Velikaya N.M., Grebnyak O.V., Stanevich A.Yu. Governors' Network Communication in the Context of Digitalization: Effectiveness Assessment. Voprosy teorii i praktiki zhurnalistiki = Theoretical and Practical Issues of Journalism, 2025, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 667–684. (In Russian). EDN: QSMOWH. DOI: 10.17150 ...

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: https://jq.bgu.ru/reader/article.aspx?id=27618 (дата обращения 24.12.2025)

Abstract

The article presents the results of a comparative study of the network activity of 16 governors from all federal districts of the Russian Federation on the social network VKontakte. Having considered some areas of digitalization in public administration, the authors draw attention to digital regional inequality, as well as the role of effective communication between regional heads in building trust in government. Based on the communication approach, the authors consider digitalization not only as a tool for optimizing the work of government structures, but also as a catalyst for active citizen participation in governance, when the interaction of government and the public results in cooperation, collaboration and participation. To consider the governors' network activity, the following indicators were included in the analysis: ER (Engagement Rate) per day and per post, VR (View Rate), LR (Like Rate), TR (Talk Rate), the number and average values of likes, reposts, and comments. Multifactorial analysis allowed us to propose an index of the effectiveness of communication in social networks, which includes three indicators with different weights: the degree of interactivity, emotional resonance and attention stability. Based on the calculated index, it was revealed that the size of the audience does not correlate with its engagement, that the indicator of interactivity is at a low level for almost all analyzed pages of governors, and the emotional resonance is higher for governors with a relatively small audience. In accordance with the developed index, the social networks of the governors were ranked, and a “map” of the effectiveness of the governors' social networks was built.  This index can not only be used to analyze the effectiveness of any political actors in social networks, but also to identify weaknesses in government communication.