Social media and messenger apps usage in Russia

Russian Public Opinion Research Center studied the use of social media and messaging apps in Russia. The data show that 45% of respondents over 18 years of age use at least one social media network almost every day, and 62% - at least once a week.

As it was expected, the highest involvement is among young people. 91% of Russians aged 18-24 use social media almost daily. There are 69% of active users in the 25-34 age group, and only 15% of users in the 60+ age group.

Vkontakte is the most popular social media in the country with 28% of respondents visiting the website every day. The second place is occupied by Odnoklassniki (19%), the third place is taken by Instagram (14%). Surprisingly, the daily audience of Google+ is 7% of respondents, whereas Facebook has only 4%. Vkontakte and Instagram are more popular among young people. 40% of VK users are people aged 25-34. 38% of Instagram users are at the age of 18-24, and 37% account for people aged 25-34. The largest group of daily users of Odnoklassniki is also young people of 25-34 years of age.

The main messengers in Russia are WhatsApp (44%), messages in Vkontakte (32%), SMS (32%) and Viber (30%). Respondents over 60 years of age most often use SMS (43%), and the 18-24 age group prefers VK messages (69%).

52% of respondents prefer to use smartphones to get access to the Internet, and 26% of Russian users spend over 4 hours online every day.