INSTAGRAM SOCIAL NETWORK AS A PLATFORM FOR INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS AND THE PUBLIC (RESULTS OF A REGIONAL SURVEY)
Social media related to the development of social networks have been increasingly becoming the subject of scientific research in recent years. The focus of this study is the social network Instagram as an Internet communication platform for party leaders and the population. The object of the study is the consideration of the Instagram social network as the main social media in the system of Internet communication in the field of modern Russian politics. The subject of the study is identifying the features of news content on the Instagram accounts of the leaders of the regional parliament factions and regional branches of the political parties in Kuzbass. The purpose of the study is to analyze the features of news content on the Instagram accounts of the leaders of the regional parliament factions and regional branches of political parties as a means of Internet communication with the population in Kuzbass. The methodology of the study is based on M. Castells’ network approach, as well as systemic and comparative approaches. To analyze the types and sentiments of online posts and comments of the political party leaders in Kuzbass the author applied the method of qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The study follows concepts of foreign and Russian researchers: in theoretical and methodological aspects, a significant contribution to the studying of Internet communications was made by representatives of the industrial society theory (D. Bell, M. McLuhan, M. Castells), mass communication theory (H. Blumer, N. Postman, B. Skinner, G. Gerbner and others), as well as Russian scientists G. L. Akopov, I. A. Bykov, and S. V. Volodenkov. The author notes that the works of contemporary experts focus, to a greater extent, on conducting regional studies on social networks. It was found that there are fundamental differences between the content in social accounts of the political party leaders and the governor of Kuzbass. It is shown that, unlike the governor’s account, where users can ask their urgent questions in the comments and receive answers, the content of the party leaders is more entertaining. The posts of politicians representing political parties are not opinion exchange platforms and are not aimed at solving topical social and economic issues. The main task of comments in the posts of party leaders is to maintain interest in their persons (by posting personality-focused content), rather than in the professional political activities of a politician.