New media in the context of public opinion formation

Abstract

Research objectives: based on the data of sociological services to conduct a comparative analysis of traditional and new media; to compare the degree of their penetration into people's lives; to analyze the possibilities of new media influence on public opinion; to evaluate the effectiveness of such influence on the example of specific socio-political events. Based on two cases (the May protests in Ekaterinburg in connection with the construction of St. Catherine's Church and the Government crisis in Austria in may 2019), the author analyzes the specifics of using new media to shape the information agenda and influence public opinion. The article analyzes the speeches and statements of public opinion leaders (Posner, Prokhanov, Patriarch Kirill). Statistical data is used to determine the effectiveness of using various channels of information dissemination through new media. The article defines new media, identifies their types and characteristics, provides sociological data on the penetration of new media into society. The available information about the features of the distribution of new media and their use by a mass audience allows us to demonstrate with concrete examples how they change public opinion on specific issues if they are purposefully and widely connected to the coverage of various events. There are recorded the differences between protest actions in Ekaterinburg against the construction of St. Catherine's Church using new media (2019) and without their use (2018). The results of protest actions in Ekaterinburg in the context of the use of new media are summarized.

Keywords

• new media
• digital media
• social media
• public opinion
• protest
• news agenda.