Social networks (Russian market)

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Social Media (Global Market)

Main article: Social media (global market)

Social networks in Russia

• VK
• Schoolmates
• Twitter in Russia

Chronicle

2024

Owners of large channels will be able to transmit information about themselves to the RKN through "Public services"

The State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications supported the amendment on the obligation of channel owners in instant messengers and social networks with an audience of more than 10 thousand people to report information about themselves to Roskomnadzor. The corresponding amendments were made to the second reading of the bill aimed at protecting citizens of the Russian Federation from crimes using mobile communications. This was announced on July 30, 2024 by the press service of Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, citing a statement by Alexander Khinshtein. Read more here.

More than 61 million Russians use Telegram daily, VKkontakte - 55 million

On July 11, 2024, it became known that the daily audience of Telegram in Russia reached 61 million users, while 55 million Russians visit VKontakte daily.

According to the research company Mediascope, for the period from June 2023 to June 2024, the Russian audience of Telegram increased by almost 10 million people. The audience of VKontakte during the same period increased by 3 million users. In total, Russians spend 25% of their time on the Internet on social networks and instant messengers.

Telegram's daily audience in Russia reached 61 million users

According to statistics from VK, which owns VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, the active monthly audience of VKontakte in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 9% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 89 million users.

The third most popular among Russian users is TikTok, whose daily audience has slightly decreased from 31 million to 29 million people. Odnoklassniki retained its audience at the level of 19 million daily users. Closes the top five leaders Instagram (owned by Meta, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) with an audience of 6 million users.

Representatives of telecom operators note a significant share of traffic attributable to social networks and instant messengers. According to Megafon, in June 2024, 32% of mobile Internet traffic of subscribers fell on Telegram, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and TikTok. The analytical service "Bilaina Analytics" reports that data traffic to these platforms amounted to 22.5% of all Internet traffic in June 2024.

Telegram is a really convenient messenger with a lot of additional features, in particular, it is increasingly providing users with the news agenda they are interested in.[1]

Instagram audience in Russia has decreased by 5.7 times since the blocking of the service

The Russian audience of Instagram (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) after blocking the social network decreased six times. This was announced on March 18, 2024 by Forbes magazine with reference to a study by Mediascope.

On average, 6.8 million Russians use Instagram per day. In February 2022, the average daily audience of the social network was 38.4 million people. The time spent by Russians on Instagram per day decreased by 17% to 34 minutes. Only persons over the age of 12 were counted as audiences.

The Russian audience of Instagram has decreased six times

In addition, the indicators of TikTok, which was not blocked by the Russian authorities, have also decreased, but at the same time the social network itself has limited the functionality for Russians. TikTok's audience decreased by 8.2% to 30.3 million people, and the average use time was 71 minute per day - 10% less than in 2022.

The main beneficiaries of the situation were Telegram and Zen. The average daily audience of Telegram in two years has grown 2.2 times to 59.9 million people. Zen's audience figures increased 2.8 times to 31.9 million users per day. The amount of time spent on the platform has also grown: an ordinary Telegram user spends 44 minutes a day on the social network, 57% more than before the start of Instagram blocking, and in Zen - by 25%, up to 25 minutes a day.

The largest Russian social network VK also increased its performance, however, according to Forbes, "not so much." The growth of the average daily audience reached 20% to 56.2 million people. The time that the audience spends on the social network has grown by 2% to 46 minutes per day.

As a result of Instagram's blocking, advertising costs were also overallocated. If earlier 70% of advertisers' money came from Meta's social networks, now, as Maria Litoshina, director of digital products at PHD advertising agency, notes, the situation is changing.

Now the main share of advertising budgets falls on VKontakte and YouTube, followed by Telegram, she said.[2]

2023

The number of subscribers of state tablets has reached 50 million

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, RUSSIAN FEDERATION Dmitry Chernyshenko the number of subscribers of state tablets in 2023 amounted to 50 million. This was announced on February 13, 2024 by the press service of the deputy. State Duma of the Russian Federation Anton Nemkin

Gospabliki is the representation of authorities in the digital space, explained Anton Nemkin. {{quote 'At the same time, we are talking not only about the creation of full-fledged websites of authorities, but also about the functioning of public pages on social networks. First of all, of course, in Vkontakte. So, any citizen can subscribe to the public page of the city administration, the school in which his children study, and always be aware of the news, "he said. }}

The most popular, according to Vkontakte analysts, are the public pages of hospitals and educational institutions. But the popularity of the format itself will only grow in the future. This applies not only to the growth of the total number of subscribers, but also to the increase in the activity of citizens: both in terms of increasing the number of comments, and, for example, likes and views of records, - says Nemkin.

According to the deputy, the increasing popularity of the project is associated with its relevance.

This is an effective information channel that allows both authorities and citizens to receive feedback in real time, as well as record possible complaints. The latter is especially convenient. Even before sending an official appeal, the authority can fix a complaint, for example, about poorly cleaned snow or about problems in the housing and communal services sector. This approach will allow you to quickly take measures to solve the problem, "the parliamentarian explained.

At the same time, the information is both about the work done and about the upcoming events. For example, about meetings with local authorities. In my opinion, this is another step in achieving an effective dialogue between the state and society, "concluded Anton Nemkin.

For the first time in Russia, there are more domestic social networks than foreign ones

At the end of 2023, the number of domestic social networks in Russia exceeded the number of foreign ones - shares amounted to 56% and 44%, respectively. At the same time, almost 8 out of 10 Russians use social networks, which is one of the highest rates in Central and Eastern Europe. Such data are given in the report of December 22, 2023, published by the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR).

The study was also attended by the Regional Public Organization "Center for Internet Technologies" (ROCIT) and the Association for the Development of Interactive Advertising (ARIR). It is said that in two years (by the end of 2023) the landscape of social networks and content services in Russia has changed significantly. The so-called "digital migration" is taking place, which is associated with the geopolitical situation and the blocking of a number of resources.

In 2021, the total number of known social networks on a global scale was 41, including 18 Russian ones. In 2023, these values ​ ​ increased to 63 and 28, respectively. VKontakte, Telegram and OK, as noted by the authors of the study, are developed, and such online platforms as Looky, Yappy, TenChat, Yandex Music and Sound have the potential for rapid development. The study says that VKontakte has the widest set of advertisers - from representatives of small and medium-sized businesses to the largest companies. Next come Telegram and OK.

The report says that social networks have become the main source of news for almost 40% of the population of the Russian Federation, second only to television in this indicator. The main users of such Internet resources are groups under the age of 45 (58%). Approximately 55% of social media subscribers in Russia are women. If in 2021 the total number of users of domestic social networks was about 70 million people, then in 2023 the value increased to 101 million.

