Analysis of the representation of environmental issues in the social networks of regional Internet media

Abstract

A quantitative analysis of environmental content was carried out in the profile groups of social networks of regional Internet media, specifically in the social network VKontakte, popular among young people. An attempt to measure the degree of involvement of the media audience in the environmental issues of the region is presented, an assessment of social reflection on environmental texts is given. The dynamics (through likes, reposts and comments) of social well-being, typical for the audience of regional online media, has been revealed. The most popular resources were used as empirical material - the online publications “74.ru” and “1obl.ru.” A theoretical review of sources on the issue under study, including the work of domestic and foreign scientists of various specialties, is presented. Qualitative results have been achieved: linguistic features of text construction, reflecting the audience's reaction to environmental events, have been identified. The novelty of the study lies in the chosen approach and perspective of the problem, in the combination of methods used to collect data, in particular, a comparative analysis of the presentation of environmental information in official media sources and their representation in social networks was carried out. The main conclusion obtained in the course of the study is that the ecotexts of an environmentally problematic region do not provide high user involvement, while they indirectly express behavioral intentions, audience reactions, including social well-being.

Keywords

• social networks
• environmental issues
• online media
• youth audience
• environmental content
• social well-being
• engagement rate