Online Social Media Consumption in a Turbulent Society: The Case of Russia 2022–2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2026.2.3008Keywords:
social media, audience measurement, user-generated content, access blocking, online communications, social turbulenceAbstract
The article analyses the dynamics of the audience of online social media in Russia from January 2022 to September 2024. The study is based on statistical data coming from two sources, namely, Mediascope’s Cross Web online audience measurement and Medialogia’s monitoring of user-generated content (UGC). The author proposes two indexes for solving comparative tasks, Dynamic Structural Index and Dynamic Integral Index. The following analysis made it possible to identify different audience effects for platforms subject to slowdowns and blocking by regulators, as well as for media outlets that continue to operate without restrictions. The author examines the reasons for the growth of Telegram's audience—the only major beneficiary of the changes in the social media landscape that occurred during the period under study—and notes the failure of attempts to introduce new domestic platforms to the market as part of the import substitution policy by September 2024. The analyzed case is introduced into the broader context of international conflicts related to the management of UGC online platforms, as well as the theoretical context of understanding the phenomenon of online social communications at the current stage of development.
Acknowledgements. This publication was prepared in the course of research No. 25-00-004, “A study of digital ecosystems as new entities in the media communications industry and elements of the national media system (based on the Yandex and VK cases),” within the framework of the Scientific Foundation of the HSE University program.
The author expresses his sincere gratitude to his colleagues who made the research possible: S. Alibekov and K. Zendrikov (Internet Initiatives Development Fund), I. Zadorin and A. Saponova (ZIRCON), M. Macheret (Medialogia), I. Shpuntova and V. Manuilova (Mediascope), A. Tyshetskaya, S. Vartanov, E. Yarskaya-Smirnova, and I. Zangieva (HSE University).
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