Domestic social networks/online platforms are actively working on technical development, conducting competent legal support, as well as qualitatively scaling and developing user functions, the authors of the study note.[3]

Research of domestic and foreign social networks/online platforms: state, comparative analysis, prospects

For social networks in Russia, fines for refusing to remove prohibited content have sharply increased

In late July 2023 Russia Vladimir Putin , the president signed legislation that sharply raised fines for social media for refusing to remove prohibited content.

In accordance with Law No. 387593-8 "On Amending the Federal Law" On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection, "the untimely provision or failure to provide Roskomnadzor (RKN) with data that allows identifying the owner of the service threatens to impose a fine on citizens in the amount of 10 thousand to 30 thousand rubles, and on legal entities - from 50 thousand to 300 thousand rubles.

If the owner of the social network does not comply with the instructions of the RKN on monitoring the site for illegal information, he may be fined from 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles (for citizens), from 500 thousand to 800 thousand rubles (for officials), and from 4 million to 6 million rubles (for legal entities).

The document also introduces fines for failure to comply with the obligations to block prohibited content. The administrative fine for a legal entity will be from 800 thousand to 4 million rubles in the event of the first violation, for a repeated company will have to pay from 4 million to 8 million rubles.

In addition, a fine is introduced for failure by the owner of a social network to fulfill the obligation to monitor a social network and take measures to restrict access to illegal information, as well as failure to comply with the requirement of Roskomnadzor to cancel measures to restrict access to user information.

This will entail the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles; for officials - from 200 thousand to 400 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 800 thousand to 4 million rubles.

Repeated commission of the above administrative offense will entail the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles; for officials - from 500 thousand to 800 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 4 million rubles to 8 million rubles.

The law signed by Putin will enter into force on September 1, 2023.

Federal Law on Amendments to the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection"

Social networks will be fined 8 million rubles for non-removal of prohibited content

On July 21, 2023, the State Duma adopted in the third reading a law on fines in the amount of up to 8 million rubles for the refusal of owners of social networks and services to remove content prohibited in Russia. Thus, the deputies tightened the responsibility of the owners of the sites for violation of their duties.

A fine is introduced for failure by the owner of a social network to fulfill the obligation to monitor a social network and take measures to restrict access to illegal information, as well as failure to comply with the requirement of Roskomnadzor to cancel measures to restrict access to user information. Fines are imposed for these violations: for citizens - from 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles for officials - from 200 thousand to 400 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from 800 thousand to 4 million rubles.

Repeated refusal to monitor and remove prohibited information entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles, on officials - from 500 thousand to 800 thousand rubles, on legal entities - from 4 million to 8 million rubles

In addition, the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) of the Russian Federation is supplemented by an article providing, among other things, responsibility for non-fulfillment by the owner of the social network of the obligation to annually post a report on the results of consideration of appeals, as well as monitoring the social network. According to the law, such violations will entail a fine for citizens in the amount of 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles, for officials - from 200 thousand to 400 thousand rubles, for companies - from 600 thousand to 1 million rubles.

Also, according to the law, an administrative fine will follow the failure to provide or untimely submission to Roskomnadzor of data that allows identifying the owner of a news aggregator, the owner of an audiovisual service, the owner of a social network or the owner of an ad placement service, and (or) other information necessary to maintain a register of news aggregators, a register of audiovisual services, a register of social networks or a register of ad placement services, or the submission of deliberately inaccurate information to the specified body. This will entail the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of 10 thousand to 30 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 50 thousand to 300 thousand rubles.^[4]

The first program for training officials in working with social networks has been launched in Russia

In July 2023, it became known that regional universities began to train certified specialists in maintaining official pages of state organizations in social networks. Programs have already been launched in the Krasnodar Territory, Belgorod and Ulyanovsk Regions. This is the first experience in Russia when state-issued certificates are issued to administrators for such training.

In the Krasnodar Territory, the program started on the basis of a branch of the Presidential Academy. Now the first stream is studying at it, including not only existing, but also potential specialists - anyone can study. Citizens belonging to socially vulnerable groups of the population can undergo training at the RANEPA for free. After passing the program, they can find a job in a government body or state organization.

Advanced training programs are developed by universities in conjunction with the Regional Management Centers. The special training program includes blocks for working with feedback from the population, analytics of the information field, conducting online sociology and developing the pages themselves in social networks.

In the Belgorod region, the SDG, together with BelSU, has already handed over state sample certificates to the first stream of the program. It included 43 specialists in the management of state tablets, who additionally trained in media planning and live broadcasts on social networks. In the Ulyanovsk region, 30 specialized specialists responsible for maintaining school pages became participants in the DPO.

By July 2023, authorities and subordinate institutions are required to keep pages on social networks. The update of federal legislation affected more than 150 thousand organizations, including both regional governments and local administrations, as well as schools, hospitals, houses of culture.^[5]

Russians are 4 times more likely to buy accounts in social networks

The demand for social media accounts among Russians in the first half of 2023 increased approximately three to four times compared to the same period in 2022. This is evidenced by the statistics of the Buy-accs service, released at the end of June 2023.

According to the Kommersant newspaper, we are talking about the acquisition of active pages on the largest Russian and foreign sites. This is primarily the VKontakte social network, as well as Instagram and Facebook (both owned by Meta, which is recognized as an extremist organization; activities on the territory of the Russian Federation are prohibited). In addition, according to Buy-accs, accounts in popular foreign VPN services that are not blocked in the Russian Federation are growing in popularity among Russians.

According to estimates, the cost of an account on the VKontakte social network ranges from 18 rubles to 249.3 thousand rubles, on Telegram - from 18 kopecks. up to 390 thousand rubles. The price strongly depends on a number of parameters - characteristics, degree of processing, etc. In addition, the cost is affected by overall inflation combined with the complexity of the account creation process.

The store 4Cheat confirms the growth in demand for social media accounts among Russians. According to calculations, the number of offers to sell Telegram accounts has doubled, and the number of offers to purchase an active page on VKontakte has grown by one and a half times. The volume of the industry in the period from June 2022 to June 2023 in 4Cheat is estimated at 10 billion rubles.

Market participants cite several reasons for the growing popularity of accounts in social networks. One of them is the desire of Russian users to remain anonymous when working on the Internet. In addition, pages can be purchased for political provocations or for sending spam messages advertising any services and dubious services.^[6]

Average daily coverage of users of social networks and instant messengers in Russia

Instagram audience in Russia fell 5 times, Facebook - 3.5 times

In February 2023, on average, at least once a day, 6% of Russians over 12 years old entered the Instagram social network (owned by Meta, which was recognized as extremist and banned in Russia), which is 5 times less than in February 2022 (then the average daily coverage of the service was 31%). This is evidenced by Mediascope data, which was released in early March 2023.

