Interview with Nikita Sherman (Odnoklassniki.Ru)
Less than a couple of weeks, as Nikita Sherman, the current head of all classmates, sent us the answers to almost all the questions asked to him . Moreover, Nikita chose the best of them and is ready to give the author some valuable prize :) We read:
What did you think when you were invited to head Odnoklassniki? How long have you thought about the offer?
When I received an offer to head Odnoklassniki, I was just thinking about where to go with my family to relax in the summer. Of course, such decisions are not made in one day, so there was a rather long period of negotiations. The decision was made shortly after returning from vacation.
Do you have an account on VKontakte?
Yes. And also in various other social networks. But I am not their active user.
Do you plan, Nikita, to involve Artemy Lebedev as the person who looks at the project?
We currently have no need to attract anyone further. Tyoma is an excellent specialist in the field of design, and if the need arises, I will definitely turn to him.
')
Nikita, do you plan on expanding free services and are more loyal to users who cannot / do not want to pay for paid services?
We are equally loyal to absolutely all users. Moreover, we are not forcing anyone to pay anything, this is a purely voluntary matter. There has not been a single restriction for existing free services. On the contrary, we propose to increase the limits for those who are willing to pay for it. The range of free services, of course, will actively develop. I will say even more, next year the most attention will be paid to the additional free functionality. Much will be trite redone and will become more convenient, there will be new sections and services.
Why do not want to conduct a symbiosis with Vkontakte (for example, a general search), which would be quite convenient.
We are very pleased to hold a symbiosis with Vkontakte as soon as the guys are in Moscow. I know a lot of good places where you can relax. But seriously, you are now talking about the union of two different commercial structures. To do this, we need to at least exchange shares in projects, but I am not sure what this is what shareholders want. With other scenarios, the creation of joint services (including the merging of user databases) is virtually impossible. Each company has its own interests, its own development vector and business ideology.
When will users cease to be required to constantly pass authorization on the site? The item "Remember" for beauty is simple?
This is related to security, and helps prevent part of users from hacking into accounts. Perhaps over time we will figure out how to make the entrance to the site more convenient.
How do you feel about the huge number of clones of your social network?
Absolutely normal. If you look at global practice, you can see that many successful projects, many immediately try to repeat. I really don’t remember the case when a clone exceeded the original in some way. It seems to me that repeating successful business cases is not a bit embarrassing (as, for example, the models of premium services invented in the dating are used to the full). However, copying projects entirely, and even with huge ambitions, is a lot of losers. In Russia, I know only two large companies that allow themselves this.
What do you think is missing odnoklasnikam.ru? Is it in vkontakte?
“Classmates” still lack a lot. Another thing that users do not notice. They are satisfied with the site in the form in which they are served. However, it is worth adding something new, as it immediately turns out that previously this was very much lacking)). We have ideas and concrete plans for the development of the resource. We will work on it.
When will you start paying extra users? After all, they are most of all looking at advertising on the site, they are most of all invited to communicate with other users and in general - this is your all!
And when will LJ users start paying, where users, among other things, also create content, due to which the site lives and develops? The answer is never. Because, firstly, users do not come there for money, but, secondly, in any case, every single user will never make any money worth it.
Will a third-party application platform be open for Odnoklassniki (or maybe you will make an open API)? If there are such plans, what functions will be available?
The open API will be, but I'm still afraid to call the exact dates. But it will not be open to all users of the site, but only to those legal entities with whom we will conclude an agreement guaranteeing pure rights and unique content. As the Russian experience shows, it makes no sense to do otherwise in our realities.
Why do you have a policy of tightening and prohibitions, an awkward interface and demand money for it?
Because we are evil and greedy.
Are you deliberately not working to improve the usability of the interface, so as not to frighten most of the audience? Or, after all, in the near future, we are waiting for "Classmates 2.0"?
