Futubra... “Twitter for housewives”

Fri 3 February 2012 10:00, Tamara Yadvichuk

On January 16th Russian internet giant Mail.ru Group launched Futubra, a Russian-language microblogging service. Two weeks into the launch it had almost 50000 users and the numbers are growing, although the initial registration hype has already passed.

The service allows you to post messages up to 200 characters and attach an image or video which appears directly in the news feed. Compared to Twitter's humble limit of 140 symbols minus the letters used by the URL if a link is attached, Futubra offers an exceptional luxury. Users can also leave comments, join interest-based groups, enter chat rooms to discuss various topics and even inform their followers that they are bored using a special 'bored' button.

However, some essential features any somewhat advanced Internet user would expect to find on a microblogging site are missing. For example, a user's profile does not contain any information other than a picture and an (optional) description. The search for users or messages is not available at all. So if you are looking for a specific friend to follow – good luck clicking through pages and pages of user names.

With its simple interface and limited options Futubra has already been nicknamed 'Twitter for housewives'. The site is still in beta though, and its creators promise to add all the necessary features soon (seeing is believing).

Russian-speaking users of Twitter will probably find it useless to switch to the new service, at least while Futubra is missing numerous convenient features they are accustomed to. On the other hand, the Russian microblog may attract users of other Mail.ru services, such as the social media 'Odnoklassniki' (Russian for classmates) and 'Moi Mir' (my world). I will keep you posted in my next articles. For now enjoy the viddie, that's if you speak Russian..

<Sina weibo has more tweets/secon...

Addicted or not?>

Comment

The Craze for Waze

Wed 29 May 2013, Seema Sanghavi

1 comment

What was once a mobile app only in Israel, is now a global mapping marvel. On top of all this world wide recognition, Waze has now attracted the interest of Facebook a...... read more

Have a Conversation with Google

Thu 23 May 2013, Seema Sanghavi

0 comments

When you first use it, it may seem like something from a sci-fi movie. Confirmed just yesterday, Conversational Search started rolling out on Google.com in the latest ...... read more

Google+ Updates Announced

Fri 17 May 2013, Seema Sanghavi

0 comments

Google+ updates were another big topic at the annual Google I/O Conference. The updates have been in effect since Wednesday. In total 41 new features have been added t...... read more

Will Google Announce Spotify Com...

Wed 15 May 2013, Seema Sanghavi

0 comments

Will Google Announce Spotify Competitor Today?

Rumor has it Google will be debuting a subscription based music service at its annual developer conference, Google I/O, commencing today. The rumors intensified yester...... read more