The audience Facebook (also owned by Meta) decreased 3.5 times over the year - from 7% to 2%. According to Mediascope, Russians also began to spend less time on Instagram and Facebook. The consumption time in the first social network for the year fell 2.4 times, to 17 minutes a day, the second - 3 times, to 5 minutes. Attendance at Facebook and Instagram in Russia fell sharply after blocking services. Roskomnadzor

The main beneficiaries of blocking Instagram and Facebook in Russia were Telegram and VKontakte. The average daily coverage of Telegram in February 2023 increased by almost 1.8 times compared to the same month of the previous year - from 23 to 41%. For VKontakte, this figure increased 1.15 times to 44%, and for Odnoklassniki 1.12 times to 18%.

TikTok's coverage remained the same at 27%, despite restrictions on Russian users. Last March, the social network banned Russians from posting new content and broadcasting live because of the law on fakes about the army.

In 2023, the audience of Instagram and Facebook will stop falling and stabilize, said Karen Ghazaryan, director of the Institute for Internet Research.

Everyone who wanted to leave these social networks has already left, "he said in a conversation with Vedomosti.

At the same time, Telegram, according to Kazaryan, can bypass the VKontakte social network in terms of average daily coverage. The main reason is the stable growth in demand for high-quality news and entertainment content in Telegram, he summarizes.^[7]

2022

Traffic to Russian social networks and instant messengers has almost doubled since the beginning of the year

Against the background of the suspension of the activities of some foreign social networks in Russia, the monthly volume of traffic to domestic services has increased almost 2 times since the beginning of the year, while the number of users has increased by 20%. Yota announced this on December 27, 2022.

Experts came to such conclusions by analyzing how the number of unique users and the traffic volumes of Russian social networks and instant messengers changed from January 1 to November 30, 2022. The collection for analytics includes services such as VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Telegram, TamTam, My World, Rutube, YARUS, Yappy and TenChat.

The largest increase in indicators for the entire period of analytics was recorded among relatively young Russian sites: TenChat, Yappy and YARUS are leading in terms of the increase in the number of users. So, in November 2022, the number of TenChat users was almost 95 times more (+ 9360.21%) than in January 2022, and traffic volumes increased 623 times (+ 62240.00%). In YARUS, the number of users increased 2.7 times (+ 168.12%), traffic volumes - 5.4 times (+ 440.86%), in Yappy: the increase was 2.5 times (+ 152.43%) and 14 times (+ 1294.40%), respectively.

Social networks "Odnoklassniki" and "Vkontakte" are less significant, but also increased their indicators since the beginning of the year. Only the social network "My World" showed negative dynamics: the number of users and traffic volumes decreased by the end of the analytics period - by 12.31% and 6.67%, respectively.

Rutube video hosting also received increased attention from Yota customers: the number of its users during the analytics period increased 1.7 times (+ 72.16%), traffic volumes increased 6.3 times (+ 526.94%).

The Telegram messenger continues to actively increase its popularity. The number of its users in November was 53.32% more than in January 2022, and traffic volumes increased by 158.44%. The second messenger in the selection, "TamTam," turned out to be the next in terms of growth in indicators, adding 24.57% and 98.43%, respectively.

In the rating of social networks, VKontakte remained the leader, despite a decrease in the share from 58.03% in January 2022 to 57.78% in November. Odnoklassniki retained second place with 41.24% in November. In third place is "My World," the share of unique users of which decreased from 1% in January to 0.82% in November.

The law on the regulation of the Runet will make social networks and stores poorer by 100 billion

By the end of 2022, the State Duma plans to submit a bill on recommendation algorithms on the Internet, which will make it possible to turn them off. This became known on November 21, 2022.

Mishustin approved social networks in which officials will have to create accounts

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed an order that approved social networks, where state bodies, local governments, subordinate organizations and courts will have to maintain official accounts. The press service of the Cabinet of Ministers announced this on September 5, 2022.

According to the document, the new requirements come into force on December 1, 2022. The order obliges the Russian authorities to maintain accounts in Odnoklassniki and VKontakte.

According to the press service of the Government of the Russian Federation, the order was prepared for the implementation of the amendments to the Federal Law "On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Local Self-Government Bodies" adopted in July 2022. It obliges government agencies to create and maintain official pages on social networks, the list of which is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, to post information about their work. In particular, we are talking about the publication of reports on events, comments on topical issues, current contact details, including email address and phone numbers.

It is noted that social networks approved by the Cabinet of Ministers for these purposes meet the requirements provided for by Article 10.6 of the Federal Law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection."

They did not oblige officials to maintain Telegram channels, since the messenger does not meet two criteria: it is not a social network and is not registered in Russian jurisdiction, explained Alexander Khinshtein, head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy.

Which, however, does not prevent any government agencies from running their own TG channel. But this is their right, not their duty, - said the deputy.

Telegram channels were opened including the government, ministries, the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor General's Office and the heads of Russian regions.^[8]

Putin ordered government agencies to create pages in social networks

In mid-July 2022, the president Russia Vladimir Putin signed a law that obliges the authorities to create official pages on social networks and publish relevant ones there, information informing citizens about their activities.

Amendments are made to the law "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" and certain legislative acts. The requirements to lead the public in social networks also apply to organizations subordinate to state bodies and local self-government bodies.

It is specified that if the local government and its subordinate organization do not have the opportunity to create official sites, information about their activities can be posted on the official website of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, within the borders of which the corresponding municipality is located, or on the territory of which the corresponding subordinate organization is located.

According to the document, which was signed by Vladimir Putin, the Ministry of Digital Development will develop a special system based on the State Public services portal, with the help of which government agencies and organizations will be able to manage their accounts, publish and edit information on social networks. The new norms will take effect on December 1, 2022.

The author of the initiative, the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, Alexander Khinshtein, called the signing of the law by the president an important step towards ensuring that the authorities are as accessible to people as possible.

As noted earlier in the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction, "the law is aimed at increasing the openness of the functioning of state bodies, local self-government bodies subordinate to state bodies, local self-government bodies of organizations, and at ensuring that citizens receive in an understandable and accessible form complete and reliable information about the activities of these bodies and organizations."^[9]

Russia adopted a law obliging authorities to create pages in social networks

On June 30, 2022, the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the third (final) reading adopted a law obliging the authorities to create pages on social networks and publish relevant information there.

