Medvedev delights satirists

Inevitably, everyone you know will join Facebook. While friend requests from your acquaintances, colleagues, and even parents have become an unfortunate part of life, your authority figures are also joining in, popping up in news feeds across the world. So when Russian President and noted technophile Dmitry Medvedev announced via Facebook that he would be writing in Facebook, the Russian blogosphere took it as cause for celebration and a chance to poke the president as well.

Medvedev’s Facebook page is nothing new, he just hasn’t been writing in it. The page has been active since June 2010 and has more than 200,000 followers. Until now, it’s been used as a clearing house for materials from other government Web sites, but the president, it seems, has decided to take up the task himself, writing:

“I have decided to also write in Facebook. Read it!” “I have decided to also write in Facebook, that I have also decided to write in Facebook. Read it!” retorted KermlinRussia, the fake Kremlin Twitter account.

In a monotonous political landscape, the Russian blogosphere is a breath of fresh air. On everything from Twitter and Facebook accounts to the aging LiveJournal platform, Russians post candid thoughts and also troll (insult) other users.

The president’s post has already garnered close to one and a half thousand responses. Many of them are supportive, telling the president they’ll continue to read him, and that they appreciate a more direct link to the Kremlin.

More, however, have been dismissive. Among them, user Anna Malina stated a fairly common response that said the problem was the dearth of information from the government, not places to post it: “The same messages will be put here as on the other sites, for example LiveJournal, Twitter and others, whereas it would be nice to have some real discussion,” she said.

Facebook is Medvedev’s fourth venture into social networks. He already posts on YouTube, uses Twitter and has a LiveJournal. Many shared the opinion that Medvedev has little more to do than increase his supposed exposure by expanding his range of online activities.

Dozhd television channel put out a series of polls concerning the president’s hazy statements about Facebook. “Isn’t Medvedev too engrossed with social networks and gadgets?” asked Dozhd. The majority of people responded: “Well you’ve got to relax somehow.”

Criticism, almost all satirical or sarcastic, came from other sources as well. Vkontakte founder Pavel Durov tweeted at Medvedev: “Your patriotism inspires the Russian Internet industry,” in an apparent reference to Medvedev’s decision to establish an account with the Palo Alto-based Facebook instead of developing a personal site on Vkontakte, a Russian Facebook clone.

There’s a sense that Medvedev’s preoccupation with Internet sites is a reflection of his weaknesses as a politician. One of Russia’s best known bloggers, exler, posted an anecdote today echoing that deeper seated criticism of Medvedev’s political activities: “Have you heard? Medvedev’s on Facebook. – At this rate he’ll be on World of Warcraft soon. – He’s already been playing for more than three years. It’s a local version called “Russian Federation.”

Sooner or later, the fun will come to an end. That will most likely happen in March, when Russia’s next and previous President Vladimir Putin will be elected by a large majority. Putin does not use social networks. Asked whether the next president would put out blogs similar to Medvedev’s in the future, press secretary Dmitry Peskov said no.

While Medvedev will likely take the backseat in the political arena, his major competition in the virtual world continue to be his detractors and satirists: “Medvedev and I already decided four years ago that I will be running this site” .