VKontakte got its first Hollywood star on board! According to the Huffington Post Tom Cruise announced he was joining the Russian social network on Friday from his Twitter page with a tweet that read: “Увидимся там!” (“See you there” in Russian).
As of Monday 25, Tom’s profile had gained 63,000 followers, many of which commented in English and and took the occasion to welcome the actor on the platform.
For his first profile picture Tom picked a poster for “Oblivion,” his new film, which will be available in Russian cinemas from April 11, two weeks earlier than in the US.
The news created a buzz both in Russia and abroad. A.P. has confirmed that Cruise is the first Hollywood celebrity to have set up a VKontakte account – a milestone that A.P. links to “Russia’s increasing box office clout.” Julie Miller of Vanity Fair offered a different interpretation. “[We] prefer to think that it is just a genuine way for Cruise to spread his infectious enthusiasm with Russian fans,” she wrote. Either way, VKontakte has more than 40 million daily visits, so Tom definitely has chosen the right way to reach out to his Russian fans!
As Christians prepare to celebrate Easter in less than a week, Russian Orthodox believers have just begun to observe this year’s Great Lent. The Guardian reported that Russian Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin exhorted the Russian population to renounce social media for the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday. But will Russians succeed in keeping their obsession with Vkontakte and Instagram in check?
The full version of this story is available on Russia Beyond The Headlines (RBTH.RU), an international source of political, business and cultural news and analysis.
