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Social Networks, Blogs, Forums - Cases of Ukraine and Russia

Olga Kamenchuk's report at the LCSR regular seminar.

Olga Kamenchuk (Director of International and Public Affairs, VCIOM;   Head of Department of Sociology of Mass Communication, School of International Journalism, MGIMO) delivered a report on "Social Networks, Blogs, Forums - Cases of Ukraine and Russia" at the regular seminar of the Laboratory on November, 22, 2012.

Olga presented results of public opinion polls in Russia and Ukraine conducted by WCIOM and R&B Group (Zircon research group contributed to coordination of this research project). The main goal of the project was to investigate usage of mass media and other information sources in these two countries. Researchers focused on social networks, blogs, forums and other forms of Internet communication.

At the beginning of her speech Olga emphasized that post-Soviet region is not a homogeneous space, and levels of communication technology development in CIS countries differ significantly. Nevertheless, Russia and Ukraine have something in common. Firstly, in both countries more than 90% of people watch TV. Besides, the number of mobile phone users increases rapidly in both countries; number of personal library owners decreases.

Survey results show that Russia is the leader among the countries of Eastern Europe by the number of Internet users: 50% of Russian citizens use Internet. Internet spreads across Russia the same way it happened in the United States and in Europe (from big cities to small towns and villages). 

Internet audience becomes older; the number of World Wide Web users among representatives of elder cohorts is permanently increasing. However, at the moment in Ukraine only one third of population uses Internet.

Why do people use Internet? In Ukraine the majority uses it for leisure; the second popular form of occupation in the Web is communication with friends as well as reading news and searching for information. The situation is quite opposite in Russia: using Internet for leisure is only the fourth most popular activity. Internet is mostly perceived as a source of information for work or studies, and a source of news. Communication with friends is ranked as the third most popular online activity in Russia.

Internet as a tool of interpersonal communication was examined in details in this research project. Almost a half of respondents in Russia said that they were open to acquaintance in social networks like vk.com or odnoklassniki.ru. In Ukraine social networks are not so popular. Before Internet became accessible for masses, people got acquainted at work, at schools and universities, in clubs; nowadays sites, blogs and forums are more common platform for making new friends.

In conclusion Olga pointed out that Russians perceive Internet more seriously than residents of other countries. According to Olga, the possible reason of this trend is that in Russia the problem of access to alternative sources of information is quite relevant.

by Anita Moiseeva

  Presentation