Social networks in Russia, summer 2014: numbers, trends, forecasts
We present the data of the June study of the cycle “ Social Networks in Russia Today: Numbers, Trends, Forecasts ”. This is the fourth regular publication of current data on the penetration of social media in the regions of Russia, the sex-age structure of the authors of the messages and the degree of their activity, this time in the first half of 2014. In addition, for the first time in a series of studies, unique data on the emotional state of social media users are published.
The growth of Internet penetration in the regions of Russia is preserved - 59% of the adult population of Russia use the Internet (68.7 million people) [1]. The semi-annual audience growth was 2.2 million. 80% of the daily audience of the Russian-language Internet are active in social networks [2].
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The first place in popularity of social networks is taken by VKontakte, whose attendance increased to 52.1 million people in May 2014, the second place by the social network Odnoklassniki with a monthly audience of 40.8 million people.
* Twitter data are extrapolated based on daily and weekly audience.
The study further presents data on “talking” users who openly express their position through the publication of open content in social media. Such active authors in May 2014 in Russia were about 35 million people. They generate about 32 million messages per day. Active authors of public content make social networks a relevant indicator of public sentiment, allowing you to catch the "live" social problems in their infancy.
As for the volume of content posted daily in social networks, VKontakte also holds the leading positions here. In second place by the number of messages is located Twitter.
* Classmates - data for the Top 100,000 groups
** Facebook - lower score
It should be noted that the preferential use of VKontakte is specific to the Russian audience. Many Russian authors post short messages that people around the world prefer to publish on Twitter in the VKontakte status format.
Brand Analytics data for Russia are presented for May 2014. Authors are users who have written at least 1 public message per month.
The monthly VKontakte audience in May 2014 amounted to 52.1 million users, of which 18.1 million are active authors. 58.8% of active VKontakte authors are women. In terms of the age structure of the authors, young people from 18 to 24 years old predominate - 39% of the authors.
Geographically, VKontakte enjoys the greatest popularity in St. Petersburg, Moscow is second in terms of network penetration.
The audience of the Odnoklassniki network in May 2014 amounted to 40.8 million users, of which 2.5 million are active authors. The largest part of the active audience of the network - 63.5% - is female. As for the age structure in the social network Odnoklassniki - a group of 24-34 years dominates among active authors.
Classmates are more popular in the regions of Russia: the greatest penetration is recorded in the Sakhalin region, Khabarovsk and Trans-Baikal Territory.
The May audience of the network was 25.9 million users, of which 2.3 million Russian authors showed public activity. Here the female audience dominates classically (the share of women in the total number of active authors is 59.7%). In the context of the age structure, My World is distinguished by the most even distribution. The categories from 25 to 34 years and from 35 to 44 years are leading with a slight advantage (22% of users each).
By the level of penetration of the “talking” audience, My World prevails in the regions (Chelyabinsk Region is the first in terms of penetration), although Moscow and St. Petersburg are also among the top five (2nd and 5th places, respectively).
Facebook
The Russian Facebook audience in May 2014 amounted to 23.4 million users, of which million are active authors. Here, the predominance of female active audience is fixed at 54.2%. By age distribution, 25-34-year-old authors dominate on Facebook - 40% and 35-44 years old - 29%.
Twitter
Twitter audience in May 2014 amounted to 8.3 million users, 1.7 million of them are active authors. Active female authors also prevail among the active audience of Twitter - 54.2%. The geographical section shows the greatest public activity of the residents of the two capitals - Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The monthly audience of LiveJournal in May 2014 amounted to 18.3 million users, of whom only 180,000 authors published posts. At the same time, LiveJournal is the most “masculine” resource: the share of men in the total number of authors was 53.5%. As for the age of the authors, only 4% of them are younger than 25 years old, the groups of 25-34 years old and 35-44 years old prevail, their share being 41% and 35% respectively.
A portrait of active authors of social networks would not be complete without studying their emotional state [4]. My World was the most positive social network in May 2014 (84% of positively colored posts), followed closely by VKontakte (82% of positive posts). Social networks Odnoklassniki and Facebook are located in the middle of the ranking with an equal share of positive content in 74%. Most of the negative was recorded on Twitter and in LiveJournal (a third of all publications have a negative tone). It can not but rejoice that positive emotions prevail in all social media.
In general, the trends of summer 2014 in social media continue winter trends. The penetration of various networks is geographically heterogeneous: VKontakte and Twitter dominate in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and Odnoklassniki and My World are more popular in the regions of Russia. Social media continues to capture more and more users in their networks who actively create content: they talk about themselves, discuss news, and also make reviews on various products and services.
However, in some social networks, the portrait of active authors in the summer of 2014 has changed. So, compared to the winter of 2013-2014, Twitter’s share of male authors increased, while LiveJournal’s share of authors over 45 years old increased - 12% to 21%. “Talking” audience of the network My World, on the contrary, is younger - here the share of authors older than 45 years has decreased from 29% to 16%.
