Mail.ru Group, a leading Russian Internet group listed on the London Stock Exchange, is developing its own microblogging service to compete with Twitter on the Russian market, Russian business daily Kommersant reported earlier this week from unnamed sources within and outside the group.
The ‘Russian Twitter’ will be integrated to user accounts on the group’s websites, said one of the sources. The project is being led by Mail.ru Group VP Anna Artamonova, the source added.
The Mail.ru Group press service declined to comment.
Microblogging is gaining momentum in Russia, with Twitter witnessing sharp growth while traffic on traditional blogging platforms like LiveJournal is approaching stagnation.
Mail.ru Group and Twitter have a common shareholder in Alisher Usmanov. A Russian oligarch of Uzbek origin who made his fortune in the 1990’s from mining, lumber and investment, Usmanov currently owns 7.8% of Mail.ru Group, Kommersant reports, and is one of the main backers of DST Global II, the top Russian investment fund that acquired a minority stake in Twitter last summer.
