Odnoklassniki.ru – Russian classmates, but abroad?

My last post about Odnoklassniki.ru became the most popular post on this blog. It’s by far more popular than all the tips, links, and tutorials that I’ve written here, combined. It comes up pretty high in related Google search results and brings quite a bit of traffic. It also brings in some comments.

Most of the comments are from people who mistakenly assume that this blog is some sort of support forum for all the troubles they have with Odnoklassniki.ru, or, even, that this site IS in itself Odnoklassniki.ru. I am trying to limit those comments, since they don’t belong here. On the other hand though, there are some really insightful comments.

For example, Gennadiy Zaretskiy has recently posted a comment with the link to this article. Here is what caught my attention:

Foreign users constitute a significant share of the project “Odnoklassniki” audience. According to Mr. Popkov, about 20% of the traffic comes from abroad.

Wow! “20% of the traffic comes from abroad“. That seems like a lot. Odnoklassniki.ru web site is in Russian. Only Russian-speaking folks can make use of it. Also, the whole topic of the classmates is tied very much into specifically Russian users. So, does that mean that about 20% of computer literate (at least to some deree), educated (at least to some degree) young (mostly) people either live, study, or work outside of Russia?

That. Seems. Like. A. Lot.

45 thoughts on “Odnoklassniki.ru – Russian classmates, but abroad?”


  1. Just simply taking stats on my ex-classmates that I consider friends, both at school and from uni, the figure is about right. Yes, about 20% of all computer literate and educated young people in Russia choose to live, work or study abroad. It’s especially new for Russia, which traditionally was separated from the rest of the world.


  2. Sorry, but I need some clarification re:
    ==According to Mr. Popkov, about 20% of the traffic comes from abroad==

    Does it mean that the servers on which the “odnoklassnikis” have registered their accounts are located abroad (or their web-sites are hosted from abroad)? If it does then … to leave abroad and to have an e- mail address abroad – these are two different things.


  3. Lana,

    the meaning is that roughly 20% of visitors of the odnoklassniki.ru web site come from outside of Russia. Not the email addresses, but actual web users. If you visit Odnoklassniki.ru – you are the part of those 20% :)


  4. I’m trying to log on odnoklassniki.ru and can’t do it for sometime today. Is there some technical problems to support that kind of traffic?Thanks.


  5. the meaning is that roughly 20% of visitors of the odnoklassniki.ru web site come from outside of Russia.

    If visitors from Ukraine, Belorussia, Estonia, Georgia are included in those 20%, the number seems a bit low to me.


  6. Apparently they (admins of OK.ru) can not cope with the amount of requests to log in or even to download the starting page.

    Abt myself: from Ivanovo; abt 80% of uni-mates moved to Moscow; this year there will be only 2 of us abroad (my mate joins our community); couple of those who became millionares won’t leave Russia. Conclusion: less than 10% moved abroad but there are much more other talented who stayed there.


  7. I think that the people, who leave abroad, are more interested into finding old classmates or friends. When you leave in another country with another language, is much more difficult to find new friends. 20% means TRAFFIC, not the number of users. People from outside of Russia have more possibilities to access internet during a day.


  8. Gennadiy,

    I’m not sure about the specifics of “abroad” people, but I tend to think that people who moved from those places where they studied are more likely to search for ex-classmates on Odnoklassniki.

    Regarding the traffic – yes, I understand the difference. But, I think that there is a correlation in this particular case. I don’t think that people who abroad use Odnoklassniki in any way different to those people who are “at home”.


  9. Leonid,
    I am Russian, nearly 70 years old, living abroad. The majority of my class- or even uni- mates living in Russia are not familiar with computers and often don’t have them. Their children have been getting in touch with me after I got registered on odnoklassniki.ru. This might be a reason of such a big traffic from abroad. Nearly each letter I receive represents one really registered person (my mate’s child) and one (sometimes two) virtual ones (my mate/s). What do you think about it?


  10. SIB,

    My first reaction was “Wow!”. :)

    I’m glad that technology has finally reached that point when it is accessible and useful to people who outside of their teen years. I think it’s amazing how sometimes people get connected across countries and generations.

    As to the question of traffic, I wonder how many (in total numbers or percentage-wise) of your class- and uni- mates are abroad and how many stayed in the country?


  11. It is true that there are many foreign people around the world who got education in ex Soviet Union and presently working in their respective countries or in Europe there are no means for them to connect to their old friends odnoklassniki is a very good platform for them.


  12. I’M LIVE IN CANAD A AND SO FAR ALL MY ATTEMPTS TO REGISTER TO THIS SITE FAILED. DOES SOMEONE HAVE ANY IDEA ON HOW IT CAN BE DONE??


  13. i live in the uk, have an account with hotmail, all attempts to register with OK.ru fail, it does not recognise my e-mail address. any similar problems anybody?


  14. Alex,

    I really doubt it will allow registration of the second user with the same email address. If it will, there won’t be any way to distinguish between two different users.


  15. Hi, I was pleasantly shorked to find out from my friend Ola of the existing webside. I’ve been in the UK for the last 7 years I left uni after my second year, it is not so bad abroad after all. Love you and miss you and my Ukraine alot.


