The specific characteristics of governmental communication in social media employed by the Altai Krai regional authorities and local governments

For citation: Vasilenko I.A. The specific characteristics of governmental communication in social media employed by the Altai Krai regional authorities and local governments // Mediascope. 2025. 2. Available at: https://www.mediascope.ru/2915

 

© Irina A. Vasilenko

PhD in Sociology, Associate Professor at the Chair of Journalism, Media and Advertising, Institute of Humanities, Altai State University (Barnaul, Russia), vasilenko@mail.asu.ru

 

Abstract

The official status of social media use by Russian authorities and government agencies was enshrined in law in 2022. The term “state public” refers to the official social media presence of an authority or government institution. In 2024, the audience of state publishers reached 53 million users. The need to generalize the regional and municipal practices of state publics led to the relevance of this study. The aim of this paper is to describe the communication of regional executive authorities and local government bodies of Altai Krai on social media from 2020 to 2024. The study included official accounts on social networks “Odnoklassniki”, “VKontakte” and Telegram messenger of regional executive authorities and 59 district administrations in Altai Krai. The sampling was continuous. The monitoring tool is a service for statistics and content analysis of social networks Popsters.ru. It assesses quantitative parameters of a state institution’s activity, such as the date of community registration and the number of posts. The article describes three stages in the formation of government communication on social media. The first stage occured before the adoption of amendments to the law on information transparency, when the authorities' own initiative were the main incentive for the development of official communities. The second stage is characterized by the legislative consolidation of the practice of maintaining official communities on the social networks “VKontakte” and “Odnoklassniki” as well as the creation of the ANO “Dialogue”, which contributed to the development of public administration, including through educational projects for public sector specialists.The third stage is marked by the point when all official communities of the Altai Krai authorities met the basic quantitative requirements for government websites. The main focus of further development lies in engaging the audience and improving the quality of content.

 

Keywords: social media, governmental public relations, authorities, VK, Odnoklassniki, Telegram.

 

Notes

Avtonomnaya nekommercheskaya organizaciya po razvitiyu cifrovyh proektov v sfere obshchestvennyh svyazej i kommunikacij «Dialog Regiony» [‘Dialogue Regions’, an autonomous non-profit organization for the development of digital projects in the field of public relations and communications]. (In Russian). Available at: https://dialog.info/ (accessed: 12.03.2025).

Chernyj V. (2022) Social'nye seti v Rossii: cifry i trendy, osen' 2022 [Social Networks in Russia: Figures and Trends, Autumn 2022]. Brand Analytics. (In Russian). Available at: https://brandanalytics.ru/blog/social-media-russia-2022

Chernyj V. (2023) Social'nye seti v Rossii: cifry i trendy, osen' 2023 [Social Networks in Russia: Figures and Trends, Autumn 2023]. Brand Analytics. (In Russian). Available at: https://brandanalytics.ru/blog/social-media-russia-autumn-2023

Chernyj V. (2024) Social'nye seti v Rossii: cifry i trendy, osen' 2024 [Social Networks in Russia: Figures and Trends, Autumn 2024]. Brand Analytics. (In Russian). Available at: https://brandanalytics.ru/blog/social-media-russia-autumn-2024

Federal'nyj zakon ot 09.02.2009 g. № 8-FZ «Ob obespechenii dostupa k informacii o deyatel'nosti gosudarstvennyh organov i organov mestnogo samoupravleniya» [Federal Law from 09.02.2009 No. 8-FZ ‘On ensuring access to information on the activities of State and local government bodies’]. (In Russian). Available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/28858 (accessed: 12.03.2025).