The most pleasant news was the result of the study of the emotional state of active authors of social media. Despite the stereotype that a negative atmosphere reigns in social media in Russia, in practice it turned out that absolutely all social networks are dominated by positive messages.
The study “Social Networks in Russia, Summer 2014” in the presentation format can be downloaded at SlideShare here .
[1] POF, February 2014
[2] TNS Web Index, February 2013
[3] Percentage of active authors is the number of authors divided by the number of inhabitants of the region. Unique authors who wrote at least 1 public message per month were taken into account.
[4] Methodology: Russian-language messages were analyzed, expressing the emotions of first-person authors in the present tense. So, positive messages were identified by expressions like “I love”, “I love”, and negative ones - “I hate”, “annoys me”, etc. The amount of positive and negative emotions in each social network is taken as 100%. To determine the messages that meet the above criteria, 420 million messages from 35 million authors were analyzed over a specified period of time.
The growth of Internet penetration in the regions of Russia is preserved - 59% of the adult population of Russia use the Internet (68.7 million people) [1]. The semi-annual audience growth was 2.2 million. 80% of the daily audience of the Russian-language Internet are active in social networks [2].
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The first place in popularity of social networks is taken by VKontakte, whose attendance increased to 52.1 million people in May 2014, the second place by the social network Odnoklassniki with a monthly audience of 40.8 million people.
* Twitter data are extrapolated based on daily and weekly audience.
The study further presents data on “talking” users who openly express their position through the publication of open content in social media. Such active authors in May 2014 in Russia were about 35 million people. They generate about 32 million messages per day. Active authors of public content make social networks a relevant indicator of public sentiment, allowing you to catch the "live" social problems in their infancy.
As for the volume of content posted daily in social networks, VKontakte also holds the leading positions here. In second place by the number of messages is located Twitter.
* Classmates - data for the Top 100,000 groups
** Facebook - lower score
It should be noted that the preferential use of VKontakte is specific to the Russian audience. Many Russian authors post short messages that people around the world prefer to publish on Twitter in the VKontakte status format.
Portrait of authors of social networks
Brand Analytics data for Russia are presented for May 2014. Authors are users who have written at least 1 public message per month.
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The monthly VKontakte audience in May 2014 amounted to 52.1 million users, of which 18.1 million are active authors. 58.8% of active VKontakte authors are women. In terms of the age structure of the authors, young people from 18 to 24 years old predominate - 39% of the authors.
Geographically, VKontakte enjoys the greatest popularity in St. Petersburg, Moscow is second in terms of network penetration.
| No | Region | Authors | % of population |
| Total in Russia | 18,100,000 | 12.42% | |
| one | St. Petersburg | 1 711 234 | 34.03% |
| 2 | Moscow | 2,867,001 | 23.93% |
| 3 | Sevastopol | 79,890 | 20.81% |
| four | Murmansk region | 157 651 | 20.20% |
| five | Republic of Karelia | 124 468 | 19.54% |
| ... | |||
| 81 | Jewish Autonomous Region | 6,261 | 3.63% |
| 82 | Karachay-Cherkess Republic | 12,930 | 2.74% |
| 83 | The Republic of Dagestan | 68,965 | 2.34% |
| 84 | Chechen Republic | 23,297 | 1.76% |
| 85 | The Republic of Ingushetia | 6,143 | 1.39% |
Classmates
The audience of the Odnoklassniki network in May 2014 amounted to 40.8 million users, of which 2.5 million are active authors. The largest part of the active audience of the network - 63.5% - is female. As for the age structure in the social network Odnoklassniki - a group of 24-34 years dominates among active authors.
Classmates are more popular in the regions of Russia: the greatest penetration is recorded in the Sakhalin region, Khabarovsk and Trans-Baikal Territory.
| No | Region | Authors | % of population |
| Total in Russia | 2,568,100 | 1.76% | |
| one | Sakhalin region | 17,047 | 3.46% |
| 2 | Khabarovsk region | 43,628 | 3.25% |
| 3 | Transbaikal region | 34,237 | 3.13% |
| four | Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Ugra | 44 145 | 2.79% |
| five | Jewish Autonomous Region | 4,817 | 2.79% |
| ... | |||
| 81 | Leningrad region | 9,718 | 0.55% |
| 82 | Tyva Republic | 1,487 | 0.48% |
| 83 | Republic of Tatarstan (Tatarstan) | 18 455 | 0.48% |
| 84 | Vologodskaya Oblast | 5 346 | 0.45% |
| 85 | Republic of Karelia | 2 705 | 0.42% |
My world
The May audience of the network was 25.9 million users, of which 2.3 million Russian authors showed public activity. Here the female audience dominates classically (the share of women in the total number of active authors is 59.7%). In the context of the age structure, My World is distinguished by the most even distribution. The categories from 25 to 34 years and from 35 to 44 years are leading with a slight advantage (22% of users each).
