The future of social media of Kazakhstan
The role of new social media in Kazakhstan has been changing since 2008-2010 as its visibility and popularity has increased. At the same time the role of traditional media in the country has been declining. Today most of young people across the country get information from the Internet and new social medial; while traditionally older people still read traditional newspapers and magazines. In addition, young people found that it is easier for them to get all necessary information using computers and apps on mobile phones.
It is illustrated by available data: according to most recent statistics (July, 2015) the number of Internet users in Kazakhstan has reached 3,47 million, and 71% of them aged between 12 and 54. They use the Internet at least once a month. 870 thousand of them are the residents of Almaty.
In general 67,5% of Kazakhstani Internet users are from the big cities, 40% is from country side. According to the SimilarWeb ranking, in Kazakhstan most of them are the use new media for everyday life. For example:
E-mail — 67,9%
Searching for information — 59,8%
Watching films — 53,9%
Reading news — 48,8%
Listening to and downloading music— 43,4% .
The statistics of using mobile devices is the following:
Apple —45 %
Android —43%
IOS —42%
Symbian —3%
Windows Phone —2%
Others —10%.
IMPLICATIONS: The data shows that traditional media, new media and mobile media are equally popular among audience in Kazakhstan. However, mobile media is the fastest growing sector. The professor Rafis Abazov suggests that all three sectors of media will survive in Kazakhstan in near future: “Traditional media (including TV and radio) will not disappear completely. However, the presence of new media and mobile media will continue growing.” He suggests that, these days, media serves three purposes: 1) delivery of news and information; 2) entertainment, and 3) connecting communities, groups and people.
Therefore, many media experts believe that in future we will see interplay between different media sectors in future in Kazakhstani.