The first pancake is lumpy
During the presentation, Rossgram was known to replace the previously used logo – users noticed that it was a stock image. However, all is not well with the new version either – now Rossgram is convicted of copying the logo of the American company Beats Electronics. It’s upside down and painted in the colors of Instagram (the company that owns Meta is recognized as an extremist organisation). By the way, on the official website the logo remained the same.
After the author of the project, Alexander Zobov, showed the interface and operation of the application, careful users had a number of legitimate questions. For example, when the author of the project uploaded a photo, the interface offered to set a price for it. It is noteworthy that the cost is calculated in dollars.
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The developers have also added the ability to download Stories to the Rossgram prototype. During “unpacking”, users noticed that the function works with some features in the spirit of Chinese localizations. Stories published three hours ago are described as “3 Seconds Ago” or “3 Hours Ago” – with capitalization and misspellings.
But there was also a function that the viewer considered positively – Rossgram allegedly allows you to upload videos from third-party sources – YouTube, Dailymotion and Vimeo. But viewers have yet to see RuTube and VK Video support on their native Instagram.
The developers say Rossgram’s launch for the general public will take place in April 2022.
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Excitement and PR
Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, said in an interview with socialbites.ca that Rossgram developers tried to send him an application distribution kit that turned out to be a malicious file and was blocked by Google Drive.
“I think it’s a PR and not very successful. The guys tried to do something after the Instagram ban. It seems that they do not have experience in development, ”Murtazin shared.
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Digital expert Konstantin Karpov stated in an interview with socialbites.ca that it is not a problem to create a service similar to Instagram, it is more difficult to create a truly competitive product.
“Any product that suddenly finds itself in place has a chance, but you need to understand that Instagram and any similar complex product has a wide variety of technical solutions that allow millions of people to use the service at the same time,” the expert believes.
According to Karpov, the only way to repeat or approach these resolutions is to go step-by-step, which takes years of work.
Igor Bederov, head of the information and analytical research department at T.Hunter, said in an interview with socialbites.ca that users are suspicious of the new application.
“The problem is that we are asked to install an application that we know nothing about and which is very confusing for us. Users are concerned about the speed of development – why the supposed working version appears so fast on the market. There are rumors about some data leaks. Of course, this information is it still needs to be verified, but as a rule, there are a lot of vulnerabilities of such products that appear on the market very quickly and are made on ready-made open source solution engines,” says Bederov.
He noted that the interest of the attackers may be due to the “pretty bright and widespread” news about the creation of a domestic analogue of the American social network. In this regard, the data of several registered users may be leaked. According to Bederov, big questions arise about the app’s security and vulnerabilities.
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Data theft and “hacking”
On March 28, some users who applied for beta testing received an email containing the Rossgram APK file that was redirected to the company’s website when it was launched.
The Instagram setup file on Android weighs more than 40MB, while the Rossgram Google Calculator installer is only 3MB.
Bederov suggested that the developers did not understand why they launched an application that did not work, but that it was done to collect user data.
“The app can’t do anything but show it to an external site – then what’s the point of applying? It can be done in the form of a mobile version of the site. In principle, it is known what a mobile application is for – it allows you to collect more user data,” he said.
Also on March 18 in the Rossgram community on VKontakte seen A warning asking users not to download the fake Rossgram app from the Play Store. It is noted that this application is in no way associated with the project. As of March 29, the app is still available in the digital store with over 100,000 downloads. It was in fifth place in the best free programs – with a rating of 1.1 stars.
It is not known why Rossgram executives did not react to this situation. Given that not only the name of the application is used there, but also the name of the organization.
In the comments, users who downloaded the fake app call it “scam”.
“I think this social network was built to create some kind of hype, maybe to “cut” some money. It is unlikely that there were any special expectations – we have all seen the “successes” of various social networks and instant messengers, which did not develop much. However, the product must be a kind of “business” and unique. Due to the fact that we copied Instagram, it is unlikely that anything will be added. New social networks are no longer needed,” says Bederov.
He noted that now you can find social networks for every taste – in the same Telegram you can broadcast live, upload photos, videos and texts.
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pyramid on the internet
Arseniy Shcheltsin, CEO of ANO Digital Platforms, also spoke about the hype around Rossgram on his Telegram channel.
“Two PR professionals decided to build on the hype, took the name everyone has known for many years, washed up a landing page on cheap hosting, and launched a version that we were ready to deliver a miracle. And (surprisingly) both journalists and much of the public were convinced of it. They pecked precisely because there was great demand and great desire, the dream was sold, ”writes the expert.
“A presenter dropped by a thousand people, a name that won’t go through a single focus group, a system that doesn’t exist is a landing page that’s worse than the first assignment in a computer science class,” Shcheltsin said. joke and hype.”
Therefore, against the backdrop of the hype around Rossgram, enthusiasts launched new analogues of Instagram – Now and Sadnogram.
“The highly logical consequences of users’ high expectations and the low-quality offer from the creators of Rossgram led to the creation of a pyramid on the network, the leakage of personal data, the creation of fake pages and applications, which also led to. data loss,” the expert concluded.
Source: Gazeta