The document was developed by the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications Alexander Khinshtein (United Russia). The new norms should make ministries and departments more open and give people the opportunity to receive information "in an understandable and accessible form," said in an explanation to the project.

The document defines the concept of "official page" and prescribes to use them to post information about their activities. Organizations subordinate to government agencies and local governments will have to start official pages.

In addition, official pages must have a functional connection with the Public services portal so that visitors, without leaving the social network, can take advantage of the capabilities of the state service. The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation will develop functionality on the basis of the Unified Portal of State and Municipal Services for the implementation of the new law.

According to Alexander Khinshtein, most of the deputies supported this initiative of United Russia, since they themselves are active users of social networks and work with their voters 24/7. Securing the obligation to keep pages on social networks for the authorities "is done so that it is convenient for people to enter into direct communication with the authorities at all levels - from the federal to the municipal," he added.

Deputy Chairman of the Profile Committee Anton Gorelkin noted that in the context of an unprecedented information war, it is important that government agencies are present in social networks not for show, but promptly stop lies and stuffing on their profiles.^[10]

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter lost 80% of Russian traffic

and Social networks Instagram Facebook (owned by a company Meta that is recognized), extremist and banned in the Russian Federation and also (Twitter blocked in) Russia lost 80%, the traffic from Russia head said on June 16, 2022. Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev More. here

Blocking foreign social networks did not affect the lives of almost half of Russians

According to the survey, almost half of Russian residents (47%) do not note any influence on their lives from blocking foreign social networks. This became known on March 29, 2022.

Another 18% of respondents also noted that they rather do not see any consequences of blocking. Every fifth participant in the study (20%) notes a partial impact from the inaccessibility of some sites, and only 15% of respondents noticed a real impact from the closure of social networks for users from Russia.

{{quote 'Even before the blocking, the most popular social network among Russian users was the VKontakte network - 66% of respondents noted it. Another 35% of the study participants noted that they often sat in Odnoklassniki,^[12] notes^[13]. }}

2021

The largest domestic social networks will be included in the list of free socially significant resources

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on December 29, 2021 signed a decree (No. 2531) on the rules for maintaining a list of free socially significant information resources. They also set criteria for the selection of such resources. Read more here.

The State Duma will oblige social networks to give users the opportunity to disable recommendation algorithms

The State Duma is almost ready a bill on the mandatory option to disable recommendation services. It will directly affect the business of most technology companies in Russia, and not only domestic ones, writes Kommersant. This became known on October 16, 2021.

According to deputies, these algorithms "increase the risks of social conflicts," and also "can cause abnormal interest in goods and influence public opinion." Business believes that this "raw" initiative will affect financial performance.

All social networks, news aggregators and audiovisual services that use algorithms to form a tape will fall under the action of the document. These are, for example, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, VKontakte, Yandex.Music and others. They will be obliged to warn users that the content is based on data analysis, and provide the opportunity to refuse recommendations.

In addition, companies will be obliged to make public information on the basis of which data recommendations are formed and from which sources they are taken.

The initiative does not imply coercion and involves the introduction of a voluntary rejection of algorithms by the user, but, for sure, there will be some percentage of people who turn off the recommendations, and this can really bring losses to^[14] social^[15].

Roskomnadzor plans to provide social networks with attendance counters

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has prepared a bill that obliges social networks to install attendance meters. This became known in early March 2021.

As reported in the document, the program will determine the number of "unique users who are in Russia to the information resource once during the day."

If it is impossible to determine the number of users of the service through attendance meters, Roskomnadzor will make a request for this data. Otherwise, the department will receive data based on information obtained as a result of information processing using special software that provides the ability to automatically record users' calls to the site, or based on publicly available information on the Internet.

According to the text of the document, the department will propose to install software for counting the number of users. So Roskomnadzor plans to determine whether the social network falls under the requirements of the law on the independent detection and removal of prohibited content (materials promoting pornography, the cult of violence and cruelty, calls for suicide, extremism, information on the manufacture and use of drugs, state secrets, materials defaming citizens).

It is assumed that the list of officially approved meters will be posted on the website 530-fz.rkn.gov.ru. By March 5, 2021, the resource is unavailable. Public discussion of the draft document, which was prepared by Roskomnadzor, will last until March 18, 2021.

The Network Freedoms project suggested that if the meter was installed, Roskomnadzor would transfer data not only about the user's login to the site, but also information about where he stopped the cursor and what he read especially carefully.^[16]

Roskomnadzor proposed to oblige social networks to report annually on the removal of prohibited content

As it became known on March 3, 2021, Roskomnadzor proposed to oblige social networks to annually report on the removal of prohibited content, including according to the requirements of users. Draft orders of Roskomnadzor are published on the portal of draft regulatory legal acts, their public discussion will last until March 16, 2021.

According to the first order, the report must be posted on the main page of the social network no later than February 1 of each year. The document should indicate information about the results of identifying illegal information, data on the total number of pages with posted and then deleted similar content, the number of pages from which such information was deleted by the social network on its own (without contacting the ILV), the number of pages on which content was blocked at the request of the ILV and the number of pages for which the social network turned to the ILV.

In addition, social networks will have to report on the results of considering user complaints about the publication of prohibited information - how many of them were blocked by the social network without contacting the ILV, regarding how many questions were sent to the department, as well as the number of pages on which the social network refused to restrict access.

User requests will have to be sent through a special electronic form in Russian, posted on the main page of the social network. Access to it should also be possible from the user's personal page, according to another draft order.

On December 30, 2020, President RFVladimir Putin signed a number of laws related to the fight against censorship by foreign Internet platforms, the spread of slander on the Internet, the procedure for recognizing Internet resources with social networks and the fight against "gray" SIM cards.

According to the law aimed at combating censorship by foreign Internet platforms in relation to the materials of the Russian media, Roskomnadzor will be able to partially or completely block Internet resources that limit significant information on the territory of the Russian Federation on the grounds of nationality, language, origin, property and official status, profession, place of residence and work, relations to religion and/or in connection with the introduction by foreign states of political or economic sanctions against Russia or Russians^[17]

Social networks want to punish for calls for riots

The commission of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation on information policy and interaction from media suggests to make the changes in the legislation allowing to block social networks for appeals to participation in illegal actions. The commission demands from the Internet companies to take necessary measures for tracking the corresponding content and also considers it necessary to introduce the system of punishments for distribution of appeals^[18] to punish for appeals to disorders.

"This is stated in the statement of the commission, which was presented to journalists by its chairman Alexei Pushkov on Thursday, February 4," TASS Information Agency of Russia reports in January 2021.

