VK has become a social media giant but still remains relatively unknown in North America. This is because the majority of users are in Eastern Europe. VK has more than 60 million Russian users and over million users worldwide. For reference, Facebook only has about 10 million. There is a major opportunity here just waiting.
We can look at it from two sides: what we can tell VK users, or what they can tell us. What we can tell them, is related to marketing teams and businesses trying to enter the Eastern European market. Using VK as an engagement platform will show your message to millions of people, mainly located in Russia, on a site they trust enough to use daily.
We are experts in location-first social media discovery. This brings us to…. VK also has an incredible searching algorithm. Visually, VK took on a similar format and appearance to Facebook, but there are numerous differences in the specifications and features on offer. Users are encouraged to fill fields including religion, political views and military service, right down to their views on smoking and alcohol.
This allows the site to provide a unique array of media including free music, television series, and film streaming. Simply put, the information available on VK, combined with social media listening, can provide bountiful and indispensable intelligence for global companies. Any brand looking to branch out into the eastern European market should use the platform to understand not only Russian consumers, but surrounding countries including Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Moldova.
Source: Age distribution of Vk. Combined with the fact that over 70 percent of users fall into the categories of Millennial and Gen Z , its an excellent way to understand the preferences of consumers today. The network creates an unprecedented amount of in-depth user information in comparison to the likes of Facebook.
It also allows brands to zoom in on highly targeted communities. You can leverage these communities through ads, pinpointing the most appropriate tribes for your products, campaigns and content marketing. The country is home to the largest online audience in Europe, creating huge opportunities for e-commerce. Or at least a great model for that, which still needs some improvements.
With all that being said, I think, that in the world of new media VK is an underestimated and sadly yet unknown Russian social media giant with more advantages than disadvantages which the world is still to discover. Theorizing Affordances: From Request to Refuse.
Bulletin of Science 36 4 : Bucher, Taina. Katsiaryna S. Bucher, Taina and Anne Helmond. The Affordances of Social Media Platforms.
London and New York: Sage, Boyd, D. Critical Questions for Big Data. Internet Policy Review 8 4 : Gitelman, L. Raw Data Is an Oxymoron. Many activist groups at odds with the Russian establishment used the platform frequently, both as ordinary users and as a means to advance their causes. When asked to permanently ban these groups and individuals, Durov refused.
Needless to say, things got complicated. Durov was eventually coerced into forfeiting his stake in the company in Everything went to Alisher Usmanov, the richest man in Russia at the time.
Call it a healthy sense of nationalism or simply a matter of convenience, most Russians simply prefer VK to Facebook. Sorry, Mark Zuckerberg. It's not just that VK is more commonly used in Russia, either. According to one study courtesy of Germany's Henrich Heine University , VK users consider it to be the superior choice, with levels of indicated value twice as high as those asserted in favor of other social media brands.
VK was considered to be more enjoyable and fun, easier to use, and more trustworthy overall by participants. In June , VK actually experienced a significant security breach , exposing the data of over million users. Included in the spoils: names, email addresses, passwords, and other sensitive contact information, all found being sold on the dark web shortly after. VK isn't the first, nor the last. Still, it makes you think. We should always be careful about what we share online, even on a website as huge as this one.
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