  16. I have become addicted to Odnoklasniki last month. Ihave emigrated from Moscow in 79, have had little interst and contact with calssmates, but through this site one can find anybody, who is registred, not just form school, so I have been connecting with frinds, who are now in US, Israel, Germany, Russia etc. Once we connect, we ofenexchange ral emails too, for direct contacts, but still chek in once ina while on the sitel


  17. Hi

    I live in Australia and registered on “Odnoklassniki” last week mostly because I wanted to find my uni friends. Unfortunately, I have no luck so far. Did anyone study in Samara State Pedagogical Institute in 1986-1991? Faculty of Foreign Languages? Did anyone know Vita Zumerman?
    Also, does anyone know if there is a separate website for Russian classmates/uni mates who live abroad? Would really appreciate your help.


  18. Hi,

    Odnoklassniki blocked me. I am simply not able to access the site. I had to admit that in the beginning I was very excited about this idea, found my old budies and friends. But in 1 month I’ve actually got bored (from all these achievements’ demos) and started to get some bugging letters. So I wrote to all my friends that this is the reason why I’m leaving for now but will create a fresh account for closest friends later (just to exchange). This is what I successfully did but in 1 day it stopped working. Now, a thing is that I used 5 computers to access the site before and now I can’t access it from all these comps (IP addresses are stored somethere). Then, I found that many people who live specifically abroad (me in Canada) have been treated the same way. Someone said that only those who show any sort of site abuse are treated this way.

    Excuse me, may they routinely read all our messages (11 mln of people)? Have access to our comps? Simply block someone freely expressing his opinion as a site abuser?
    Did anyone had a similar experience to mine?
    Because this successful russian project stinks to me…


  19. Lisa,

    I don’t think (actually I am pretty sure) that you were blocked for whatever you did. The web site has plenty of scalability and connectivity issues to deal with, and I think that you not being able to access it is related to those problems. They have enough troubles as they are to engage in all the overhead of heavy censorship. So, don’t worry, give them a few days and they’ll be back for your location. :)


  20. same here Lisa, i can`t get access to the site for weeks already. wonder how can this be solved….


  21. Me too, I cant access odnoklasskiki.ru, I even tried to access it from different computers. Still did not work. I have same problem with diary.ru.


  22. I was using Odnoklasniki. from Brooklyn and I was having one picture of dog they CLOSED my account , telling me because I am not allowed to have that picture. I dont get it …I see sex pictures in Odniklassnik. I see with army and some CATS, dogs and websites. They CLOSE my Activation…this is RUSSIA. I am glad I dont live ther ANYMORE!!!


  23. I have the same troubles as other people here with website odnoklassniki.ru,i opened once and in few hours the site was blocked and i can’t open it anymore.please, help to find a way how to unblock it, i met a lot friends there are, whose i didn’t hear long time…………


  24. God bless whoever created “Odnoklassniki” . I’ve lost contact with all my classmates years ago and now I found them again! That’s not the best friends you make in school, they are the only friends you will ever have. I even found my first love with simple press of the button. Life is good,,,


  25. I belive there is such a high persent of foreign members of odnoklassniki.ru site because of high speed of internet and unlimited availability in most of western countries. So anyone from Russia who lives abroad can open and use it easily, unlike many Russian classmates, who can either limited internet on no computer.


  26. I know what the 20 % are…
    I live in germany and my parents were born in kasachstan
    I would say around 5 million people who live in germany were born in kasachstan, too, so they went to school there, too
    and now they look for old school friends on odnoklassniki.ru


  27. odnoklassniki.ru really it is a very good site. you can find there people all over the world.But now this site is blocked.After the coflict of Russia -Georgia.


  28. I am looking for my old classmates form st.Petersburg from school nuber 301. IF anybody will help me to find my old classmets I will be happy. I emergated form St.Petersburg in 1988.


  29. I can not get activation of the account in the odnaklasniki because I do not have a mobil from the list on the web site. If anibody from school 1207 o 1507 (Moscow, Russia, graduation year 1994, class A) reads this comment, I would be very happy to hear from you.


  30. I hope Odnoklassniki or some 3rd party will create an account activation service for people outside of Russia. Not all of us know someone in Russia that can pay for our account activation.


  31. Please help to log in into my account. Seems like I have registered a while ago in Russia and don’t remember my password. How can I reset my password? I live in USA. Thanks~


  32. Found my Russian girlfriend Galina on Odnoklassniki. We were talking marriage and she was to come back to Ireland, but had to go to home place to fit it up but she was secretly going to meet with guys from her school and arranging to meet in Moscow too, only guys who were divorced. Strange she wasn’t arranging to meet with her old girlfriends only guys.

    Thank you Odnoklassniki before it was too late,


  33. I’ve been thinking about joining Odnoklassniki, because I have living relatives in Russia, but I live in the United States. I was hoping I could search the site like Facebook, seeing limited information before becoming a member, but that does not seem possible. Others like me may be part of the 20% foreign visitors to the site.

    [I realize I’m posting on an old thread.]


    1. Odnoklassniki is really horrible these days. I was even trying to delete my account, but I didn’t find a way and their tech support obviously just ignores my requests. If you are looking for people – try joining Facebook or its Russian alternative – http://vkontakte.ru/ . Neither of these sites has the Russian audience that Odnoklassniki has, but you might still find everyone you want.


  34. From Canada, the website allowed me to register, but after asking for the code I got a whole lot of nothing. Tried multiple occasions and still nothing. Its a shame, found people on there but its like I am a ghost, on mute. With Paypal and all that, I can’t believe they can’t capitalize on the foreigners who are trying to re-connect with the old pals.
    Will stick to fb perhaps.

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