"The Provisional Commission considers it necessary to improve Russian legislation in order to prevent the use of social networks to mobilize citizens for illegal actions. The interim commission also considers it necessary to introduce a system of punishments for the above violations - from fines in the Code of Administrative Offenses to temporary or permanent blocking of Internet platforms as such, the statement said. - Such Internet platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok have become a source of dissemination among citizens of the Russian Federation of calls for riots, information aimed at inducing them or otherwise involving them in the commission of illegal actions, including those posing a threat to the life and health of other citizens, as well as unreliable socially significant information disseminated under the guise of reliable messages. "

"During the unauthorized protests on January 23 and 31, 2021, open calls for riots and instructions for participating in them were published on Internet platforms, purposefully inflated figures on the number of their participants, posted false information about cases of violence by law enforcement agencies, personal data of their employees were published in the public domain, hatred was intensified against citizens who did not support the riots, "the statement said.

In addition, the commission recorded cases of restriction of the dissemination of socially significant information. According to the conclusions of senators, the resources of Internet companies were directly or indirectly used to commit potentially punishable acts. "There are cases of purposeful work of Internet companies themselves to promote protest activity. Technologies were used to prioritize and impose unreliable content on users, aimed at generating distrust of the state system, state authorities and individual officials, as well as at splitting society, fomenting intolerance towards those who disagree with protest sentiments, "the document says.

"At the same time, the personal data of Russian citizens registered on Internet platforms were purposefully used to manipulate their consciousness and in order to mobilize them for radical actions, which was also done by the media, which have the status of foreign agents in Russia. Due to this, some Internet platforms have approached the thin line separating social networks from foreign agents representing the interests of foreign countries, "the commission emphasizes.

The Commission condemns the activities of Internet companies that allow the placement on their resources of messages, ads, appeals and information aimed at attracting citizens, including minors, to participate in unauthorized protest actions. "This practice should be recognized as unacceptable," the commission emphasizes.

The Commission requires internet companies to take the necessary measures to track content with calls for participation in illegal protests. "The interim commission requires internet companies to take the necessary measures to track and prevent the distribution of any content that may be considered as support or propaganda of unauthorized protest actions and forcibly changing the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation," the statement said.

Federation Council develops system of fines for internet giants for unreasonable blocking of users

On February 1, 2021, it became known that the system of fines for Internet giants such as Facebook and YouTube for illegal blocking of users is being developed by the Federation Council.

Russia is not yet ready to completely abandon foreign social networks, but their work in should be regulated and not allow violations of freedom of speech and the laws of the Russian Federation, said Alexei Pushkov, head of the Federation Council commission on information policy. Read more here.

2020

Russia entered the top five countries least dependent on global Internet platforms

The Russian Federation entered the top five countries least dependent on global Internet platforms. This became known on December 29, 2020.

Low dependence on global platforms is explained by the presence of high-quality domestic Internet services.

According to a study by the Scientific and Technical Center of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Main Radio Frequency Center of Russia," along with residents of four more countries, Russians are least dependent on global Internet platforms.

As online platforms, the dependence on which the researchers assessed, were selected, Facebook,, Google search engine, and Instagram. TikTok (social network) YouTube For the Twitter study, experts chose 24 countries with different population sizes, geographical location and Internet penetration.

The least dependent on the above platforms is. China This is followed by,,, and USA Syria. Russia With India states a high share of users (more than Internet 75% of the population) among the least dependent on global platforms, Russia ranks second. This is due to the presence of high-quality domestic Internet services.

The most popular among Russians is social network "" Vkontakte- 61% of all Russian Internet users (49% of the total population) use it as of December 2020 RUSSIAN FEDERATION. However, due to the lack of a domestic analogue of YouTube Russia , it is still indispensable - it is used by 70% of Russian Internet users (57% of the total population of the Russian Federation).

The purpose of the study was to determine the degree of popularity of Facebook,, search engine Google Instagram,, TikTok (social network) YouTube and Twitter in various states, analyze the risks of manipulating public opinion and information sabotage, and also identify threats of supranational regulation MEDIA from online platforms of the Russian Federation^[19]

Putin signed a law to combat the spread of fakes in social networks

Putin signed a law to combat the spread of fakes on social networks. This became known on December 30, 2020. Read more here.

The authorities will force social networks to block themselves

The State Duma Committee on Information Policy, IT and Communications on December 21, 2020 at a meeting recommended that the lower house adopt amendments to the law "On Information." In particular, one of the amendments obliges social networks to independently identify and block illegal content from February 1^[20] to^[21].

According to Kommersant, the deputies returned to the controversial bill on the regulation of social networks, introduced by Sergei Boyarsky and Andrei Alshevskikh in 2017. Now the head of the committee, Alexander Khinshtein, has joined the adjustment of the project, who amended together with Boyarsky for the second reading of the bill.

According to TASS, the Information Agency of Russia, one of the amendments obliges social networks to monitor existing content in order to identify and block illegal information. In particular, we are talking about materials with pornographic images of minors, materials that persuade children to commit life-threatening illegal actions, data on the methods of making and using drugs, methods of committing suicide and calls for it, advertising the remote sale of alcohol and Internet casinos.

In addition, social networks will have to restrict access to information expressing "clear disrespect" for society, the state, the Constitution, as well as containing calls for riots, extremism and participation in uncoordinated public events. Also, social networks will be obliged to comply with bans and restrictions on elections and referendums, comply with the interests of citizens and organizations, and place rules for using social networks.

Instagram has more users in Russia than VKontakte

In October 2020, Instagram has more active users in Russia than VKontakte - 64 against 49 million people, respectively. This is stated in the annual study of the social media analysis system and SMIBrand Analytics. Experts assessed the popularity of social networks based on the number of new authors and their activity in each of the services.

According to the report, the calculations from which leads, Instagram RBC came out in first place in terms of the number of active authors in October 2020: 42.8 million against 27.7 million authors a year earlier.

However, in terms of the activity of the authors and the volume of published content, Instagram is inferior to VKontakte: 265.2 million against 496 million publications per month, respectively. On average, an Instagram user posts almost three times fewer posts (6.2 versus 17 per month).

YouTube for the year (by October 2020) increased its monthly audience in Russia from 0.6 million to 7.7 million users. This growth brought this video service to third place in terms of audience volume. Meanwhile, the average number of posts per month by active YouTube writers dropped sharply to three posts from 60 last year. The authors of the study noted that most new users of the video service do not publish anything, but only participate in discussions.

