The article reveals the topic of the place and role of the Vkontakte social network in the organization of the educational process, the relevance of which was confirmed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The object of the research is digital education at Russian universities. The subject of the research is the VKontakte social network as a means of organizing the educational process. The authors share the experience of using social networks, accumulated in the process of teaching social disciplines at the Timiryazev Academy. The data proving the popularity of this network among students in Russia are presented. The main scientific result: Not only the high efficiency of using the VKontakte social network for organizing the educational process has been proven, but also a proposal is formulated to consider digital literacy and knowledge of modern digital technologies as one of the qualification requirements for higher school teachers. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.