Federal'nyj zakon ot 14.07.2022 g. № 270-FZ «O vnesenii izmenenij v Federal'nyj zakon «Ob obespechenii dostupa k informacii o deyatel'nosti gosudarstvennyh organov i organov mestnogo samoupravleniya» i stat'yu 10 Federal'nogo zakona «Ob obespechenii dostupa k informacii o deyatel'nosti sudov v Rossijskoj Federacii» [Federal Law No. 270-FZ of 14.07.2022 “On Amending the Federal Law ‘On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of State and local Government Bodies’ and Article 10 of the Federal Law ‘On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of Courts in the Russian Federation’”]. (In Russian). Available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/48052

Federal'nyj zakon ot 14.07.2022 g. № 270-FZ O vnesenii izmenenij v Federal'nyj zakon «Ob obespechenii dostupa k informacii o deyatel'nosti gosudarstvennyh organov i organov mestnogo samoupravleniya» i stat'yu 10 Federal'nogo zakona «Ob obespechenii dostupa k informacii o deyatel'nosti sudov v Rossijskoj Federacii» [Federal Law from 14.07.2022 No. 270-FZ On Amendments to the Federal Law ‘On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of State and Local Government Bodies" and Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of Courts in the Russian Federation"].(In Russian). Available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/48052 (accessed: 12.03.2025).

Federal'nyj zakon ot 27.07.2006 g. № 149-FZ «Ob informacii, informacionnyh tekhnologiyah i o zashchite informacii» [Federal Law No. 149-FZ from 27.07.2006 “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”]. (In Russian). Available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/24157

Gospabliki – Luchshee [Government public pages – the best]. ANO «Dialog Regiony». (In Russian). Available at: https://vk.com/gospubest

Issledovanie auditorii Telegram – 2023 [Study of the Telegram audience – 2023]. (In Russian). Available at: https://tgstat.ru/research-2023

Katalog Telegram-kanalov i chatov TgStat [TgStat: index of Telegram channels and chats]. (In Russian). Available at: https://tgstat.ru/

Novyj mediakit OK: chto vazhno znat' o platforme v 2024 godu [OK’s new media kit: what to know about the platform in 2024]. Odnoklassniki. (In Russian). Available at: https://insideok.ru/blog/novyj-mediakit-ok-chto-vazhno-znat-o-platforme-v-2024-godu/

Otkrytost' gosudarstva v Rossii – 2020: ekspertnyj doklad [State Transparency in Russia 2020: Expert Report]. 2021. (In Russian). Available at: https://ach.gov.ru/upload/pdf/Otkrytost-2020.pdf

Otkrytost' gosudarstva v Rossii [Transparency of the State in Russia]. Schetnaya palata RF. Available at: https://ach.gov.ru/page/government-openness

Populyarnye dokumenty [Popular documents]. Gosuslugi. (In Russian). Available at: https://pos.gosuslugi.ru/docs/

Prezentacii [Presentations]. Mediascope. (In Russian). Available at: https://mediascope.net/library/presentations/

Rasporyazhenie Pravitel'stva Rossijskoj Federacii ot 02.09.2022 № 2523-r [Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 2523-r from 02.09.2022]. (In Russian). Available at: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202209050038

Rejting avtorov i grupp v Telegram [Rating of authors and channels on Telegram]. Brand Analytics. (In Russian). Available at: https://brandanalytics.ru/mediatrends/authors/telegram/202412/views

Rejting avtorov i grupp v VKontakte [Rating of authors and groups on VKontakte]. Brand Analytics. (In Russian). Available at: https://brandanalytics.ru/mediatrends/authors/vk/202412/ER/public

Rejtingi [Ratings]. Mediascope. (In Russian). Available at: https://mediascope.net/data/

Suanova I. (2024) Uspet' za 6 sutok: obzor auditorii interneta [Make it within 6 days: an overview of the Internet audience]. Mediascope. (In Russian). Available at: https://mediascope.net/upload/iblock/9da/f39jd547adzptf0mu2j1tlmw44pjgt5d/Mediascope_%D0%9D%D0%A0%D0%A4_6%20%D1%81%D1%83%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BA.pdf

 

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