Social networking and Googling in Ukrainian becomes fashionable
18 February 11:42
The share of Ukrainian search queries on Google in Russian has been decreasing for at least the third year in a row, while the share of search queries in Ukrainian is growing every year. This is reported by the publication “How Much”, citing data from the digital marketing agency “Promodo”, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs.
For comparison, in 2021, 19.2% of search queries were in Ukrainian, and 80.8% were in Russian. In 2024, 31.1% of Ukrainian search queries on Google were already in Ukrainian, and the rest were in Russian.
At the same time, news is most often googled in Ukrainian – 52% of search queries. The share of search queries in Ukrainian in this segment increased by 4% last year compared to 2023.
Also, the areas with the largest share of Ukrainian-language search queries include children’s products – 50% of cases. The share of searches in Ukrainian here increased by 6% compared to 2023.
Pet products are googled in Ukrainian in 41% of cases. The share of searches in Ukrainian in this area increased by 13% compared to 2023.
At the same time, the largest increase in Ukrainian-language queries compared to 2023 was for electronics (by 26%), alcohol (by 19%), and cosmetics (by 18%).
Compared to 2021, the share of Ukrainian-language searches increased the most in electronics and cosmetics:
electronics – by 163% or 2.6 times (from 8.1% to 21.3%)
cosmetics – by 92% (from 17.7% to 34%)
children’s goods – by 87% (from 27% to 50.6%)
alcohol – by 74% (from 12.3% to 21.4%)
sports – by 60% (from 27.2% to 43.5%)
medicine – by 48% (from 19.9% to 29.5%)
news – by 44% (from 36.1% to 52%)
pet products – by 43% (from 28.8% to 41.2%).
Ukrainian prevails in the Ukrainian segment of social media
In August-September 2024, the share of posts in Ukrainian in the Ukrainian segment of key social networks amounted to 56% and became predominant for the first time. This is according to a study by the Content Analysis Center.
In August-September 2024, 44% of posts were published in Russian. However, in previous years, the share of Russian-language posts was higher: 54% in 2023, 62% in 2022, and 86% in 2020. Accordingly, Ukrainian-language posts accounted for 46% in 2023, 38% in 2022, and 14% in 2020.
At the same time, in the three most popular Western social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), the share of posts in Ukrainian was 80-90%, while in 2020 it was 13-28%.
On YouTube, Ukrainian was used in 50% of cases, compared to 3% in 2020. On TikTok, 47% of content is in Ukrainian, up from 37% in 2020. It is worth noting that TikTok is the only social network where the share of Ukrainian-language content has decreased compared to 2023 (it was 55% then).
In terms of regions, almost all regions of Ukraine showed a year-on-year increase in the share of posts in Ukrainian by several percent. The figure grew even in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, despite the occupation of part of their territories. In contrast, the share of Russian language increased in Odesa region.
