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Russia: the fourth largest social networking market in Europe

2nd March 2009, 05:33 pm  by Matt Rhodes

We’ve posted in the past about the use of social media in Russia, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev launched a video blog. But data from TNS shows that use of social media and social networking in the country is widespread, making it the fourth largest market in Europe for social networking behind the UK, Germany and France. The January Web Index for TNS shows that two leading social networks in Russia are witnessing the kind of acceleration in growth that we have seen in other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

One of the main social networks in Russia, Odnoklassniki (Одноклассники) is reporting 30 million registered users. The site, which (as the name suggests) connects classmates is used in both Russia and the Ukraine and attracts 8 million visitors each day. VKontakte (В контакте) is Odnoklassniki’s biggest competitor with a reported 28 million registered users and 1.4 billion page views each day and 13.09 million visitors each month.

These statistics are impressive and firmly place Russia as the fourth biggest market in Europe for social networking. The total number of users of both of these sites is remarkable given that in 2008, Russia’s overall internet population was reported to be just 33 million people. It is true that internet access is increasing rapidly in Russia, and the growth of social networks is accompanying this. When people go online for the first time they appear to be joining and using social networks almost immediately.

This behaviour teaches us much about innovation in online uses. Many people talk about Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 and the progression there has been from one to the other. For those regions with the fastest growth in internet access, such distinctions become less useful. For these newly connected individuals, they only know one version of the Web. One that includes social networks, social media and online communities. For them it’s less that the internet has changed and they can now do new things, but more that they’ve always been able to connect, share, discuss and meet people online. It’s in these markets that I would expect to see some of the biggest innovations in online use, and the Russian social networking market is certainly one to watch.

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15 Comments

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    2 March 2009, 11:13 pm

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    4 March 2009, 12:38 am

  3. Interessante bookmarks week 10 | Bijgespijkerd:

    [...] Russia: the fourth largest social networking market in Europe [...]

    6 March 2009, 11:40 am

  4. Social networking - Digital Perestrojka 2.0:

    [...] Rusland is Europa’s grootse internet markt en de 4e grootste social networking market. Vooral de laatste jaren heeft er een explosieve groei plaatsgevonden, zoals twitter dat heeft doorgemaakt. Ik kwam op een kort artikel op Freshnetworks. Odnoklassniki (klasgenoten) heeft nu ongeveer 30 miljoen gebruikers en met 8 miljoen gebruikers per dag. VKontakte is hun grootste concurrent met 28 miljoen gebruikers en 1,4 miljard pageviews en 13 miljoen unieke bezoekers per maand. Het artikel stelt ook dat web 1.0 eigenlijk nooit bestaan heeft en ze in Rusland gewoon met 2.0 zijn gestart. Ze kennen dus niet het oude internet wereld en kunnen daarom nog makkelijk door groeien naar Web 3.0.  No legacy. Faster forward. http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2009/03/russia-the-fourth-largest-social-networking-market-in-europe [...]

    23 April 2009, 9:36 am

  5. Can Russian Companies Benefit from Social Media? « Global Comm Class – Georgetown University:

    [...] networks and blogs are booming in a big way in Russia. In fact, stats show that Russia is the fourth largest social networking market in Europe. What makes me curious is how much of that fact is attributed to the sheer size of [...]

    18 June 2009, 12:20 am

  6. Locally Sourced: Not Just for Produce « Global Comm Class – Georgetown University:

    [...] use of the Internet and social media is high enough to warrant the country’s ranking as the fourth largest social networking market in Europe, Russians are using homegrown versions of social media apps. Sharing varying degrees of similarity [...]

    18 June 2009, 2:57 am

  7. French, German, Russian… oh my! The world beyond the Anglosphere « Global Comm Class – Georgetown University:

    [...] Russia–the fourth largest social networking market in Europe–the top two social networking sites, Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki, are not known anywhere [...]

    18 June 2009, 4:00 am

  8. Russia – What are you doing?! « Global Comm Class – Georgetown University:

    [...] communist state is already the fourth biggest market in Europe for social networking. One of the main social networks in Russia, Odnoklassniki (Одноклассники) is reporting 30 million registered users. The [...]

    18 June 2009, 6:51 pm

  9. 8 Interesting Things About Russia « Global Comm Class – Georgetown University:

    [...] Overview of social media in Russia – http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2009/03/russia-the-fourth-largest-social-networking-market-in-europe/ [...]

    22 June 2009, 5:55 am

  10. Education Media » Blog Archive » 8 Interesting Things About Marketing & Social Media In Russia:

    [...] Overview of social media in Russia – http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2009/03/russia-the-fourth-largest-social-networking-market-in-europe/ [...]

    22 June 2009, 6:56 am

  11. Russia has world’s most engaged social network users | FreshNetworks Blog:

    [...] this year we reported on how Russia is the fourth largest social networking market in Europe. Data from TNS showed that use of social media and social networking in Russia is widespread, [...]

    7 August 2009, 11:01 pm

  12. Russian social network Vkontakte.ru plans global roll-out | FreshNetworks Blog:

    [...] plans global roll-out 7th September 2009, 08:36 pm We’ve written before about the size of the Russian social networking market, and the fact that Russia has the world’s most engaged social network users. And this weekend [...]

    7 September 2009, 8:36 pm

  13. Russia tops social media; this really surprised me « Caught in the web:

    [...] 7th August 2009, 11:01 pm By Matt Rhodes from Fresh Networks Earlier this year we reported on how Russia is the fourth largest social networking market in Europe. Data from TNS showed that use of social media and social networking in Russia is widespread, [...]

    16 October 2009, 12:33 pm

  14. virtual world 3D:

    [...] on 27 October 2009 by odcworld Earlier this year we reported on how Russia is the fourth largest social networking market in Europe. Data from TNS showed that use of social media and social networking in Russia is widespread, [...]

    27 October 2009, 9:29 am

  15. Russia – What are you doing?! « Quentin Hunstad:

    [...] communist state is already the fourth biggest market in Europe for social networking. One of the main social networks in Russia, Odnoklassniki (Одноклассники) is reporting 30 million registered users. The [...]

    22 December 2009, 9:48 pm

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