In fourth place in terms of the number of active authors was the social network Schoolmates"" (6.6 million authors as of October 2020). At the same time, the social network remained in third position in terms of the volume of published content (108.6 million messages per month) and in fourth place in terms of author activity - an average of 16.4 messages monthly for each author.

Twitter is recognized as the smallest social network in Russia, which has 690 thousand active authors. At the same time, Twitter's audience is still the most active among users of all social networks, with an average of 47.1 posts per month for each author (49 in 2019).^[22]

The government of St. Petersburg obliged top officials to create accounts in social networks

On August 10, 2020, it became known that all members of the St. Petersburg government, as well as heads of committees, will have to create accounts on social networks VKontakte, Instagram, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, Twitter and on YouTube.

Until October 1, 2020, ensure the creation and maintenance of official accounts of the government of St. Petersburg in social networks in accordance with this order... determine the officials in the administration of the governor of St. Petersburg responsible for the creation and maintenance of official accounts of the government of St. Petersburg on social networks, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the order of the city government.

Officials responsible for maintaining accounts on social networks will have to publish at least one post per week, and in authorities accounts - at least five posts per week. The language of messages should be simple and understandable for the people, posts will have to be supported by photos.

Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Irina Potekhina noted that this initiative is nothing new: it's just that now the issue of interaction between the authorities and citizens through social networks needs to be streamlined.

Accounts in social networks are created in order to improve the interaction of the executive bodies of state power of St. Petersburg with the population, organize work on the Internet and ensure the openness of public administration, the document explains the government order.

By August 11, 2020, some officials of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region are leading a rather active virtual life. For example, Governor Alexander Beglov has his own page on the VKontakte social network. In the same place (as well as on Instagram), the Governor of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko is actively corresponding with local residents. Previously, the pages in the social networks of the ex-governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko and his deputy Igor Albin were quite "alive." ^[23]

2019: Percentage of Facebook users of total internet users in European countries

2018

Russia is in second place in the world in terms of population involvement in social networks

Russia is in second place among the countries of the world in terms of population participation in social networks - 78% of Russian Internet users are present in some social network. Only Japan overtakes Russia in this indicator, where 88% of Internet users use social networks. Russia is followed by the United States and the United Kingdom with an indicator of 75%, Sweden with an indicator of 74% and the Republic of Korea with an indicator of 72%^[24].

Such data are contained in the publication "Digital Economy: A Short Statistical Collection" of the Higher School of Economics (HSE) for 2019. Specifically, according to this indicator, in addition to the already named countries, they also included,,,, the Germany Italy Finland France The Czech Republic of Estonia. Information provided for 2017 or for the coming years, for which data are available. The population Russia refers to persons aged 15 to 74 years.

Users of social networks in Russia published 1.8 billion messages in a month

According to the Odnoklassniki social network, in October 2018, social network users generated 1.8 billion messages. At the same time, the authors were 46 million users.

Brand Analytics: VKontakte and YouTube overtook Facebook in popularity among young people

The most popular Internet resources among Russian youth are game and music services, instant messengers and online stores. This was found out in the fall of 2018 by the Brand Analytics expert center (Brand Analytics), the study is at the disposal of RBC^[25].

We are talking about resources with the highest citation (by citation experts understand the number of short or full hyperlinks placed). To identify the most demanded resources, experts analyzed 1.78 billion Russian-language messages that were published on social media in August 2018, and estimated the share of people under 18 among all authors.

According to this study, the top 25 most popular resources for users under 18 included the social network Vkontakte"" (first place, quoting from this segment of the audience - almost 492 thousand times), Instagram (third place, more than 274 thousand links) and (Facebook fourth place, quoted 85.3 thousand times), video hosting YouTube took second place (363.1 thousand links), and messenger - Telegram fifth (almost 52 thousand links).

The overall rating also includes the AliExpress online store (seventh place, quoted almost 35 thousand times), the ​razvlekatelnoye community of pikabu.ru (18th place, 7.3 thousand links), the RIA Novosti news agency (20th place, 6.5 thousand links), the WhatsApp messenger (24th place, slightly more than 5.2 thousand links). In last place in the rating is the service of personal recommendations Zen (about 4.3 thousand links).

Experts note a strong gap between the first three leaders from Facebook: this platform is the most "adult" of all those who fell into the top​ -25, the share of youth authors on it is only 0.6%. Also, the attention of specialists was attracted by the fifth place of the Telegram service, which almost caught up with Facebook. "It does not seem that blocking the messenger seriously affected its use. And public Telegram channels are also not all about politics, "the study says.

2017

VTsIOM: About a third of adult Russians do not use social networks at all

The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) presented research data^[26] (VTsIOM)^[27] the use of social networks by Russians. It turned out that 45% of respondents over 18 use at least one of the social networks almost every day, 62% - at least once a week. About a third are completely excluded from social media (20% due to the fact that they do not have access to the Internet and another 10% do not have a single account).

The maximum level of involvement was expected among young people - in the group of 18-24 years, 91% use social networks almost daily, among those surveyed 25-34 years old, such 69% (in the group over 60 years old - only 15%).

Russia The network has the most massive coverage "" Vkontakte- 28% said about its daily visit, the second place is taken by "" Schoolmates(19%), the third - (Instagram 14%). The share of the daily audience + Google was 7%, 4% each scored Facebook both "," My World 1% each Twitter for and "."Live magazine

VKontakte and Instagram turned out to be the most "youth" platforms. The largest share of the audience of VKontakte users - 40% - falls on people aged 25-34 years. Among Instagram users, 38% are aged 18-24, 37% are aged 25-34. Among the daily audience of Odnoklassniki, the most common group is also 25-34 years old (28%). At the same time, the distribution of the Odnoklassniki audience by age is the closest among all social networks to the overall distribution of the Internet audience in Russia. On social media, Facebook and "My World" are dominated by a more adult audience. Among the Facebook audience, the most people are between 35 and 44 years old (28%) and 45 to 59 (26%), the core of the My World audience is 45-59 years old (39%).

The most popular means of accessing the Internet is a mobile phone/smartphone - 52% of users named it as a regular device. Access through a mobile phone is maximum among daily Instagram users (92%) and VKontakte (84%), for other networks - about 70%.

In addition, almost three quarters of respondents noted that they use instant messengers: 62% sent at least one message per day on the eve of the survey. WhatsApp (44%), VKontakte messenger (32%), SMS (32%) and Viber (30%) are in the lead. The choice of a program for exchanging short messages is also closely related to age - among respondents over 60 years old, SMS is most often used (43%), and in the group of 18-24 years old - the VKontakte messenger (69%).