Changes in the interface will be. It is simply impossible to do everything at once, although I really want to. Believe, we see our problem areas, and we are constantly working on improving the site.
When will you make a convenient viewing of photos with links <previous ... next> in the viewing window?
I will not name a specific date, but this is just around the corner.
How are things in general, the project costs pay off?
Yes, by the end of 2008 we were self-sufficient, and in 2009, despite the crisis, we are making plans for profit.
How much do you rate your service, how much can you really sell?
In the short term, shareholder plans do not include the sale of Odnoklassniki, and it is better to turn to independent experts for estimates.
Did the economic crisis affect Odnoklassniki.ru, how and why?
We never took loans and did not play on the stock exchange, so in this sense we are in a crisis without any serious consequences. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about other large companies, on which the advertising market as a whole depends. Therefore, the only adjustments made by the crisis in our business are a slowdown in the growth of revenue from the sale of display advertising.
Do you count “dead souls”, how many (in percentage) are they and what is it (what is the limit of weeks, for example) in your understanding?
Now, according to our data, about 25 million users are registered on the site. At the same time, more than 7 million “unique people” visit us daily. This indicates an extremely high activity. We never considered dead souls, because there is no point. Our advertisers pay only for live shows, and users are looking for friends and acquaintances. Therefore, the "dead", if there is, no one interferes.
Nikita, were your classmates hurt at school?
Of course, like in any other children's team, we had quarrels and fights. If you wanted to ask if I have any complexes related to some kind of psychological trauma received in childhood, then I have to disappoint, no. Incidentally, I also served in the army for two years, where, as you know, the first year they hurt everyone. But even from the service I have only the best memories.
Do any of your classmates know that you are running “Classmates”? What do they think about it?
Yes, some people know this, they are very pleased with my success, and this is mutual. One of my classmates now occupies a very high position in a very large Russian company, and he, like Habr’s readers, periodically teases me. And I have it;). We had a very good, friendly class.
Do you have a feeling that users are fed up with social networks like Odnoklassniki and vKontakte? If so, what do you think will be the next boom on the Internet?
No, I have no such feeling. Social networks are still the main locomotive of the Russian (and the global) Internet.
Are there any new projects?
Exclusively in the framework of the "Classmates", as already mentioned above.
Do you read Habrahabr? Are they registered on it? What is your karma?
I read Habrahabr, I have been acquainted with Denis Kryuchkov for a very long time, I am registered here and carefully studied all the questions received before they were censored. It can be said that I expected something like this, but in some places I was surprised by inadequate. I did not even expect that there would be such a number of normal questions, thank you. The other afftors, I hope, will soon grow up, will receive money for their own startup, they will consider themselves to be great uncles and they will understand that there are many beautiful and good things in the world. For karma, by the way, never chased.
Why don't you want to use another, more user-friendly, principle of monetization, rather than “send SMS and get 24 hours of advanced search”? Do you think that these functions make a positive karma to your project?
I didn’t quite understand what kind of search I was talking about (are you confusing with Mamba?), But if you know effective and friendly ways to monetize, come to us to work on our karma.
How many places does the whole project Odnoklassniki.Ru on servers?
If we are talking about the volume of data, then just right and I will not say. If the number of servers, it is many hundreds.
What does Albert Popkov, a former project manager? Do you see each other often?
We see each other quite often, but it is better to ask him questions about his employment.
Is Odnoklassniki.Ru a profitable company? What is your income forecast for 2009?
About the profitability already had the questions above, I answered. Forecasts are not ready to voice, much nicer to report on the results.
What will happen if a UFO arrives at the Odnoklassniki office and brings it in Pavel Durov's basket? What will your reaction be?
I am a very hospitable person, so I will treat this visit as loyally as possible. I will be happy to meet both UFOs and Pavel.
Why did you wind up the Runet Award?
Why did you kill Kennedy?
What, in your opinion, is the reason for the registration of most people on your resource? Is it just because you were the first? What is your secret?