By the level of penetration of the “talking” audience, My World prevails in the regions (Chelyabinsk Region is the first in terms of penetration), although Moscow and St. Petersburg are also among the top five (2nd and 5th places, respectively).
| No | Region | Authors | % of population |
| Total in Russia | 2,291,100 | 1.57% | |
| one | Chelyabinsk region | 147,075 | 4.22% |
| 2 | Moscow | 402 392 | 3.36% |
| 3 | Khabarovsk region | 41,679 | 3.11% |
| four | Primorsky Krai | 55 033 | 2.83% |
| five | St. Petersburg | 135 999 | 2.70% |
| ... | |||
| 81 | Tyva Republic | 1 108 | 0.36% |
| 82 | Republic of Kalmykia | 983 | 0.35% |
| 83 | Chechen Republic | 4,065 | 0.31% |
| 84 | The Republic of Dagestan | 7,709 | 0.26% |
| 85 | The Republic of Ingushetia | 621 | 0.14% |
The Russian Facebook audience in May 2014 amounted to 23.4 million users, of which million are active authors. Here, the predominance of female active audience is fixed at 54.2%. By age distribution, 25-34-year-old authors dominate on Facebook - 40% and 35-44 years old - 29%.
Twitter audience in May 2014 amounted to 8.3 million users, 1.7 million of them are active authors. Active female authors also prevail among the active audience of Twitter - 54.2%. The geographical section shows the greatest public activity of the residents of the two capitals - Moscow and St. Petersburg.
| No | Region | Authors | % of population |
| Total in Russia | 1,728,500 | 1.19% | |
| one | St. Petersburg | 161,761 | 3.22% |
| 2 | Moscow | 377 111 | 3.15% |
| 3 | Chukotka Autonomous Region | 1,284 | 2.53% |
| four | Kaliningrad region | 18,766 | 1.97% |
| five | Novosibirsk region | 48 901 | 1.80% |
| ... | |||
| 81 | Kabardino-Balkaria | 1 936 | 0.23% |
| 82 | The Republic of Ingushetia | 955 | 0.22% |
| 83 | Karachay-Cherkess Republic | 876 | 0.19% |
| 84 | Chechen Republic | 2 182 | 0.16% |
| 85 | The Republic of Dagestan | 4,475 | 0.15% |
Livejournal
The monthly audience of LiveJournal in May 2014 amounted to 18.3 million users, of whom only 180,000 authors published posts. At the same time, LiveJournal is the most “masculine” resource: the share of men in the total number of authors was 53.5%. As for the age of the authors, only 4% of them are younger than 25 years old, the groups of 25-34 years old and 35-44 years old prevail, their share being 41% and 35% respectively.
Emotional state of social media users
A portrait of active authors of social networks would not be complete without studying their emotional state [4]. My World was the most positive social network in May 2014 (84% of positively colored posts), followed closely by VKontakte (82% of positive posts). Social networks Odnoklassniki and Facebook are located in the middle of the ranking with an equal share of positive content in 74%. Most of the negative was recorded on Twitter and in LiveJournal (a third of all publications have a negative tone). It can not but rejoice that positive emotions prevail in all social media.
Actual trends of summer 2014
In general, the trends of summer 2014 in social media continue winter trends. The penetration of various networks is geographically heterogeneous: VKontakte and Twitter dominate in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and Odnoklassniki and My World are more popular in the regions of Russia. Social media continues to capture more and more users in their networks who actively create content: they talk about themselves, discuss news, and also make reviews on various products and services.
However, in some social networks, the portrait of active authors in the summer of 2014 has changed. So, compared to the winter of 2013-2014, Twitter’s share of male authors increased, while LiveJournal’s share of authors over 45 years old increased - 12% to 21%. “Talking” audience of the network My World, on the contrary, is younger - here the share of authors older than 45 years has decreased from 29% to 16%.
The most pleasant news was the result of the study of the emotional state of active authors of social media. Despite the stereotype that a negative atmosphere reigns in social media in Russia, in practice it turned out that absolutely all social networks are dominated by positive messages.
The study “Social Networks in Russia, Summer 2014” in the presentation format can be downloaded at SlideShare here .
[1] POF, February 2014
[2] TNS Web Index, February 2013
[3] Percentage of active authors is the number of authors divided by the number of inhabitants of the region. Unique authors who wrote at least 1 public message per month were taken into account.
[4] Methodology: Russian-language messages were analyzed, expressing the emotions of first-person authors in the present tense. So, positive messages were identified by expressions like “I love”, “I love”, and negative ones - “I hate”, “annoys me”, etc. The amount of positive and negative emotions in each social network is taken as 100%. To determine the messages that meet the above criteria, 420 million messages from 35 million authors were analyzed over a specified period of time.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/230701/
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