Social networks - a platform for dialogue

The Russian Institute for the Development of the Internet prepared a training program for officials, which provides for the competent building of relations with society through instant messengers and other social platforms. They will teach this during special seminars based on the plenipotentiary representations of the president.

Social networks will become a platform for dialogue

According to the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Leonid Levin, instant messengers and social networks today are one of the most significant and easily accessible media.

The Institute for Internet Development (IRI) was established in 2015 on the initiative of State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who then oversaw domestic policy in the Presidential Administration. The institute was engaged in legislation improvement projects, and now it will move on to more practical tasks and will advise regional administrations on building work on the Internet.

Officials will teach competently to conduct official communities in social networks, respond to user requests, including complaints. After completing the master classes, employees will be able to create their own accounts and post content. Vladimir Tabak, who promoted Vladimir Putin in social networks in the 2008 presidential campaign, will be in charge of all this work.

The activity of politicians on the Internet is growing

According to the political scientist, director of the International Institute of the Newest States, Alexey Martynov, the Internet has such an impact on real space that it is impossible to ignore it. He considers messengers and social networks a convenient tool for communication, all the more so since the activity of politicians in social networks was used by Martynov as one of the criteria when compiling the “Utility ratio of State Duma deputies” rating. The top three rankings included vice speakers Irina Yarovaya and Sergey Neverov, as well as the head of the Committee on State Construction and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov. The highest efficiency was shown by The United Russia. By the way, The United Russia deputies are one of the most active users of social networks and competently use them in their work. The party has created the aggregator in your region where all publications in social networks about the work of parliamentarians in the subjects of the Federation are collected. Other parties are not behind.

As for other politicians, the most advanced user is undoubtedly the head of the Government Dmitry Medvedev, who runs a blog. Pages in social networks of the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov are no less popular. In December, his accounts were blocked by Facebook and Instagram - for criticizing US sanctions and including him in the "Magnitsky list"; now he has a channel in Telegram.

Social network is an electronic reception

Sometimes officials post information that only harms the image of power. But still, most publish data that contributes to increasing public confidence in the government and the “rapprochement” of lawmakers with the people. Parliamentarians talk about their work, comment on legislative initiatives, respond to citizens' requests.

According to the head of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Vladimir Burmatov, he does not use social networks for the sake of PR - they perform the functions of an electronic reception room.

The Internet is used by 81% of Russians, 65% of citizens use the Web daily. 24% of citizens spend more than four hours on the Internet daily.

Regional authorities are not actively responding to complaints from citizens. “Incident Management” will be distributed throughout Russia in 2019, which will track the response to Russian complaints on social networks. The system has already been tested in some regions. A similar system has already worked in Russia - a social activist and blogger Christina Potupchik after a fire in the Zimnyaya Chery shopping center organized a telegram-bot recording citizens' appeals about closed evacuation exits in shopping and entertainment centers, in educational and healthcare institutions throughout Russia.