VCIOM: Mobile social networking, a new force in Russian social networks

Since Facebook has not made much progress in Russia, global brands have found it difficult to do social marketing in Russia. There are several reasons why the Russian market cannot be ignored: dazzling economic growth in the sluggish economic environment of Western Europe, a group of urban middle classes with strong spending power. eMarketer estimates that Russia will have 57.9 million social network users in 2012, making it the fifth most socially connected country in the world.

According to a February 2012 study from the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), 82% of Russian Internet users used social networks during February 2012, up 30 percentage points from 2010. The percentage of users who did not use social networks fell by more than half to 18%.

In updated data from May 2012, VCIOM found that more than half (54%) of Russian mobile Internet users access social networks on their phones. Mobile social usage is high among young groups, with 73% of users aged 18-24 and 50% of users aged 25-34.

In 2012, eMarketer predicts that the number of mobile Internet users in Russia will reach 32.7 million. If more than half of these users access social networks on their mobile phones, according to VCIOM data, this would amount to 17.7 million mobile social network users.