Digital Citizen

Ciprian Adrian Rusen, Founder

Bucharest, Romania

2025

Digital Citizen is empowering digital fluency across the globe

Ciprian Adrian Rusen envisioned a future where digital literacy was accessible to everyone in his home country of Romania. He founded Digital Citizen, a website dedicated to providing free, high-quality resources to help individuals navigate the complexities of the digital world.

Booting up a business

Ciprian Adrian Rusen started his online publishing journey in 2015 with the launch of Digital Citizen, a bilingual online platform in English and Romanian. From the outset, Ciprian was determined to establish Digital Citizen as "a viable, long-term business," driven by a clear mission: to enable individuals in Romania and around the world to become productive technology users.

"In my home country of Romania, digital literacy was and remains a problem," Ciprian explains. He observed that while many utilized technology for social media and entertainment, they often struggled with productive application.

"A small percentage of people have a solid understanding of technology, so they can put it to good use and improve their lives. This problem inspired me to create Digital Citizen."

Even the name "Digital Citizen" reflects his fundamental belief: "Even if we don't realize it, all of us are digital citizens. We self-enact our societal role through digital technologies like websites, social networks, e-mail, e-commerce, and online journalism. Knowing how to use technology productively, making better tech purchasing choices, and understanding tech products also make us better, more efficient digital citizens."

One of Digital Citizen's most popular articles

Powering free access

Ciprian's commitment to delivering free, accessible content necessitated a sustainable business model. The solution quickly became clear: display advertising. And Digital Citizen has relied on ad revenue ever since its inception.

After experimenting with various partners and encountering issues such as delayed payments and inadequate support, Ciprian made the strategic decision to transition to Google AdSense.

"We switched to AdSense, and we have stuck to it since," he affirms, characterizing it as "one of the best business decisions" he has made.

AdSense proved to be a reliable and straightforward solution for Digital Citizen, also providing access to "excellently optimized AMP ads," which performed effectively across both desktop and mobile platforms.

Another key advantage of AdSense was its seamless integration with Google Analytics. This integration allows Ciprian to understand what content generates the most revenue. “It's not always a popular topic that generates the highest revenue, so I can use this data to make more profitable decisions regarding the content we create so that we can balance doing our work as a passion and also being able to make a living while doing it."

This ad-supported model is fundamental to Digital Citizen's mission. "One of my company's core values is to help people for free. I want to make it easy for people to find, access, and use the content we create on Digital Citizen."

Ad revenue has also been crucial in funding his team of three full-time employees and a web developer, enabling the business to grow and continue providing useful information to both their local and global audiences.

“We switched to AdSense, and we have stuck to it since. It was one of the best business decisions we have made.”

Connecting users, charting the future

Digital Citizen’s impact is substantial, with the English site attracting nearly seven million users in 2024, while its Romanian site serves around a million readers. The Romanian site even boasts one of the highest female audiences amongst peer tech blogs, with 51% of readers being female. Additionally, the majority of Romanian readers are aged 35 to 54, reflecting a focus on those who frequently encounter digital literacy challenges.

Popular articles include practical guides such as "CMD: 11 basic commands you should know", "The Windows 10 Clipboard", and for Romanian readers, "How to take screenshots in Windows" and "How to install a wireless printer."

These guides address common technological pain points, empowering users to be proactive and resourceful. And sometimes, these guides can even be a little too instructive.

Ciprian recalls a memorable interaction with a reader who, after meticulously reviewing his articles on account creation and two-step verification, identified a minor flaw in his screenshots. This astute reader then successfully discerned Ciprian’s Microsoft account details and then thoughtfully emailed him with screenshots of a successful login, halted only by two-step verification.

"It was both scary and funny," Ciprian recounts. Their subsequent conversation highlighted the reader’s gratitude for the detailed content that facilitated his understanding of complex topics.

"I love it when people find our content useful, and use it to get stuff done or solve problems," Ciprian shares.

Looking ahead, Ciprian wants to continue expanding Digital Citizen's content, exploring emerging digital trends and technologies.

But through the constantly changing digital landscape, he remains steadfast in his original vision: to provide high-quality, free digital literacy resources to foster a more empowered Romania and a more digitally proficient global community.

About the Publisher

Ciprian Adrian Rusen is the dedicated founder of Digital Citizen, a bilingual online publication committed to enhancing digital skills across his home country of Romania and worldwide. Based in Bucharest, Romania, Ciprian launched his websites to make essential digital knowledge freely available to all. His work embodies the spirit of an open internet, fostering education and empowerment for a digitally evolving society.