The secret is in the root cause. People want to find their classmates, and other old acquaintances, and re-connect with them.
Nikita, imagine: tomorrow, millions of classmates, tired of playing with text messages, whole schools go to "in contact". Your actions?
We will take hostage Pavel Durov, who flew earlier to a UFO, and demand the return of our audience.
When will normal smilies appear on Odnoklassniki? The current is very scary!
And I generally got used to using text;)
Nikita, can I do with my photos, once published on your website, anything else? Or is the fact of branding your logo confirms your absolute ownership of my photos? If not, why is this stamping?
You can, if you promise to tell you later what you are doing with them.
Why the site can not send messages with the word vkontakte?
Because the amount of spam with this word at some point went too high, and a specially trained robot put it on the blacklist. Even we, by the way, did not ask.
How many people work on staff?
More than 50 people.
Do you pay for viral marketing?
No, we create it ourselves.
When you moved to Moscow, what were your plans?
There were plans to buy a car, an apartment, a house on the Mediterranean coast, and immediately dump from Moscow. But then I liked it, and decided to stay.
Do you have a car? How much time you spend in traffic jams every day?
I have a car, and I somehow thought very much that I spend about 1 month out of 12 in traffic jams a year. Therefore, at the first opportunity I moved to the service room, and now I use this time with greater benefit.
What is the most effective way to promote a social network?
The social network should promote itself.
How do you think classmates are better on Vkontakte and other social networks, and for what should people pay money?
I do not think Classmates should be better or worse. Here the audience votes by registrations and site visits. People usually pay money for various additional features, but they may not.
Is OpenSocial support planned?
There is no clear decision on this issue yet.
Why there is no search for incoming and outgoing messages? Why aren't all messages saved? Why did I delete my account from classmates back in May and still ask these questions?
Why are you absolutely not sorry?
Thank you all for the questions. Unfortunately, among those sent there were a lot of jokes, complexes about money and very few really good questions. Audience Award receives a question about symbiosis with VKontakte, the author can contact me for a prize. Good luck! Pysch pysch !! 11
What did you think when you were invited to head Odnoklassniki? How long have you thought about the offer?
When I received an offer to head Odnoklassniki, I was just thinking about where to go with my family to relax in the summer. Of course, such decisions are not made in one day, so there was a rather long period of negotiations. The decision was made shortly after returning from vacation.
Do you have an account on VKontakte?
Yes. And also in various other social networks. But I am not their active user.
Do you plan, Nikita, to involve Artemy Lebedev as the person who looks at the project?
We currently have no need to attract anyone further. Tyoma is an excellent specialist in the field of design, and if the need arises, I will definitely turn to him.
')
Nikita, do you plan on expanding free services and are more loyal to users who cannot / do not want to pay for paid services?
We are equally loyal to absolutely all users. Moreover, we are not forcing anyone to pay anything, this is a purely voluntary matter. There has not been a single restriction for existing free services. On the contrary, we propose to increase the limits for those who are willing to pay for it. The range of free services, of course, will actively develop. I will say even more, next year the most attention will be paid to the additional free functionality. Much will be trite redone and will become more convenient, there will be new sections and services.
Why do not want to conduct a symbiosis with Vkontakte (for example, a general search), which would be quite convenient.
We are very pleased to hold a symbiosis with Vkontakte as soon as the guys are in Moscow. I know a lot of good places where you can relax. But seriously, you are now talking about the union of two different commercial structures. To do this, we need to at least exchange shares in projects, but I am not sure what this is what shareholders want. With other scenarios, the creation of joint services (including the merging of user databases) is virtually impossible. Each company has its own interests, its own development vector and business ideology.
When will users cease to be required to constantly pass authorization on the site? The item "Remember" for beauty is simple?
This is related to security, and helps prevent part of users from hacking into accounts. Perhaps over time we will figure out how to make the entrance to the site more convenient.
