REVIEW: "Durov's Code" - filling in the gaps in the history of "VKontakte"

In October, the distant 2007, I opened the laptop, sitting in an apartment in another strange city (which moved live only 2 months as a), I checked the mail and saw an invite from a former classmate on a strange site. Everything looked nice and vaguely reminiscent of another site - Facebook, where I signed up for a couple of weeks before this (and there were not really clear to whom and why do we need these new projects under the name of "social network "). If someone told me that after 3 years of the second site will be removed sverhkassovy film, and the first 6 years later write one of the most talked about books of the Russian Internet - I'd probably very surprised. But the fact remains: today at my desk - 188 pages of text on the social network, "grown" from the St. Petersburg student hangouts in the project with nearly 140 million users. This survey - about book of Nicholas Kononov "Durov's Code"And we are talking about VKontakte.

The main thing about the book

Author "Durov's Code" - no employee of "VKontakte" (backstage and "yellow" details in the book there is little, there operedelennye hints, but they are likely to "artistic" than for the scandal), or full-time biographer (up to glory and "weight category" Steve Jobs Pavel Durov apparently still "not mature enough"), a Russian journalist with many years experience.

Nikolai Kononov - the chief editor of the daily publication of a new wave of entrepreneurs Hopes & Fears (Familiar to those who follow the pool of projects, "vyroschennyh" under the patronage of the LAM). He graduated from the Moscow State University, was a reporter of "Izvestia", was a columnist of the magazine "Expert" and the Russian version of Forbes. And then Nikolai Kononov has written a book, "God without a car.. 20 stories of crazy, made in Russia a business from scratch, "published his new book in 2013 on the shelves of bookstores - on This time about Paul Durov and his idea became a business (or a business that has become the idea - it's how you look), called "In contact with". Publisher by the Russian "myth", which regular readers "Layfhakera" already familiar.

What we liked:

• Consistent presentation and many details about the early history of "VKontakte" and preceding the projects he / idea Durov and his team.
• Details of the relationship between the "Classmates" and "VKontakte" in times of conflict, the top management of the two major CIS social networks.
• Durov appearance of the book as a person of flesh and blood, With its disadvantages, advantages, "kinks" if you want (and not some mythological image, which he often used to depict everything from the journalists themselves to VKontakte users). Although the "totem" (as it is called in the book Kononov) still present here more as a "cult figure."

That did not like:

• "Literariness"All these deviations from the main line and the word "beautiful" with metaphors and inserts on the streets of St. Petersburg / winters / Autumn / crowds / architectures sometimes pretty annoying.
• All of the most problematic areas author elegantly bypassed: From where eventually happened to the share of the early shareholders to how is the operating and Financial "alignment" in the company right now (well, of course, that the sensational resignation Tsipluhina book also still not).

Lessons... Is it possible to immediately remove any lessons?

Perhaps you can. Lessons, although not as much as in business books:

• Believe in your goal, do what you have - and whether it would be.
• Make the enemy / partner / competitor to play by your rules through the rational, but hard study "why it is so," and not only on a whim.
• To create a mass service and massive interest, it is necessary to provoke the masses. Sometimes provoke the masses to think and sometimes - make rash and even silly things (as was the case with any initiatives such as "Duras, return wall", "Turn off the microblogging" and other bursts "homyachizma" to a wide audience In contact with).

Verdict

The subtitle of the book reads: "The Real Story" VKontakte "and its creator." In fact, as described in the book (minus the "literariness" of the Matrix, geniuses and thrash with fervor) is true, it is possible to question and criticize the style or completeness of the presentation of the facts. And you can see the "Code Durov" as a good attempt to fill this huge "white spot" on behalf of "the history of VKontakte". The attempt failed, the mass of users of the social network strongly recommend reading.

"Code Durov," Nikolai Kononov

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