The Blogosphere as a Specific Area of Digital Communication

This article examines the specifics of the blogosphere of the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, as well as the changes that have occurred in this area after the ban of certain social platforms and their recognition as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation. The study was carried out using a comparative method and is based on the analysis of the content of blogs in the social networks VKontakte, Dzen, Telegram, selected by a continuous sampling method for the period from February 2022 to October 2022. The blogosphere today is a dynamically and actively developing environment, and blogs are no longer just a channel for broadcasting relevant information, but also a social and communicative phenomenon existing at the intersection of journalism, marketing and political technologies.

The recognition of some popular social networks as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation has led to a reduction in the income of bloggers associated with a sharp decrease in the coverage of their accounts, as well as the departure of a number of major foreign advertisers from the Russian market. There was a transition of the main bloggers to alternative blogging platforms, as well as the search for suitable forms of content submission for them and attempts to increase the audience. These changes affected not only bloggers, but also the accounts of various state budget organizations operating within the framework of the electronic state presented on the Internet.

Social networks today are turning from platforms for communication and file sharing into digital ecosystems that include many services. Bloggers develop their accounts, increasing the number of subscribers and building up a regular audience and become influencers — opinion leaders, which is actively used by businesses in influencer marketing. To optimize cooperation with media personalities who have their own blogs, representatives of companies turn to influencer agencies, which today provide a full range of digital services, from the idea to its final implementation. The growth of the older audience leads to the fact that the content is “maturing” — more and more serious topics are being raised, the requirements for the quality of content are increasing. The trends of personalization of content and fragmentation of the blog audience are also increasing.

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