"Живой журнал" (LiveJournal, the most popular blog platform is Russia) now is integrated with Twitter and Facebook. LiveJournal has 26 million users, one quarter of which belong to the Russian-speaking blog-sphere. In comparison, Facebook has auditory of 500 million people world-wide. FB's market segment among Russia's social network sites is expected to grow from 2% in 2009 to 10% by the end of 2010. For now Russia's most popular social network is Vkontakte, a mock-up version of russified Facebook with similar user-interface, that keeps 45% of the market (14 million users).
LiveJournal is one-dimensional platform with primary focus on blogposts, whereas Facebook allows to integrate diverse range of visual and audio media on its platform. Today Facebook's major problem is limited broadband access beyond Russia's megalopolises. This is where Twitter gets its niche by allowing faster and more reliable micro-blog interaction via omnipresent 2G and emerging 3G networks.
In sum, the migration of Russia's most active bloggers from XX century LiveJournal to XXI century Facebook is underway. It will takes several months before we see the spillover effect. By the end of this year Russian-speaking Facebook and Twitter will be as much politicized as "Живой журнал" (LiveJournal).
It seems that both sides are getting ready for the incoming web-storm. However, President Medvedev's fascination with social media and particular with Twitter (http://bit.ly/dxov70) may backfire if Russian officials underestimate the latest developments.
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