Migration of mood: zoomers are moving massively from Telegram to Odnoklassniki

In February and March, users aged 18-25 became 20% more likely to register in Odnoklassniki and formed the basis for the growth of the social network's audience in 2026, representatives of the company told Izvestia. Experts explain this by the migration of zoomers from Telegram and other platforms familiar to a young audience under the constraints of their work. At the same time, in Odnoklassniki, their content is opposed by an older audience who have been using the social network for a long time and are unhappy with the appearance of youth slang, memes, and even vertical video format in their feeds. How to reconcile the generations and which of the popular bloggers moved to OK — in the Izvestia article.

Young people are interested in "Classmates"

The Odnoklassniki social network received a noticeable influx of a young audience — in the second half of February, the number of registrations and profile restores increased by 15-20% compared to previous weeks, with users aged 18-25 providing the bulk, the social network's press service told Izvestia. In March, the indicators remained high and comparable to February, they stated.

At the same time, the audience growth caused an unexpected effect — a fairly large number of older users of the platform do not hide their negative attitude towards youth content, which has clearly increased, Yaroslav Meshalkin, founder of the Center for Gaming and Esports Communications, drew attention. Izvestia studied the content of the social network and indeed found numerous comments of a similar tone. "Odnoklassniki is for communicating with friends and relatives. Why bring all this youth humor and memes here? There are other social networks," one of the subscribers is indignant. "The feed turned into a mess: some kind of challenges, strange bloggers, meaningless videos. To find something useful, you need to scroll through a lot of garbage," writes another. Most often, such comments are found under videos from young authors.

What is happening is a clash of cultural codes, Yaroslav Meshalkin explained. For an audience of 55+, Odnoklassniki is their familiar medium of communication with established formats, and the arrival of zoomers with memes and new visuals is perceived as an invasion.

— For the older audience, the environment itself is changing — the language, visual, rules. It causes rejection. And for zoomers, this is both a protest and a calculation.: There's less competition for attention, and it's easier to gain reach. In fact, the competition of formats begins — "postcards" against memes, — said Yaroslav Meshalkin.

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In Odnoklassniki itself, there is no confrontation between different generations of users.

— The influx of a young audience into OK primarily affects the ways of consumption: young users are more likely to choose short formats, quick acquaintance with authors and clear navigation. At the same time, the OK audience actively consumes different formats: older users are also involved and are watching entertainment content from young people with interest, they added.

"Youth" authors are actively growing and leading their own groups on the platform, including singer and video blogger Milana Star, beauty blogger Marina Orlova, blogger Elina Alexandrovna and others. At the same time, the Silver Age direction remains — the platform supports content from the 55+ age group of users.

The interest in the site is related to changes in the familiar digital infrastructure. After failures and restrictions in Discord, Telegram and WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation), young people began to look for alternatives, from game chats to less popular platforms, said Vladimir Zykov, director of projects at ANO Digital Platforms and head of the Association of Professional Users of Social Networks and Messengers. Against this background, Odnoklassniki began to be perceived as an unexpected "discovery", and interest was further accelerated through TikTok.

— Many people jokingly recommended Odnoklassniki at first, because they knew almost nothing about them. But the platform surprises — "classes" instead of likes, unusual visual, postcards. This attracts and becomes a reason for content on TikTok. As a result, interest grows in waves: some come in out of curiosity, others stay. So far, this is more of a "retrogame" effect, rather than a mass transition," explained Vladimir Zykov.

Similar processes are underway at other sites, adds Igor Baranov, an IT industry expert. According to him, users are mastering less popular services. Examples include KakaoTalk, imo, as well as new niche social networks.

— Users are looking for stable communication channels, so different services, including unexpected platforms, get a "second life". In some cases, even gaming applications are starting to perform the functions of messengers," he said.

According to Baranov, the main generational "duels" on the Odnoklassniki platform occur mainly among gamers — in large thematic publications about games like Minecraft and The World of Tanks. At the same time, in the case of computer games, it is more difficult to identify the age of the disputants, since such users prefer to hide behind "avatars".

Where else to follow the trends

The situation with dissatisfaction with buzzers reflects a broader trend of audience redistribution: in conditions of instability of familiar services, users diversify their presence and test alternative platforms. In this context, the VK ecosystem is becoming one of the key migration destinations, and Odnoklassniki is becoming a space with relatively low competition for attention, notes Artur Vafin, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

— We are witnessing a forced migration rather than a conscious transition: users register on several platforms at once and redistribute their activity. Odnoklassniki is perceived as a free space for experimentation," he explained.

It is more correct to describe what is happening not as a conflict, but as a "system failure," says Lidia Inshina, a clinical psychologist, specialist in manipulation and extreme communications. It's about a clash of different types of thinking — linear and clip-based.

— This is not a classic conflict, but a situation where two different "operating systems" find themselves in the same space. The language of communication has changed, hence the feeling of discomfort," Lidia Inshina noted.

Political scientist, founder of the NGO "Heritage of the Nation" and social architect of the Center for Social Architects "Sphere" Elena Shtulman also speaks about the language gap. According to her, young people use short, emotional communication formats that older audiences often do not accept.

— There have already been similar gaps: in the 90s, the generations also spoke different slang. The same process is happening now, and the task is not to ban, but to learn to understand this language," Shtulman emphasized.

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Interest in the platform is also fueled by the nostalgia effect, added Alina Odintsovo, a media technologist and member of the Digoria expert club. For some young people, Odnoklassniki is becoming a "digital vintage."

— This is a space with a slower pace and a sense of "live" communication. As a result, the platform becomes a meeting point for generations," the expert believes.

What is happening should be viewed more broadly as part of the transformation of digital skills, says Olga Valaeva, head of the Virtual Clinic Research and Practice Center at the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis.

— Today, not only consumption is important, but also information skills. Young people adapt quickly, which makes their behavior in social networks more flexible," she explained.

The generational conflict in the context of the influx of zoomers to Odnoklassniki looks natural, but experts agree: it is temporary and can transform into the coexistence of different cultures on the same platform.