Social Networking in Bulgaria

Map of Bulgaria
Image from: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3236.htm

Bulgaria is a country in Europe bordered by Romania to the north, Turkey and Greece to the south, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, and the Black Sea to the east.  The country occupies 110,910 square kilometers, which is just a little bit bigger than the size of Tennessee.  The population of Bulgaria is around 7,204,687 people and their government is a parliamentary democracy.

Image from: http://www.scottmonty.com/2008/09/social-what.html

In a survey of 13,000 consumers in Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Taiwan, the UAE, and the United States 58% of them did not even know what social networking is and only 26% are members of a social network. 

One social network that has managed to reach Bulgaria is Facebook.  There are a total of 1,909,560 Facebook users in Bulgaria, which is 26.71% of the population.  The people of Bulgaria also have access to Myspace, Yahoo blogs, MSN spaces, as well as several online dating and marriage sites. 

Banya Bashi Mosque
Image from: http://www.iho-ohi.org/index.php/category/bulgaria/

They are currently trying to find ways for the younger people to use social networks safer than they are at the present time.  This was started due to three recent cases of sexual abuse on minors because pedophiles found their information so easily on the current networking sites.  The people have worked together to convince social network owners to add additional protection measure, especially for users that are under the age of 18.

Bulgarian Flag
Image from: http://www.gotterdammerung.org/bulgaria/symbols/index.html

Information sites:  

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3236.htm 

http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/bulgaria

http://blogs.sitepoint.com/2008/09/04/social-networking-not-quite-mainstream/

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