Russia’s Ministry for Youth Affairs to launch new social networking site in 2016

A new social network targeting young Russians from 18 to 35 is set launch in 2016 by Russia’s Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), Izvestia reported yesterday. The new website, expected to be called Youth of Russia, is being billed as a hybrid of popular websites Facebook, VK, Swarm and LinkedIn, and will provide services from job searches to youth forums.

“For the main user of the system — the young person — the system will become a portal for practical information, where, in addition to the latest information on youth policy, users can record civic activism online, and organise social capital,” a spokesperson from Rosmolodezh said.

The new website, which will have a budget of around 6.4 million roubles (approximately $126,130), will launch both on a web-version and a mobile app, and will work in a similar way to other social networking sites, with the additional function of allowing users to add professional credentials to their profile, a Rosmolodezh spokesperson said.

While the youth agency has said that the purpose of the new site is to create a centralised system which can develop and monitor youth programmes and activities, others have remained skeptical about the new project. Director of the Agency for Young Professionals, Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia that the project may fail to be successful. “Private businesses often do well with these kinds of initiatives, while states don’t … It is much easier to use existing social networks and carry out appropriate services inside them, rather than create a separate site.”