Levada Center: Sudden decline

The number of social media users among Russians has declined sharply. Back in March 2017, 66% of adult users used social networks in Russia, now 59%. The decline came as a surprise, as this indicator grew continuously from August 2011 to 2017, with the only minor subsidence in July 2014. Such conclusions were reached by analysts at the Levada Center, which published a corresponding study^[28].

Even earlier, in March 2017, the number of Russian users in social networks remained at the level of 66% of respondents. In August 2016, it was 63%, in February 2016 - 62%, in August 2015 - 61%, in July 2014 - 57%, in March 2014 - 60%, in July 2013 - 56%, in October 2012 - 47%, in August 2011 - 35% of respondents.

In the course of the current study, 37% of respondents admitted that they go to social networks almost every day. Another 15% are there several times a week, 4% are there once a week, and 3% visit social networks a couple of times a month. Compared to the previous study conducted in August 2017, the share of daily users has not changed, however, the number of respondents visiting social networks several times a week decreased from 17% to 15%, and the number of weekly users fell from 7% to 4%.

The survey of respondents was conducted by Levada Center specialists from December 1 to 5, 2017. It covered 1.6 thousand representatives of the urban and rural population aged 18 years and older. The survey was conducted in 137 settlements of 48 regions of Russia by personal interviewing of respondents at home.

In the course of the study, it turned out that 65% of Russians using social networks spend time on VKontakte, 63% on Odnoklassniki, 23% on Instagram, 20% on Facebook, 14% on Google +, 9% on My World on Mail.ru, 7% on Twitter, 3% on LiveJournal, and 1% on other social networks.

Over the past six months, the number of users preferring VKontakte has grown - in August 2017, 60%, not 65% of social network users, spent time there, Levada Center notes. Also during this period, Odnoklassniki and Instagram lost 1% of the indicator, My World reduced the result from 13% to 9%, and Twitter - from 10% to 7%. At the same time, there is an increase in the interest of Russians in Facebook (from 18% to 20% of all users of social networks) and Google + (from 10% to 14%).

The study also showed that 33% Russians who generally use the Internet spend from half an hour to an hour a day on social networks and instant messengers, 26% spend from one to 4 hours on this, 21% less than half an hour, 3% - from 4 to 8 hours, and another 3% use social networks and instant messengers throughout the day. 11% of Internet users do not use them at all, and 3% find it difficult to answer the question about the amount of time spent there.

2016

Facebook was most often mentioned by Russian media in 2016

The social network Facebook was most often mentioned by the Russian media in 2016, Interfax reports. The second place is taken by VKontakte, the third - Twitter.

Domestic media mentioned Facebook more than 559 thousand times (against more than 430 thousand in 2015), VKontakte - more than 528 thousand times (against more than 330 thousand in 2015), Twitter - more than 479 thousand times (against more than 410 thousand in 2015), follows from the data of the media analysis system "SCAN-Interfax."

Thus, VKontakte and Twitter have changed places in the new rating.

The fourth line is occupied by Instagram with more than 221 thousand mentions. On the fifth position of YouTube, which was mentioned more than 214 thousand times.

Kaspersky Lab predicted a massive exodus of users from social networks

The cyber security company specializing in issues "" Kaspersky Kaspersky predicted in 2017 the beginning of a mass exodus of users from social networks associated with the reluctance of people to put up with leaks of their private information.

Speaking at the company's traditional event dedicated to the results of the outgoing year, the chief antivirus expert of Kaspersky Lab, Gostev Alexander, noted that a public discussion regarding user data is becoming more and more active in Russia and a number of other countries. For example, there are statements by some industry representatives that "your personal data is actually not yours, but the property of the state." "And at the same time, we see that the same social networks and global services are not able to protect our data," says Gostev^[29].

In his opinion, other countries, third companies and hackers have access to information that a person is forced to report about himself, registering on social networks or intending, for example, to watch a movie online. She, in Gostev's understanding, is not protected, as evidenced by recent leaks from Yahoo and LinkedIn.

He notes that earlier removal from this social network was mainly a form of protest by American teenagers who painfully perceived their parents' introduction to Facebook. "Now we see that more and more people are leaving social networks, because there are so many people who want to put their hand on your data that it's easier not to use social networks," says Gostev. "And next year the number of these refuseniks will grow significantly."

Two out of three residents of Russian cities use VKontakte

According to Mediascope's updated Web Index for cities of 100 thousand +, more than 65% of residents of Russian cities use the VKontakteWeb ^[30]. At the same time, almost 40% of the audience prefers a mobile application as the main way to access the social network every day.

The expansion of the audience measurement of Web Index mobile applications in cities with a population of 100-700K + thousand led to an increase in the indicators of the measured audience of the OK application by almost 3 times, from 3 to 8.8 million. The combined measured audience of the desktop version of OK and mobile applications has grown 2.5 times. At the same time, the number of users of the mobile application of the social network in 100-699K cities is almost twice as high as in 700K + cities. Every second resident of these cities enters OK at least once a month.

Russian officials must provide personal data about accounts in social networks

Until April 1, 2017, Russian officials were obliged Ministry of Labour and Social Protection Russia to report their accounts on social networks or blogs in. Such measures are being taken to ensure that civil servants comply with the rules of professional ethics.

The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation by April 1, 2017 must conduct a survey and collect data on the presence of accounts in social networks or blogs from officials. Information must be provided by all civil servants, while it will not be public.

In Russia, about 1.5 million officials are involved in the public service, 70% of them use social networks, blogs. The purpose of the innovation is to ensure that civil servants comply with the rules of professional ethics.

Experts are of the opinion that the prohibition of the use of social networks for the personal purposes of officials will not bring results. To solve working issues, it is necessary to use applications with certified encryption tools. ^[31].

Data from Megafon

Social networks are becoming the most effective and influential channel for disseminating information, bypassing classical media in terms of audience size: newspapers, radio and television. MegaFon compiled a rating of the popularity of social networks and instant messengers for October 2016, and also analyzed their average daily audience and the volume of traffic transmitted through them.

Previously, subscribers transmitted to each other mainly short text messages, but now the number has smartphones grown noticeably. Thanks to the fast mobile to the Internet from "," MegaFon subscribers now actively send each other photo, video and audio files. Group chats are also popular with subscribers. It is not surprising that the number of users of social networks and instant messengers Russia is growing rapidly. WhatsApp remains the most popular. messenger It is also easy to explain the leadership of the network "": Vkontakte abundance of content, convenience and accessibility. Facebook is more popular with advanced users in major cities. Popularity is also growing, Instagram even schoolchildren are actively using it. Separately, it is important to say about - YouTube here more and more blogs and channels gather an audience of 300-400 thousand people every day.

