Ukraine's social media – most popular portals and its users

Strong Russian influences

Among the top five most popular social media platforms in Ukraine, influences from the Russian market are more pronounced than those from western countries (gemiusAudience). Three Russian-based portals show up here – My.mail.ru, Ok.ru and Vk.com. The last one, being the Russian equivalent of Facebook, is the leader of the pack. Vk.com is used by 70 per cent of Ukrainian internet users – nearly 25 per cent more than Facebook.com, which takes second place in the ranking. Another western platform, Twitter.com, is found in fifth place and is used by nearly 14 per cent of internet users.

East versus West

From the analysis of data gathered in the gemiusAudience study, an interesting picture emerges of the preferences for social media portals from Russia and western countries. Western portals are chosen most often by those with a higher education (55 per cent of all Facebook.com users; 53 per cent of all Twitter.com users) and those living in cities (88 per cent of all Facebook.com users; 92 per cent of all Twitter.com users). However, Russian social media platforms are more popular among those with only a secondary education.

Among Ukrainian internet users, slightly more women use Russian-based portals – Ok.ru, which allows the renewal of school friendships, stands out with a user structure of over 60 per cent women.

The factor that shows the least differentiation for preferred social media in Ukraine is user age. Only when comparing Vk.com and its competitor, Facebook.com, can a small lean towards older users been seen for the latter.