VK.com: An Alternative to Facebook
May 27, 2016
VK is the name of the “old” VKontakte social networking service. My estimates peg the traffic to the site at about 30 percent of Facebook. The user count is in the 300 million range and growing. The user base is concentrated in Russia, but the service is attracting users from other countries. Online translation tools make it easy for a non Russian speaker to use the service.
Earlier this year, I read “German Neo Nazis Flocking to Putin’s Facebook Knock off VKontakte.” The write up seems a bit one sided, but social network sites allegedly linked to Mr. Putin suggests that a bit of additional research and investigation are warranted.
You can sign up and explore VK.com at www.vk.com. I provide some basics for appropriate prophylactic measures in my Dark Web lectures. One thought is okay here: Be prudent.
You will need a VK.com account to access an interesting facial recognition service called FindFace. The site looks like this:
Like Google’s “search by photo”, the FindFace service delivers close matches to the face you upload to the service. The Guardian published “Face Recognition App Taking Russia by Storm May Bring End to Public Anonymity.” The digital wannabe stated:
FindFace compares photos to profile pictures on social network Vkontakte and works out identities with 70% reliability.
I mention VK.com and FindFace because I was asked if there were an alternative to Facebook. The answer is, “VC.com.” However, the use of the service for certain types of groups and certain purposes is less easy than it was in the past. Some folks can use the VK.com apps and features instead of fooling around with Dark Web services.
Stephen E Arnold, May 27, 2016
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