century settled in London, where he began to work in the information service. He did not see any particular prospects, and for his own amusement, even then he began to develop the Odnoklassniki website. The idea fascinated him so much that he began to invest his own savings in its development.
In 2006, the programmer returned to Russia and began to implement his project, releasing it for mass use. The number of people registered on the site began to grow exponentially, the founder began to attract new investors and look for ways to develop the project.
In November, the site already had one and a half million users.
Classmates
In 2009, the Odnoklassniki website was already ranked fifth in the ranking of social networks of Russian Internet users. Every year its creator, together with a team of like-minded people, improved his brainchild in every possible way, adding new functionality and remaking the old one.
According to Albert Popkov, the site is served by 22 people directly in the office and 15 employees remotely.
On August 31, 2010, the registration fee on the site was canceled, which was introduced quite recently, supposedly protecting from spammers, video chat appeared. A year later, something new appeared for Russian users of social networks - Odnoklassniki suggested linking up to three bank cards to an account.
In 2012, Odnoklassniki got its own radio, the developers created the ability to download your favorite songs from the site.
2013 was the most successful year for the site in recent years. Now you can create polls, edit your comments and use the online cinema. So "Odnoklassniki" took the fifth line in the Top-10 world networks. The number of registered users exceeds two hundred million.
