This year, as in the previous year, the leading social networks in Russia are still VK and OK. These sites currently lead social traffic.
- It is important to note that, as in the rest of the world, every user in Russia is active on multiple social networks. In Russia, the number of social networks the average user is active on can reach 7.
- Facebook remains in third place.
- Below are the most popular messaging apps: at the top of the list is Skype, followed by WhatsApp, after that Viber, and recently the Facebook Messenger app has joined as well.
VKontakte
VK, originally V Kontakte (from Russian: ВКонтакте – “In Contact”) is a website that functions as an online social network. The site is popular mainly among Russian speakers worldwide, especially in the CIS and the global Russian diaspora in Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, and Israel.
The site is functionally and visually based on the early versions of Facebook. The site’s design is a sort of visual clone of Facebook – and it is essentially “the Facebook of Russians.” As mentioned, the meaning of its name in Russian is “to be in touch” or “to be connected.” VK is available in several languages but is popular, as noted, mainly among Russian speakers.
Like other social networks, VK allows its users to send private or public messages; create groups, public pages, and events; share photos, and play browser-based games. A particularly appealing feature on the site is the ability to view and listen to content (music and video clips) that does not always take copyright into account. If you couldn’t find a certain movie or album on the web, look for it on VK and there’s a good chance you’ll find it.
According to Mail.ru Group reports, the monthly audience of the VKontakte social network is 87 million people. In January 2016, this social network broke a monthly record with 90 million users.
The average Russian spends about 33 minutes a day on VK. For comparison, the average daily usage of Instagram by a Russian is 17 minutes! Another amazing statistic is that mobile users view about 100 posts on VK per day!
As with Facebook, on VKontakte you can also segment your target audience in a relatively focused way – choose by geographic location (within Russia, you can reach the precision level of a specific metro station), age, interests, relationship status, and more. Of course, you can also set an advertising budget, maximum cost per click, etc.
The number of users on the “Facebook” network in Russia is growing. The use of “Facebook” generally characterizes people interested in creating international connections, whether personal or business. As of today, the number of users stands at 14.4 million active users. Last year, the number was 10 million active users. This indicates growth and an increase in the number of users – a 37% increase compared to the same period last year. By “active users,” we mean people who visited the social network at least once a month, but there are certainly people who use Facebook on a daily basis, and their number is only six million people. Likely because the use of Facebook stems from the need for communication with entities outside Russia, we see that Moscow and St. Petersburg, a pair of leading cities with extensive economic activity, stand out as active cities on the site. Senior government officials have repeatedly threatened to block “Facebook” because it is a type of communication that is difficult to regulate. It is no secret that the Russian regime fears that what happened in Egypt, which of course started on Facebook, might happen in their country. It seems that Russian authorities are doing everything in their power to keep local social networks in first place and leading over competitors from abroad.
When researching Facebook’s Audience Insights, several interesting things can be seen regarding their Russian audience. There are several particularly prominent points:
- Most users (71%) have higher education (college or university graduates).
- The leaders in terms of job positions are in managerial roles (43%).
- Most people (61%) are registered as married.
- Most interaction with “Facebook” is done via mobile phone (most likely from the “Facebook” app).
Based on statistics for April 2016 (source: Facebook representation in Russia), Instagram’s monthly audience in Russia is 18.5 million users. The Instagram audience in Russia is very active and has grown fivefold over the past year.
I would like to add that in Russia, the Instagram network is dominated by women, whose relative share in this network is 75.7%! Therefore, if your target audience is women, you should definitely take advantage of this platform.
OK – Odnoklassniki
Odnoklassniki.ru (from Russian: Classmates) is a website available in a variety of languages, but the primary one is Russian. It is an online social network that enables searching for and connecting with classmates from school, university, college, colleagues from previous workplaces, as well as relatives and acquaintances. The site became very relevant after Russia’s borders opened to the world and many Russian citizens emigrated to the United States, Israel, and Europe, wishing to stay in touch with friends from their homeland.
The website was launched on March 4, 2006, by Russian web developer Albert Popkov. In 2008, “Mail.Ru Group” acquired part of the network’s ownership and, together with its subsidiary, held a 58% stake in the network.
According to LiveInternet data, in 2016 the site captured a major share of the daily traffic among Russian speakers aged 14–55 among non-search websites, and across all sites on the Russian web – user traffic on the site was about 46.9 million daily visitors! In the coming month, this number will rise to 73 million. On average, users spend about 40 minutes a day on this social network. It is important to emphasize that, as already noted, many OK users do not browse from within Russia, but are people who emigrated abroad and want to talk and reconnect with their friends from Russia. According to comScore, it is the second-ranked site in the Runet for video content views, with about 300 million movie and video views per day!
Moi Mir
A social network that aggregates profiles of Mail.ru users, just as Google Plus aggregates profiles of Gmail users.
According to TNS data collected in April 2016, the audience of the Moi Mir network is 16.1 million visitors per month.
A defining characteristic of this social network is the fact that there are fewer people from Moscow and St. Petersburg and more people from peripheral regions. Additionally, this site has a slightly higher percentage of women than men. On this social network, you can listen to music, play games, and fill out your profile details more comprehensively. As already noted, the network is owned by Mail.Ru Group.
About the author: Alona Mailer Yamin, CEO of www.digirussian.com Targeted advertising in Russian
Since she and her team come from the target audience, she knows its needs well, speaks its language (literally and figuratively), and knows what will persuade it and what is important to it.