How do you feel about the huge number of clones of your social network?
Absolutely normal. If you look at global practice, you can see that many successful projects, many immediately try to repeat. I really don’t remember the case when a clone exceeded the original in some way. It seems to me that repeating successful business cases is not a bit embarrassing (as, for example, the models of premium services invented in the dating are used to the full). However, copying projects entirely, and even with huge ambitions, is a lot of losers. In Russia, I know only two large companies that allow themselves this.
What do you think is missing odnoklasnikam.ru? Is it in vkontakte?
“Classmates” still lack a lot. Another thing that users do not notice. They are satisfied with the site in the form in which they are served. However, it is worth adding something new, as it immediately turns out that previously this was very much lacking)). We have ideas and concrete plans for the development of the resource. We will work on it.
When will you start paying extra users? After all, they are most of all looking at advertising on the site, they are most of all invited to communicate with other users and in general - this is your all!
And when will LJ users start paying, where users, among other things, also create content, due to which the site lives and develops? The answer is never. Because, firstly, users do not come there for money, but, secondly, in any case, every single user will never make any money worth it.
Will a third-party application platform be open for Odnoklassniki (or maybe you will make an open API)? If there are such plans, what functions will be available?
The open API will be, but I'm still afraid to call the exact dates. But it will not be open to all users of the site, but only to those legal entities with whom we will conclude an agreement guaranteeing pure rights and unique content. As the Russian experience shows, it makes no sense to do otherwise in our realities.
Why do you have a policy of tightening and prohibitions, an awkward interface and demand money for it?
Because we are evil and greedy.
Are you deliberately not working to improve the usability of the interface, so as not to frighten most of the audience? Or, after all, in the near future, we are waiting for "Classmates 2.0"?
Changes in the interface will be. It is simply impossible to do everything at once, although I really want to. Believe, we see our problem areas, and we are constantly working on improving the site.
When will you make a convenient viewing of photos with links <previous ... next> in the viewing window?
I will not name a specific date, but this is just around the corner.
How are things in general, the project costs pay off?
Yes, by the end of 2008 we were self-sufficient, and in 2009, despite the crisis, we are making plans for profit.
How much do you rate your service, how much can you really sell?
In the short term, shareholder plans do not include the sale of Odnoklassniki, and it is better to turn to independent experts for estimates.
Did the economic crisis affect Odnoklassniki.ru, how and why?
We never took loans and did not play on the stock exchange, so in this sense we are in a crisis without any serious consequences. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about other large companies, on which the advertising market as a whole depends. Therefore, the only adjustments made by the crisis in our business are a slowdown in the growth of revenue from the sale of display advertising.
Do you count “dead souls”, how many (in percentage) are they and what is it (what is the limit of weeks, for example) in your understanding?
Now, according to our data, about 25 million users are registered on the site. At the same time, more than 7 million “unique people” visit us daily. This indicates an extremely high activity. We never considered dead souls, because there is no point. Our advertisers pay only for live shows, and users are looking for friends and acquaintances. Therefore, the "dead", if there is, no one interferes.
Nikita, were your classmates hurt at school?
Of course, like in any other children's team, we had quarrels and fights. If you wanted to ask if I have any complexes related to some kind of psychological trauma received in childhood, then I have to disappoint, no. Incidentally, I also served in the army for two years, where, as you know, the first year they hurt everyone. But even from the service I have only the best memories.
Do any of your classmates know that you are running “Classmates”? What do they think about it?
Yes, some people know this, they are very pleased with my success, and this is mutual. One of my classmates now occupies a very high position in a very large Russian company, and he, like Habr’s readers, periodically teases me. And I have it;). We had a very good, friendly class.
Do you have a feeling that users are fed up with social networks like Odnoklassniki and vKontakte? If so, what do you think will be the next boom on the Internet?
No, I have no such feeling. Social networks are still the main locomotive of the Russian (and the global) Internet.
