No visa lifting, no problem: Kosovars before Germany, France, among the first in Europe to use internet

Based on recent statistics published by the Agency for Statistics (ASK), a 93 per cent percentage of Kosovo families have had access to the Internet during 2018. Kosovars thus rank among the biggest Internet users in Europe, leaving countries such as Germany and France behind.

Also, data from the Global Index Speed has found that Kosovo's second fastest internet in the Balkans with 39.6 Mbps, behind Serbia with 40.6 Mbps.

While this remains a reality known to the majority, it is far more important to know more about what the internet most is used for in Kosovo, as this could provide valuable details on the socio-economic context of internet use.

As may have been expected, social networks are the part where Kosovars spend most of their time. In fact, this is largely compatible with global trends. According to an STIKK research in 2016, the most used applications were Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and very few seem to have changed in this regard.

Kosovars aged 13-19 and 29 prefer Facebook to other apps. On the other hand, Twitter and Instagram are used mainly by Kosovars aged 18-29.

The level of social networking continues to remain high by all age categories. Furthermore, other media have joined the list of online social networks preferred by Kosovars.

Research by Engineers Tinderoplus. com based on indirect data collected from internet use, it found that Tinder is making it especially popular among Kosovars because of the various opportunities the network offers to recognise people with common interests and tastes.

Based on these findings, 80 to 90 thousand Kosovars use the Tinder application, so they are interested in finding potential partners through it.

Statistically, males make up the majority of the Tinder users in Kosovo. Based on these findings, 45 to 50,000 Kosovar males show interest in finding their partner through Tinger. On the other hand, the number of female users behaves between 30 and 35 thousand.

In addition to gender distribution, the report also found data on the most frequent location of users in Kosovo. About 65 per cent of Tinger users in Kosovo are from urban areas, while the other 35 per cent percentage of users are from less urban areas.

This rise in Tinger's use largely coincides with global trends. In recent years the number of Tinder users has increased at high speed, and in 2019 their community collects over 57 million active users. As a result, the benefits of the company managing the app have increased rapidly, making it from more profitable projects in the current social networking market.