VKontakte (VK) was the dominant social network across Russia and the former Soviet states in 2010. Its interface closely resembled early Facebook, but it let users upload and stream music and video freely, which made it a beloved and heavily pirated media library.
- Domain in 2010
- vkontakte.ru
- Launched
- October 2006
- Founders
- Pavel Durov
- Owner in 2010
- VKontakte (private)
- Region
- Russia, CIS
- Status today
- Still active
What people used it for
- Profiles, groups and messaging
- Free music and video streaming
- Photo albums
Interface characteristics
- Blue-and-white layout very close to 2008 Facebook
- Audio player built into every profile
Notable features
- User-uploaded music library
- Groups that functioned like forums
What happened later
VK changed its domain to vk.com in 2012 and remains Russia's largest social network under state-linked ownership.
Archived on the Wayback Machine
Archived pages open on web.archive.org (Internet Archive). They are historical captures, not part of this exhibit.
