NEWSLINK: Facebook’s Zuckerberg to meet Russian PM
Facebook’s Zuckerberg to meet Russian PM – AFP – September 28, 2012
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AFP covers plans for Facebook social network founder Mark Zuckerberg to visit Russia and meet with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Facebook is holding an event in Moscow, and already has ties to Russian IT.
“Zuckerberg will be visiting Russia at a time when Internet and social network use is exploding in the country, even though Facebook lags well behind top Russian-language social network VKontakte and other homegrown rivals in user figures.
… Medvedev’s spokeswoman Natalya Timakova was quoted as saying … “They will discuss cooperation in IT-technology and start-ups in Skolkovo,” the technology hub outside Moscow that has been championed by Medvedev as a Russian equivalent of Silicon Valley.
… Medvedev has almost 1.5 million followers on Twitter and also keeps accounts on Facebook and VKontakte as well as a Live Journal blog.
Zuckerberg is attending a facebook event in Moscow, and already has ties to Russian IT:
According to the Vedomosti daily, Zuckerberg will also be attending the Facebook World Hack in Moscow, an event when programmers get together to suggest ideas for the social network’s development.
Although it is believed to be his first visit to Russia, Zuckerberg’s company already has close links to the Russian Internet sector.
Russian technology investment firm DST Global, whose main shareholder is oligarch Alisher Usmanov, has a stake of at least five percent in Facebook although some observers estimate that the holding is even higher.
The anti-Kremlin demonstrations that rocked Russia since December have largely been coordinated through social networks and analysts say that the increase in Internet use poses a significant challenge for the domination of President Vladimir Putin.