7 Years 2006 Ok.ru
Manric Hock
Odnoklassniki (Russian: Одноклассники, lit. 'Classmates'), abbreviated as OK or OK.ru, is a social network service used mainly 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]
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 4 million users. In February 2008, a British company called I-CD accused Popkov of copyright infringement, alleging that he used proprietary information from his previous employment to create a site similar to Passado, the project 192.com. Where he worked until his resignation 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 discontinued user registration fees in August 2009, reverting to a free model.
Over the years, Odnoklassniki introduced various features and updates. These include the launch of a service in January 2009 that allowed users to clear their personal pages of unwanted guests, the introduction of beta testing for games in early April 2010, and the release of a beta version of video chat on December 24, 2010.
The network also added several new sections and functions, such as the ability to divide friends into groups, single authorization for third-party sites, a music section for listening and uploading MP3 files, and the inclusion of links to various projects of the Mail.ru Group in the top panel of "Classmates".
Odnoklassniki expanded its reach by providing localized versions in different languages, such as Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Armenian, German, Turkish, and Tajik. It also implemented features like group moderation, the ability to tag oneself in friends' photos, and the option to send videos and share photos in private messages.
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.
In recent years, Odnoklassniki continued to innovate with features like the "Recommendations" service, new emotions beyond the "Class" button, a video feed on the mobile app, and an ad account for small businesses and content creators. The platform also launched a portal called "We are in the museum," focusing on art-related content, and saw an increase in users following the blockage of Instagram in Russia.
A service was launched on January 23, 2009, 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.
From October 2008 to September 2010, only a limited functionality account could be registered for free. In this version it is impossible to post, upload and rate photos, leave comments in forums and visit other users' pages. In order to use these features, a paid short message had to be sent.[44] In addition, the site provides a number of paid services: deleting ratings of their photos, disabling the user online status, and providing a wide range of emojis.[44]
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, Visa payment cards issued by Russian banks and linked to user profiles.[46]
The server that hosts odnoklassniki.ru is located in Moscow, Russia on the Golden Telecom network. The programming language primarily used on the site is Java and the main language used for the site's textual content is Russian. The site uses the Apache Tomcat web server.[63] Odnoklassniki is actively using 12 technologies for its website, according to BuiltWith. These include iPhone / Mobile Compatible, SSL by Default, and Apple Mobile Web Clips Icon.
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.[64]
R U OK? Day this year falls just 12 days before AHRI hosts HRIZON, the 14th World Human Resource Congress in Melbourne, arguably the largest event in the history of the association. Understandably stress levels are somewhat heightened in the AHRI office as the team ramps up for this momentous event as well as continuing business as usual by providing support and services to around 20,000 members. This timing prompted us to consider foregoing any internal R U OK? Day activities this year. With the next 12 days allocated to a great number of last minute detailed preparations, stopping work to check in with each other was not considered high on the list of priorities for most employees.
Over the years that R U OK? Day has been in operation, AHRI has been privileged to work with R U OK? on a workplace award recognising organisations whose R U OK? Day activities have brought employees together in this worthy cause. Applications have detailed impressive whole-of-organisation activities that have launched comprehensive wellbeing programs and affected thousands of employees and their families and communities. At AHRI we will continue to recognise the amazing things that can be achieved when organisations pull together and dedicate time, money and resources to considering their colleagues through the 2013 AHRI R U OK? Day Workplace Award to be launched in November. In previous years we too have committed to the day with activities and planning for our own health and wellbeing programs at AHRI.
DFP Recruitment was one of the first organisations to achieve Disability Confident Recruiter (DCR) status in 2016. Six years on, the organisation reflects on the impacts the Disability Confident Recruiter Program has had on their organisation, their inclusion achievements and the lessons learnt along the way.
Corene attended the recent Disability Employment Roundtable which brought together disability employment specialists, industry, business and people with lived experience to discuss how to better support people with disability to find and maintain employment. These ideas and solutions fed into the Jobs and Skills Summit.
We are proud to announce that we have extended the eligibility criteria for our Stepping Into internship Program to not only welcome university students with disability to apply, but now recent graduates with disability.
As more and more Australian employers are looking for pipelines of skilled and talented candidates with disability, this development will allow even more university degree-qualified individuals to connect with business.
Applications are now open. If you are a student of recent graduate with disability, check our the full list of current internship opportunities and submit your application by Sunday 2 October. If you know a student or recent graduate with disability, share this with them!
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