2015

Dynamics of user migration in social networks. Infographics

30 million posts a day appears on Russian social networks

At the same time, the number of users who write themselves or add a comment is only 5%. According to Kribrum, 1.5-2 million active accounts are registered in the Russian-speaking segment of Twitter and from 8 to 12 million new messages appear daily. 14 million blogs are in the LiveJournal (150-200 thousand entries per day); 60 million active accounts on the social network VKontakte (12 million messages per day); 3 million popular accounts on the social network Facebook (4-5 million messages per day) and 7.5 million Russian-language Instagram accounts (1-2 million entries per day). Also in "Kribrum" counted 120 thousand. independent blogs and forums and 12 thousand Internet media; The time of the "active life" of the message (the time when the message is most commented on, "liked" and distributed) is four to six hours. At the same time, most users are usually engaged in republication, and only 5% of social network users write themselves or at least add a comment to the repost.

ROCIT: 60% of citizens use social networks

According to the All-Russian study "Digital Literacy Index of Citizens of the Russian Federation," conducted by ROCIT in 2015, about 60% of Russians use social networks. The top three most popular social networks include VKontakte (70.4% of respondents), Instagram (43.6%) and Facebook (29.1%). The Odnoklassniki social network lags slightly behind the leaders (27.9%), but the audience of Twitter and Linkedin, according to a survey conducted by ROCIT in partnership with Vengo Consult, is several times less - 10.3% and 3.2%, respectively.

2012:82% of Internet users in Russia registered in social networks

Compared to 2010, the share of Russians registered in social networks increased by more than 1.5 and accounts for 82% of all Internet users, according to a survey by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, conducted on February 4-5, 2012. The study involved 1.6 thousand people from 46 regions of Russia. Statistical error does not exceed 3.4%.

According to the results of the study:

• 73% of Internet users in Russia are registered in the Odnoklassniki network,
• The VKontakte portal is used by 62% of Internet users.
• The third place is taken by the network "My World" - 31%.
• The audience of foreign Facebook networks increased from 5% to 18% and
• Twitter - from 2% to 9%.

A typical social media user is a person aged 18-24 years (96%), wealthy (87%), living in Moscow and St. Petersburg (94%)^[32].

2009

International expansion "VKontakte"

In contact"" in August 2009 acquired the vk.com domain and is going to use it for international expansion.

Odnoklassniki has only two language versions (the second is Ukrainian), and My мир@Mail.ru (10.1 million) is limited to the Russian language. The My World network is aimed at Russian-speaking users of different countries, explains Anna Artamonova, Marketing and PR Mail.ru Director. For example, the Mail.ru Agent messenger has versions in Ukrainian, Kazakh and Uzbek, but users from these countries still prefer Russian-speaking, she adds.

VKontakte largest Runet network Vkontakte 13.9 million users

According to TNS (monthly audience in June 2009, unique users):

• In contact"" - the largest social network RuNet - 13.9 million.
• Odnoklassniki - 12.4 million
• "My мир@Mail.ru" - 10.1 million

According to J'son & Partners Consulting:

• In 2009, there were 31 million active users of social networks in Russia, which is 38% more than in 2008. At the same time, the share of Internet audiences using social networks is constantly growing and by the end of 2015 will reach 76.5%.
• Earlier, J&P analysts reported that the leading social networks in Russia are VKontakte and My Мир@Mail.ru, whose monthly audience at the end of 2009 amounted to 17.7 million and 15.6 million users, respectively.

Social media ads

According to a study conducted by LinkShare in early 2009, only 4% of visitors to social networks at least once clicked on^[33] ad].

Games and other paid content on networks

2012: Odnoklassniki plans to seize half of the market

As of May 2012, 24 million Odnoklass­nikov users spend their free time playing games on the social network, thereby helping the resource capture half of the market by the end of 2012. Social network revenues from gaming applications will reach $135 million, analysts predict, while they themselves estimated the market at $275 million (Appdata.ru data). Experts predict the second place for the VKontakte network, whose users will play $105 million third - to My World (also owned by Mail.Ru Group) - $35 million^[34]

According to Mail.Ru Group estimates, in 2011 the social media gaming market amounted to about 7 billion rubles, or $205 million.

"Games are one of the main sources of profit for Odnoklassniki. We hope that the game market in social networks will maintain the growth of revenues from games at the level of 10 - 15% monthly, "comments Ilya Shirokov, head of the business division of Social Networks Mail.Ru Group. Women between the ages of 20 and 40 are especially active. They usually choose "Farm," while men prefer strategies and poker.

Children under 12 years old make up a small percentage of registered users of the social network. But almost all of them run gaming applications. Adults with an account in Odnoklassniki do this much less often - only 40% of users over 20 are involved in online games. "Odnoklass­niki" took the lead not only in terms of income, but also in the number of installations of game applications: their users made about 493 million downloads against 398 million from the VKontakte audience.

"Odnoklassniki users are older and ready to pay for games in sots­seti, unlike the youth audience of VKontakte," explains Anatoly Obedkov, project manager of the Appdata.ru. According to him, classic casual games like Farm are popular in Odnoklassniki, where players acquire symbolic advantages for money. The VKontakte audience is focused on more complex games - RPGs and strategies, he states. "Revenues from the game in Russia are traditionally divided in half between publishers and the social network, but in June 2012, the head of VKontakte Pavel Durov said that now 55% of the revenue will be given to the creators of the games," the expert notes. "This brings the social network closer to the Western model of income distribution - Facebook takes only 30% of game revenue, as well as Appstore and Google Play mobile app stores."

2009: Paid Social Media Content Market in Russia $105 million

According to analysts, the market for paid content distributed through social networks in Russia in 2009 amounted to $105 million. In the coming years, this segment will show high growth rates and by 2015 will reach a volume of $1.51 billion.

At the same time, the share of virtual goods and services will decrease from 73.2% in 2009 to 65.4% in 2015, while the share of social games and other applications will reach 34.6%. In five years, more than a quarter of social media users in Russia (25.7%) will buy virtual content. For comparison, in 2009, only 8.5% of users were ready to open their wallet.

According to experts, the main factor in increasing demand for paid content is both the expansion of its range and the development of online settlement systems. Currently, the bulk of virtual purchases are made through SMS messages. Over time, users will more often resort to bank cards and electronic money. Switching from SMS to payment systems will bring additional income to social networks. This is also facilitated by a decrease in fees when sending messages from mobile phones.

Social Media Security and Challenges

• Social Media Security and Challenges

Corporate social networks

• Corporate Social Networks

Notes