The social network VKontakte is very popular. In VKontakte we can find old friends or make new ones, chat, read the latest news, look at the weather forecast, play solitaire, listen to our favorite music. You can also use the page for work or business.
Based on information from a person’s account, you can draw certain conclusions for yourself. Here you can leave reviews and comments. It is very convenient that the application can be easily installed on your phone.
If you are new to social networks, it would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the terminology of this area in order to understand what we are talking about. Below is a transcript of some of them.
Brief dictionary
Some meanings of terms, explanation:
- "net" - network, Internet
- “google” - find in “Google”
- Google - search engine, information system, browser
- "browser" - a browser for viewing web pages
- “ava”, “avatar” - graphical representation of the user
- “icon” - a two-dimensional image of an avatar
- “lags” - works slowly (talking about computer applications)
- “hangs, glitches” - slows down work
- “administrator” is a specialist who controls the operation of computer systems and networks
- “ban” - prohibit the user from doing something
- "virus" - malicious program
- “driver” is a program for ensuring communication between a computer and any device
- “click” - pressing the mouse button
- "login" - username
- "nick" - pseudonym
- “screenshot” - a photo of the screen at the moment
- “smile” is a graphic representation of the emotions of a person writing a message
- “teapot” - a nickname for a person who is not versed in computer technology
- “chat” - correspondence between several users at once
With this basic set of words it will be easier for you to master the latest computer technologies.
Communication
The chat options of the VK mobile client allow you to have a conversation with several users at once. In addition to text, you can attach photos, music, videos, documents, cards and gifts to messages. The application has a large collection of themed emoticons and stickers. The newest collections of stickers and gifts are paid.
In addition to chatting, users of the VKontakte utility can leave messages on their page or on another person’s wall, as well as comment on posts of friends and communities.
About registration on PC and phone
In order to use the service, you must register. To do this, use the link https://vk.com/ on your computer (copy and paste into the browser line.
In the registration field, enter your data, click “register” and wait for an SMS on your phone, enter the confirmation code you received, send it and start creating a new page.
Mobile application VKontakte for Android
Go to Google Play, type VK into the search bar, the official version will pop up first in the search results, install it on your phone. After downloading, register using your phone number or log into your existing account by entering your username and password.
Mobile application for iPhones
Click on the App Store icon, enter VK in the search, download the free version and use it.
Entertainment
The Games section of the VKontakte application displays entertainment created specifically for VK users. Here you can start playing any proposed game from the Recommended, Strategy, Puzzle categories. Also on this page the successes and activity of friends in entertainment for VK are indicated. Latest VKontakte updates for Android:
- additional options in the utility settings;
- the ability to subscribe to notifications about new posts on community and people pages;
- commenting on posts on behalf of the community.
You may be interested in: Updating the VK application on Android
Where what? Tour of the main page of VKontakte
Let's take the example of my page. The top horizontal panel (1) contains a search line; you can enter the first name, last name or nickname of the person you are looking for.
System notifications (2) pop up nearby, showing who added or deleted you as a friend, as well as who liked the photos, videos, and notes you posted.
To the right is the playlist (No. 3 list of music) and, in fact, the player. By clicking on the arrow (4) on the right next to the avatar, a menu pops up with the following items:
- Go to VK Connect
- Settings
- Help
- Logout
The first point is a single VK Connect account. To understand in detail what it is eaten with, read the confidentiality and conditions.
Using the second point, it is easy to change information about yourself: set up a profile, update your password, change contact information, etc.
The “help” section makes it possible to get answers to the most common questions.
On the left of the main page, the vertical bar also contains several items. The news feed shows posts from your communities and events from your friends' pages. New photos and notes will not go unnoticed. Messenger messages contains all your correspondence. The “friends” item displays a list of all your friends and those who are currently online, that is, online. Go ahead.
You can create a community yourself or join an existing one, depending on your interests. To create, click the desired button and select a category.
Everything is clear below. Personal photo albums, videos, music, games, products offered by friends and their acquaintances.
Online contacts appear in the lower right corner (1). You can add information to the wall through the message window (2), adding the selected files, and clicking the “send” button (3).
One user can have several personal pages. This is not prohibited by law.
Platform
For us, of course, the architecture of the project is of particular interest: how the main components of the system interact, what in-house developments were required, what tricks we had to use. But before moving on to it, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic things - the technologies and products used.
Debian Linux is used as the main operating system - a time-tested solution, one of the oldest and most stable modern distributions. To balance the load between application servers, the nginx HTTP server operating in reverse proxy mode is used. His responsibilities include maintaining a connection with the user’s browser and transmitting requests to servers responsible for executing the PHP code, as well as monitoring the delivery of the result back to the browser. PHP code is executed using the mod_php module for Apache - there are quite a few alternative options, especially based on the FastCGI protocol, but VKontakte management took a more conservative path in this matter, using the most time-tested solution. No special systems for optimizing the performance of PHP code are used (for example, Facebook wrote its own PHP to C compiler called HipHop), the only external optimization is op-code caching using the publicly available XCache solution.
The situation with data storage looks quite vague: on the one hand, its own database management system, written in C and created by the “best minds” of Russia, is actively used, on the other hand, MySQL was often mentioned as the main storage. I will tell you more about my own VKontakte database below. Speaking about data storage, one cannot fail to mention such an important aspect as caching frequently used information (locating it in RAM for quick access). For this, a very popular product in this area is used - memcached. If you haven't heard: this system allows you to perform very simple atomic operations, such as locating and retrieving arbitrary data by key. The main feature is lightning-fast access and the ability to easily combine the RAM of a large number of servers into a common array for temporary storage of “hot” data.
