for all .com non believers out there

[Emil]

http://hitech.newsru.com/article/15jun2011/vkcom

articles pretty much says how vkontakte.ru is switching to vk.com instead given all the regulatory nightmare in Russia!!

[Emil]

believe that is a nail in a coffin for .ru...anyone keeping a score of how many nails already ;)

[Explorer]

Great find! This is huge news. The article is also saying that vkontakte.ru (Russian Facebook, probably more than 75% of Russian internet users) will switch from its domain vkontakte.ru to vk.com in one month because vk.com is shorter, better looking, etc. There is also speculation that by going with vk.com, the company will be free of .ru "rules". Of course, they can't really say that publicly. The article also implies that by switching to .com, the company also solves the problem of being "global". In other words, it's hard to market vkontakte.ru (or vkontakte.rf for that matter) to ukranians, where as vk.com is a domain with a global extension.

The plan has been in the works for a while, it seems, given that that vk.com domain was purchased in September of 2009. They could have bought vk.ru from a small chocolate factory, but they chose .com.

What it means for .com is

1. Millions of people who speak Russian will start to get accustomed to a .com extension.
2. There is a strong possibility that other social network/major companies catering to Russian-speaking audience will follow suit.
3. Type-in traffic for com/.ком should increase dramatically.

[g]

there are not .com non believers

there are dot.com illiterate

dot com will rule for ever ;)

[Rubber Duck]

OK, so which one of you lot bought the Cyrillic version of the dot Com?

[idn]

OK, so which one of you lot bought the Cyrillic version of the dot Com?

Pretty sure DKG (AKA Michael/Moshe) and his affiliates bought it.

[555]

Pretty sure DKG (AKA Michael/Moshe) and his affiliates bought it.Would be nice but not mine :)

[squirrel]

+1 Emil

[555]

Press is liking it: http://news.google.co.il/news/story?region=ru&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=ru&ncl=dQ1-Bi4FIIaFivMi_ceU8bfJEp3sM

"Выход в .сom – это заявка на глобальную экспансию."

In bad translation: Going out to .com - This is a global expansion.

http://www.gazeta.ru/business/2011/06/15/3662369.shtml

[squirrel]

http://forum.searchengines.ru/showthread.php?p=9078507

:D

thanks Michael

[Steve Clarke]

The Cyrillic version will drawing a boatload of daily traffic.
It only makes sense that they look to acquire it, as well.

[blastfromthepast]

"Выход в .сom – это заявка на глобальную экспансию."

In bad translation: Going out to .com - This is a global expansion.

Our going out [of .ru] and going into .com — is an announcement of our global expansion [to the world market].

[Rubber Duck]

Our going out [of .ru] and going into .com — is an announcement of our global expansion [to the world market].

Yeah, you look at items like this and then you read the commentary from Domainfest Europe on DNJ and you just ask WTF?

[555]

There is also speculation that by going with vk.com, the company will be free of .ru "rules". Of course, they can't really say that publicly.

One of the articles announcing the change got an opinion from three locals that i assume are considered 'experts' in they're field and two of the three specifically also feel as Explorer above that clearly more then anything this is a move away of local jurisdiction.

1. «ВКонтакте» просто хочет обезопаситься от нападок государственных органов.

"VKontakte" just wants to insure against government attacks.


2. Первая, кажущаяся самой очевидной, — это желание уйти из-под юрисдикции отечественных правоохранительных органов и правообладателей.

First, the seeming the most obvious - is the desire to escape from the jurisdiction of local law enforcement agencies and rights holders.

http://www.aif.ru/money/opinions/1667

[Drewbert]

Moving to .com from .ru to avoid government attacks is fine, until ICE decide they don't like you.

[blastfromthepast]

May Russian IT companies are actually incorporated outside of Russia and do business in Russia virtually.

[Drewbert]

So how long have they had vk.com, and where did they get it from?

[555]

Around Sep. 2009 it seems and i didn't find a price http://habrahabr.ru/blogs/social_networks/68807/

[Drewbert]

Previous owner?

[DktoInc]

They also have a huge database of movies and videos on their site that would be considered pirated in many countries, the domain seasure on .com can apply to them, just like it did for the many torrent sites in the US. That would be a huge loss if that happened.

[555]

Previous owner?
Likely either contactanything @ 10 .com or contact@ anything .com

On a side note, the name 10.com is one of many names that someone who decided to leave the domain business in 2004 posted on DNForum for anyone to register as they were available back then.

7 years after and it's a different world, and i won't even directly connect it to idn's because honestly, as of now, you are much too late then you may have liked to be but surely compared to ASCII you have an opportunity that only comes around once in a lifetime still.

[555]

They also have a huge database of movies and videos on their site that would be considered pirated in many countries, the domain seasure on .com can apply to them, just like it did for the many torrent sites in the US. That would be a huge loss if that happened.
Not sure you can hold them or other social networks responsible the same way the us govt seems to treat torrent sites.

[DktoInc]

Not sure you can hold them or other social networks responsible the same way the us govt seems to treat torrent sites.


I watched Pirates of the Caribean 4, few days ago on it. It is still in theaters here. Nice quality too.

[jose]

http://mashable.com/2011/06/20/russia-social-media-marketing/

[Explorer]

An update: vkontakte.ru is now permanently redirecting all traffic to vk.com.

Check out the traffic.
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/vk.com

and trends

http://www.google.com/trends?q=vk.com

[Emil]

for a #1 social network in Russia (last time i checked that was in fact the statistic) to switch from .ru to .com = i think it is monumental development. And if you believe that social media typically leads (which isnt much of a stretch to believe it) then other internet domain holders shouldnt be too far behind...fingers crossed :)

[Explorer]

Yes, the most popular Russian domain just got a .com extension.

[bumblebee man]

excellent.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Drewbert]

I liiiiike!

[yanni]

I liiiiike!

I was sure you would. How's the traff.?

[Drewbert]

Traffic jumped from around 900/day to 1200/day on the 25th Jan.

[squirrel]

Nice. They'll come knocking.

[yanni]

Traffic jumped from around 900/day to 1200/day on the 25th Jan.

Groovy! May it reach 2k by end of this month :)

[IDNCowboy]

nice stats

[blastfromthepast]

ВК is also a common abbreviation for volleyball club.