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The Russian network society 89inequality of geographical regions has visibly decreased. While, in thesummer of 1996, 85 percent of all Russian Internet users lived in big cities and75 percent of them were Moscow residents, by the beginning of the twentyfirstcentury there was a definite rise in the number of users among residentsof the Russian regions. In 2002, 33.7 percent of Russian Internet users livedoutside the two “capitals,” Moscow and St Petersburg. However, Moscow(57.2 percent Internet users) and St Petersburg (9.1 percent) still represent themain areas of residence of Russian Internet users. However, another importantindicator, the geographical representation of the number of Runet visitors,proves that the Runet audience is rather divergent and the largest segment ofusers is comprised by non-Muscovites (see table 3.2).Runet has now enlarged in terms of geography, social and gender representation.Currently, the share of female users stands at almost 40 percent. However,a typical user is mostly an educated and/or high-income urban man (20–35 yearsof age) working as a state official, politician, businessman, journalist, or student.Another trend indicative of the Russian Internet is the increase in the number ofindividual users compared to corporate ones. However, the number of connectionsto the Net from homes remains comparatively low, and at present the correlationbetween access from individual apartments and corporate offices stand atthe level of 33 percent to 65 percent (Mezhdunarodnyi otraslevoi almanakh,2002: 13; Rumetrica, 2002). It should be noted, however, that within “corporateuse” the Russian data do not specify either the number of schools connected tothe Net or the use of the Internet by schoolchildren.Table 3.2 Areas of residence of Runet visitors (2002)Share of Runet visitorsArea (%)Moscow 32.27St Petersburg 5.83Krasnodar region 1.78Sverdlovsk region 1.46Moscow region 1.24Samara region 1.19Rostov region 1.18Other regions 21.79Foreign countries 31.39Residence not defined 1.87Total 100Source:http://rumetrica.rambler.ru/data/auditory/geo/