Citizens' activity in social networks: factors of influence

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of Internet activism, as well as the analysis of external factors that directly or indirectly affect the activity of citizens in social networks. The authors consider the concept of Internet activism, its "actions" in the network, as well as various points of view of researchers in the field of civic activism on the effectiveness of this method of political participation of citizens. The main part of the paper presents the materials of modern research that examines civil activity on the Internet, as well as the reasons for high or low civil Internet activity. Based on the materials reviewed, the authors identify the main factors of citizens ' activity in social networks. In order to identify the dependence of the number of requests from citizens in social networks on other external factors, the authors conducted their own research. The paper uses the method of sociological analysis, namely the calculation of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, to determine the dependence of the number of requests from citizens of the Yaroslavl region in social networks on the population of the region, as well as on the level of Internet penetration in municipalities of the region. The analysis showed that the number of complaints, complaints about problems, requests from the population to Executive authorities in social networks in the Yaroslavl region depends on the number of people living in various municipalities of the region, as well as on the level of penetration of residents of these municipalities into the Internet space. The results of the analysis also allow us to conclude that the above indicators can estimate the activity of citizens in social networks in a particular region.