Are there any new projects?
Exclusively in the framework of the "Classmates", as already mentioned above.
Do you read Habrahabr? Are they registered on it? What is your karma?
I read Habrahabr, I have been acquainted with Denis Kryuchkov for a very long time, I am registered here and carefully studied all the questions received before they were censored. It can be said that I expected something like this, but in some places I was surprised by inadequate. I did not even expect that there would be such a number of normal questions, thank you. The other afftors, I hope, will soon grow up, will receive money for their own startup, they will consider themselves to be great uncles and they will understand that there are many beautiful and good things in the world. For karma, by the way, never chased.
Why don't you want to use another, more user-friendly, principle of monetization, rather than “send SMS and get 24 hours of advanced search”? Do you think that these functions make a positive karma to your project?
I didn’t quite understand what kind of search I was talking about (are you confusing with Mamba?), But if you know effective and friendly ways to monetize, come to us to work on our karma.
How many places does the whole project Odnoklassniki.Ru on servers?
If we are talking about the volume of data, then just right and I will not say. If the number of servers, it is many hundreds.
What does Albert Popkov, a former project manager? Do you see each other often?
We see each other quite often, but it is better to ask him questions about his employment.
Is Odnoklassniki.Ru a profitable company? What is your income forecast for 2009?
About the profitability already had the questions above, I answered. Forecasts are not ready to voice, much nicer to report on the results.
What will happen if a UFO arrives at the Odnoklassniki office and brings it in Pavel Durov's basket? What will your reaction be?
I am a very hospitable person, so I will treat this visit as loyally as possible. I will be happy to meet both UFOs and Pavel.
Why did you wind up the Runet Award?
Why did you kill Kennedy?
What, in your opinion, is the reason for the registration of most people on your resource? Is it just because you were the first? What is your secret?
The secret is in the root cause. People want to find their classmates, and other old acquaintances, and re-connect with them.
Nikita, imagine: tomorrow, millions of classmates, tired of playing with text messages, whole schools go to "in contact". Your actions?
We will take hostage Pavel Durov, who flew earlier to a UFO, and demand the return of our audience.
When will normal smilies appear on Odnoklassniki? The current is very scary!
And I generally got used to using text;)
Nikita, can I do with my photos, once published on your website, anything else? Or is the fact of branding your logo confirms your absolute ownership of my photos? If not, why is this stamping?
You can, if you promise to tell you later what you are doing with them.
Why the site can not send messages with the word vkontakte?
Because the amount of spam with this word at some point went too high, and a specially trained robot put it on the blacklist. Even we, by the way, did not ask.
How many people work on staff?
More than 50 people.
Do you pay for viral marketing?
No, we create it ourselves.
When you moved to Moscow, what were your plans?
There were plans to buy a car, an apartment, a house on the Mediterranean coast, and immediately dump from Moscow. But then I liked it, and decided to stay.
Do you have a car? How much time you spend in traffic jams every day?
I have a car, and I somehow thought very much that I spend about 1 month out of 12 in traffic jams a year. Therefore, at the first opportunity I moved to the service room, and now I use this time with greater benefit.
What is the most effective way to promote a social network?
The social network should promote itself.
How do you think classmates are better on Vkontakte and other social networks, and for what should people pay money?
I do not think Classmates should be better or worse. Here the audience votes by registrations and site visits. People usually pay money for various additional features, but they may not.
Is OpenSocial support planned?
There is no clear decision on this issue yet.
Why there is no search for incoming and outgoing messages? Why aren't all messages saved? Why did I delete my account from classmates back in May and still ask these questions?
Why are you absolutely not sorry?
Thank you all for the questions. Unfortunately, among those sent there were a lot of jokes, complexes about money and very few really good questions. Audience Award receives a question about symbiosis with VKontakte, the author can contact me for a prize. Good luck! Pysch pysch !! 11
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/45588/
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