Government public pages of regional authorities as new forms of network communication (a case study of the Transbaikal region)

Abstract

The article analyzes government public pages of regional authorities as a new form of network communication, institutionalized in the Russian Federation since 2022. Using the case of the Transbaikal region, the study examines quantitative and qualitative characteristics of official pages of authorities in the social network VKontakte. Based on comparative analysis, statistical analysis and content analysis, differences in the number of subscribers, publication frequency, thematic structure and audience engagement rate are revealed. A calculation of the key integral indicator - the engagement rate (ER) - has been performed in two dimensions: engagement by subscribers, reflecting the loyalty of the permanent audience, and engagement by views, characterizing the attractiveness of the content of government public pages for external (including non-subscribed) users. It is established that, despite compliance with formal regulatory requirements, the potential for dialogical interaction between authorities and society is not fully utilized: informational content dominates, the share of comments is low (less than 5 % of total interactions), and there is a significant differentiation between leading pages and outsiders. At the same time, ER (engagement rate) by views reaches 30-40 %, indicating high content quality for non-subscribed audiences. Recommendations for improving the effectiveness of government public pages are formulated, including the development of interactive formats and increasing technical reach.