Albert Popkov: biography. History of the project "Odnoklassniki.ru"

Today almost everyone has their own page in any social network. In Russia and CIS countries, "Odnoklassniki" won a very big popularity. At the moment, the social network belongs to the company Mail.Ru Group. The project was launched in March 2006. Now, "Classmates" - the seventh most popular in Russia, and throughout the world - the fifty-fifth.

Of course, many people are familiar with the social network presented, but those who founded it know units. The father of "Classmates" is Popkov Albert Mikhailovich. This article presents his biography and the history of the emergence of a social network.

Albert Popkov: Biography

Many are familiar with the movie "The Matrix". It was this film that made it clear that every "matrix" has its own "architect." Social networks also do not arise from the air. They are someone who develops, promotes and attracts millions of users who spend in their favorite network around the clock. To such sites it is possible to carry and "Odnoklassniki", which audience in the beginning of 2013 has passed for two hundred millions person. However, the article will deal more with the man who created such a huge network.

early years

Albert Popkov was born on September 26, 1972. The place of birth is the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

At the age of three, Albert Popkov moved with his family to Moscow. At school he trained quite mediocre and left it after the eighth grade. Then he entered the technical school and simultaneously began to work as a programmer in "NIISchetMash". There, Albert did everything well enough. He developed software for computers, which in the Soviet Union were almost in every school for teaching children computer science.

The 90s

In the early 90's, Albert Popkov finished his studies. Later he began to try many professions and work in different places. It is known that he managed to work at a factory for the production of pencils and a seller. In the mid-90's, I began to seriously engage in web design. It was then that he created his first serious sites for several large companies.

Early 2000's: the appearance of "Classmates"

In the late 90's, Albert Popkov received an offer to work for a large foreign firm. The programmer agreed and went to England. By the way, he spent seven years outside Russia. First time he worked in the camp of ordinary programmers and was engaged in the development of a search engine. Subsequently, Albert Popkov, the creator of "Odnoklassnikov", took up the post of director of the department for software development. Here under his leadership got fifty programmers.

The idea of creating a social network came Popkov in the last months of work in this company. Free time from the main work he spent on the development of the site.

Return to Russia

The end of work for a foreign firm came in 2006. The new project required more time and energy from Popkov. Albert Mikhailovich believed that his new development would certainly bring in revenue, and decided to completely switch to its improvement. Soon he left England and returned to Moscow. Already in the capital, he comes to a decision to create OOO Odnoklassniki.

At first the project required huge financial expenses, as Albert Popkov asserts. His condition is now quite large, and then quite often he had to spend a lot of money from his own pocket on the development of the social network. A turning point in the life of "Classmates" is the appearance of an investor from Riga. It is at this point that the accelerated growth of the site and its promotion begins. The staff of programmers of the company considerably extends.

2007

By 2007 the audience of "Odnoklassniki" significantly increased. Albert Popkov, whose photo can already be found in many magazines and on television, decides to translate the site into a new "engine". Soon the resource was ready to accept even more visitors. In the same year, the project begins to receive a wide variety of awards. In a fairly short period of time, it was possible to increase the audience of the site twice, namely to four million.

The income of the social network starts to be estimated in millions of dollars. "Classmates" could get into the top ten most popular resources in Russia. They could only be overtaken by such giants as Google, Yandex, Youtube, Mile and Vkontakte.

2008 year

The creator of the site "Classmates" Albert Popkov continued to improve the project, and the growth in the number of users did not stop. In 2008, in each office, you could see people on the monitor of which this social network was opened. Even the directors of the companies said that they began to communicate with their employees through the "Classmates", since it is really simple and fast.

In the same period, Albert Popkov, a genius in web design, creates a new project "Comparison." Now he began to devote a lot of time to the new offspring, but he did not forget about "Odnoklassniki". "Compari.ru" - a site that provides an opportunity for the user to compare a huge variety of products, businesses and so on. The main income of the resource comes from advertising, placed on the pages, as well as from companies that received the status recommended in the resource. However, it was normal to work on the promotion of the site, a scandal that broke out.

Scandal with i-CD Publishing

In the same year, the firm, which until 2006 worked Albert Mikhailovich Popkov, filed a lawsuit in the court of Great Britain. The company and several branches believed that Popkov was obliged to give the social network to them, as well as the means that he had earned on it. The reason for this was that Albert Mikhailovich did not fulfill the terms of the employment contract. After the development of "Classmates" he began to engage in as an employee of i-CD Publishing. And since the company is also engaged in the creation of online projects, this was the reason for filing a lawsuit against Popkov. Subsequently, the parties agreed on the world.

year 2009

July 2009 became the moment when Odnoklassniki took the fifth place in terms of reach of the Internet audience. The growth in the number of users does not stop. Many firms are faced with the problem that their subordinates spent most of their time in this social network. In order to protect their employees from visiting "Classmates", the directors instructed their system administrators to cut off access to the social network.

However, soon there was information that the site was released in the version for mobile devices. Regularly, "Classmates" began to receive improvements and additions to ensure more comfortable finding the audience on the pages.

2010 year

By 2010, the audience of users of "Classmates" has grown to forty-five million people. Most of the visitors were between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five. In the spring of the same year, the first games appeared in the project, which were in the testing phase.

The end of the summer was good news for many future users - the registration fee was canceled. Accordingly, the influx of people went with a vengeance. At the end of December, the audience was given the opportunity to make video calls.

2011

The first innovation on the site occurred in April. The developers have made an addition, thanks to which it became possible to divide their friends into groups. At the end of May, another novelty was introduced, which allowed the classmates to log in with their username and password on other resources.

On the first day of June, users were able to listen and download music, thanks to a new section. This summer, developers released an add-on that allows you to bind three bank cards to your account.

year 2012

In April 2012, the number of registered users reached one hundred and thirty five million people. Later, developers added the opportunity to make purchases in "Classmates" with a zero account. The funds were written off when the balance was replenished.

In October, information was received that the resource would allow users to start the radio. A day later it was announced that the audience of "Classmates" can independently adjust the style of their page.

year 2013

This year has become very good for "Classmates". On the first day it was established that the number of users exceeded two hundred million people. Every day, a social network of forty million users visited.

In late February, the opportunity to create polls in communities was added, and in early March an Armenian language appeared on the site. In early April, there was a serious failure, as a result of which "Classmates" were unavailable during the day. Completely to cope with a problem it was possible for three days.

At the end of June, a version of the site for visually impaired people appeared. This summer, "Classmates" could get into the top ten world social networks. Soon the site acquired English, it became possible to search for acquaintances by the date of birth.

The following years

The following years for "Classmates" are the best. The number of visitors to the resource is constantly growing. Developers regularly release innovations for the project, which bring a lot of new opportunities.

Albert Mikhailovich Popkov continued to improve the first development, as well as "Comparison." Over the years of its existence, the project has developed significantly and received a lot of positive feedback from users.