FEATURES OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES OF THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL CHALLENGES AND RISKS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the specifics of political communication in the modern world. As an example, we study virtual communities in the Telegram messenger and the VKontakte social network. The text examines the specifics of the modern digital era, and, in particular, its phenomenon as virtual political communication, as one of the main horizontal ways of communication between individuals. The author emphasizes the inherent nature of the process of mediatization of politics in the modern world, as well as such an important aspect of it as awareness of oneself as a citizen as a direct participant in the implementation of power interactions. Special emphasis in the work is placed on the practices that currently exist in the Russian Federation. In particular, there is an increase in the interest of Russians in political events and, as a result, taking into account the global political situation, not only the growth of the popularity of VKontakte and Telegram, but also the emergence of new innovations, as well as the growth of the popularity of the former ones. There are three main groups of publics: media; communities of political actors; around topical key political issues. The changes in political communication between citizens and the state are investigated. The article provides recommendations on how best to carry out this interaction from the point of view of public authorities: high-quality visual content with an emphasis on concise videos and “presence effect”; user-oriented content marketing; effective speech communication; temporal strategy. There is a request for how, in the conditions of numerous fake and discrediting publications, to increase confidence in public authorities at all levels.

Keywords:

political communication, virtual communities, mediatization of politics, social media