Third-party projects that are not key to VKontakte are often implemented either using rather exotic solutions, or, conversely, using the simplest technologies. For example, the instant messaging service is implemented in node.js (you can read more about this development in the article “Server-side JavaScript” in ][ 08/2010) using the XMPP aka Jabber protocol (we will return to it later). Video conversion is implemented using the simplest and most effective library - ffmpeg, which also runs the very popular VLC video player.
Main technologies used
- Debian Linux is the main operating system
- nginx - load balancing
- PHP + XCache
- Apache + mod_php
- memcached
- MySQL
- Own DBMS in C, created by the “best minds” of Russia
- node.js - a layer for implementing the XMPP protocol, lives behind HAProxy (haproxy.1wt.eu)
- xfs - file system for storing images and delivering them to the user
- ffmpeg - video conversion
About status, how to add your photos
To convey your mood to everyone or convey important information, fill out the status line, it is located under your name.
Just click and write the key phrase in the window that opens and save.
Using the status, you can make an appointment with friends or share something by clicking on the “Tell Friends” button.
To upload personal photos, click on photos in the left column, then click on the “Add Photos” button, select a file, and upload. For ease of use, we create several albums.
The same steps can be done when downloading a video.
By storing records of your favorite films, songs and other information on VKontakte, you will not have to clog up the memory of your own computer. Agree, it’s always nice to share something useful with a friend.
Statistics
- 95 million accounts
- 40 million active users worldwide (comparable to the Internet audience in Russia)
- 11 billion requests per day
- 200 million private messages per day
- Video stream reaches 160Gbps
- More than 10 thousand servers, of which only 32 are frontends on nginx (the number of servers with Apache is unknown)
- 30-40 developers, 2 designers, 5 system administrators, many people in data centers
- About 10 hard drives fail every day
About page hacking, VKontakte security
It happens that you cannot log in using your username and password. Or messages are sent from your account and “liked”. Perhaps a virus “stole” your password. In such a case, you need to disconnect the network cable from the computer to avoid repeated theft and change the password. If access is not restored, immediately contact support.
Pages are hacked by scammers who want to send advertisements and all sorts of spam (garbage) on your behalf. Also in order to find out or delete any information.
Register the page with a valid mailbox and phone number. If you lose your mail, you can restore it at https://vk.com/restore. You can change your phone number in your settings, URL https://vk.com/settings.
To prevent scammers from guessing the password for your account, it must be, to a certain extent, complex. Its length must be at least 9 characters, including small and large letters of various alphabets, numbers and symbols.
There is no need to use personal data in the password: dates of birth, names of pets. Also use different passwords for different accounts.
There are several ways to find out someone else's password:
- Manual selection
- Virus infection
- Deception
Never give out your passwords
people on social networks, even if they introduce themselves as technical support workers!
What are the dangers of Get Contact?
The application was created by LLC GetContact, which was founded in the UK by developers from Turkey. According to the creators, the application operates successfully in 148 countries. The application has already been banned in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Now Roskomnadzor is actively checking it. If the examination confirms that the service violates laws on personal data and their protection, then it will be banned in Russia. Its main danger lies in the terms of use of the service. In particular, by installing the application, the user agrees:
- Open your phone book for the service base.
- Provide access to your personal data.
- Provide the developer with the right to transfer personal information to third parties.
Access to personal information
Some of the information the app can distribute includes phone numbers, social accounts, personal photos, mailing addresses, IP addresses and phone records. By providing all this data, users risk subsequently encountering aggressive spam and viruses.
Afterword
VKontakte does not have the “Page Guests” service. Not everyone may like this type of control. Apps that claim to be able to view guest information are actually misleading.
VKontakte has many useful functions: it turns out that you can make money transactions through messages without even knowing the details. Based on various groups, it is possible to create real online stores, and there is a personal mobile operator.
The support group is staffed by people, not robots, so you can easily get answers to all your questions.
All the best, with respect Dmitry M.
How to quickly gain real subscribers in a VKontakte group: expert advice
Achieving maximum results regarding group promotion is possible only with the integrated use of the methods outlined above. Of course, recruiting real participants seems to be the most difficult task.
Therefore, you can use the advice of experienced specialists:
- When inviting people to the community yourself , it is recommended to work with users who are online. In this case, applications are not wasted (their number per day is limited). Often people rarely visit their accounts, so why send an application that you don’t know when they will see it.
- You don't need to rely only on free methods . They work 100% with the exceptional uniqueness of the product. Believe me, such things are very rare, although similar things have happened. A successfully released video or an exceptional application developed can easily reach the level of a multinational brand in 2-3 weeks.
- People are reluctant to join a group with a small number of participants . Therefore, you need to connect programs or professionals. For example, use the services of freelancers on contractual terms. Special services provide this opportunity. The customer sets goals (involvement in the group, likes, reposts, etc.), the performer names the cost of the work and guarantees its completion.
And finally, constantly updated information (writing news, adding albums, videos and other material) helps to keep participants active, increase their number, and be in the TOP positions in search engines. Abandoned and spammed groups are of no interest to real subscribers.
