My World@Mail.Ru is a social network which is a part of Mail.ru portal. My World is the third most popular Russian social network, after VK.com and Odnoklassniki. All three networks belong to Mail.ru Group.
History
Beta testing of My World began in May, 2007. Initially the site was intended for creating one interface for other Mail.ru portal services. Service’s release from beta was announced by CEO of Mail.ru Dmitry Grishin via personal messages to social network users. After the release My World introduced search of classmates, course mates, colleagues and soul mates by filling relevant fields in a user profile. In 2007 social network introduced mobile version, in 2008 instant messaging and music playback was presented. In 2010 My World released microblogs and in 2011 social network added a 'like button' and commenting for other user’s news. My World's design was cardinally revised in 2012. In 2015 My World changed its positioning: instead of mates search portal, social network acquired a new image as a service that provides communication for people with similar interests. Social network revised three main content columns: music, video and games. In 2015 the site re-launched its music service.
Functionality
My World unites blogging service and video/photo storage functionality. Instant messaging service is provided by web version of Mail.Ru Agent.
Integration with other Mail.Ru services
Data of My World is used by other services of Mail.ru. In 2008 users of social network received a new function: creating job CVs in Rabota@Mail.Ru site via utilizing filled profile of My World. Go@Mail.Ru suggests My Worlduser accounts while providing search results. Up to 2010 search engine results included only the profiles of Mail.ru social network. Later the service was disabled, and in 2013 profiles of other popular services were added to search results. Since 2011, activity of social network user influences his personified search results. After acquisition of Odnoklassniki by Mail.Ru Group, both services profiles can be linked.
Video
First application with legal video content in My World was Videolyubitel that was launches in 2010 and operated with legal video library of Video.ru portal. Soon after, portal ivi.ru introduced its own My World application with access to online cinema collection while channel STS launched its own social network application with series collection. In 2014, Mail.ru organized My World-based online cinema with movies available for a certain amount of time. In order to realize this project the company received settlements from copyright owners. Moreover, social network launched theme channels that unified archived series or music videos.
Applications
After releasing API for third party developers in 2010, My World focused on social network application growth. Statistics of that same year showed that around 40% of social network users play video games. In 2012, the number of game installations to users’ pages reached 280 millions. Games remain the main source of income for My World. If social network teams considers a game promising, developers can count for ad support. Moreover, Mail.ru does not require commission from in-game purchases. As a means of social network payment, Money@Mail.Ru is utilized. My World applications include not only games. For example, antivirus developer Agnitum used a social network application for managing subscriptions to its SaaS-service for PC.
Mobile version
According to Mail.ru Group, by the December, 2013 22% of users used mobile devices as a means of My World usage. Social network is available via mobile site version, iOS and Android applications. My World client is pre-installed to majority of LG Android-based smartphones intended for Russian market.
Audience
According to TNS, monthly audience of social network in November 2014 reached 25.2 million. According to polls published by Levada-Center in 2013, My World was used by 21% of Moscow residents and 12% of regions' residents. My World was noted as the only social network with the number of female users exceeding male users. Research of SuperJob.ru recruiting portal in 2011 showed that the most active users of My World are nurses, public officers and accountants while core audience consists of over-40 users.
