Information openness of the state in Russia: executive authorities in social networks

Budnikova Natal'ya Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0001-9002-9592 Senior Lecturer; Department of Social and Humanitarian Sciences, Advertising and Tourism; Buryat State Agricultural Academy named after V.R. Filippov" 670010, Russia, Republic of Buryatia, Ulan-Ude, Pushkin str., 8 budnikova_natasha@mail.ru

Introduction.

According to M. McLuhan's theoretical views on the nature of mass communication, modern society is at its third stage – electronic ^[1]; ^{[2, p. 409]}.

The development of the information society and the emergence of new media, such as social networks, video hosting, forms a qualitatively new state of social communication. Internet technologies are at the heart of new media. In these conditions, communication interaction in society is shifting to the digital sector ^{[3, p. 13]}.

If a few years ago this phenomenon was mainly related to the private life of Internet users, today social media accounts are registered by leaders of countries, representatives of different levels of public authority, and public authorities, which is quite understandable: it is enough to look at the dynamics of the "entanglement" of the population on our planet by social networks ^[4].

At the beginning of 2023, the creative agency We Are Social and the service for SMM Hootsuite published an annual global survey of the state of the digital sphere (Digital 2023 Global Overview Report) ^[5]. According to analysts, there are 5.16 billion Internet users in the world, which means that 64.4 percent of the world's total population is now online. The data shows that the total number of Internet users worldwide has increased by 1.9 percent over the past 12 months, but delays in the submission of data mean that the actual growth is likely to be higher than this figure suggests. The audience of social networks currently in the world has 4.76 billion users, which is slightly less than 60 percent of the total world population (Fig.1) ^[5].

Fig. 1. Distribution of the Internet audience in the world in 2022 according to the creative agency We Are Social and the service for SMM Hootsuite

The popularity of social networks is being actively used by commercial companies today, for example, to increase the popularity of brands, inform potential audiences about promotions in real time, establish long-term contacts with consumers, organize a discussion of a product, etc. The works of Shama Kabani ^[6], Lana Kaplan ^[7], Brandon Mendelssohn ^[8], A.V. Toscheva ^[9] and others are devoted to the study of various marketing strategies in social networks. Many foreign and Russian specialists study the role and importance of social networks in social, economic and political life (Kirkpatrick ^[10]; Steinshaden ^[11]), in the formation of the image of power (Mityaeva, Chernyshov ^[12]); ^[4].

The penetration of social networks into the life of society increases the number of studies that focus on the use of social networks in the public sector ^[13].

The problem of the development and effective use of Internet technologies in public administration has received coverage in the works of L.V. Smorgunov, S.V. Volodenkov, A.A. Kosorukov. The socio-political effects of the spread of digital technologies, the processes of "internetization" of Russian political practices are reflected in the studies of E.V. Brodovskaya, A.Y. Dombrovskaya, A.Y. Bubnov, A.V. Volkova. Psychological aspects of the use of digital technologies in politics were touched upon in the publications of T.V. Evgenieva, L.A. Pautova, A.L. Zverev, A.V. Selezneva and a number of other authors ^{[14, p. 95]}.

The problems of the study.

The scientific problems of this work include issues of the effectiveness of the interaction of executive authorities with citizens in social networks. Online communication of authorities with their audience in social networks should be aimed at building a constructive dialogue with the public, identifying citizens' problems and forming recommendations for their resolution. However, in practice, this communication is often one-sided and does not meet the basic requirements and needs of the target audience. In addition, some theorists express concerns about the emergence of negative phenomena in the light of the use of new media in political communications.

Research methods.

To assess the state of the process of interaction of executive authorities with citizens in social networks, to forecast the further development of this social process, the expert assessment method was used. The peculiarity of this method is the competent participation of specialists in the analysis and solution of the problem under consideration. The heads of the press services of the executive authorities acted as experts.

In addition, the analysis of secondary data of the PR News agency was used in the work. The scientific publications of individual authors were studied, the statements of officials were reviewed, and the reports of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and articles in the mass media were analyzed in detail.

The main part.

According to modern researchers, the spread of Internet communications creates a new window of opportunity for public authorities in establishing interaction with civil society. It allows the authorities to form virtual discussion platforms to discuss significant issues, inform the population and mobilize them to solve problems. State structures have actively engaged in the digital environment through the creation of e-government, designed to fill in the gaps of representative democracy, empower civil society with negotiating potential and influence the political agenda, being informed about the state of affairs in governance. Such a political model should ideally contribute to reaching a consensus between the authorities and society. Electronic participation goes beyond the political sphere and involves the use of Internet services to inform citizens and involve them in decision-making. Online mechanisms of dialogue with citizens allow the authorities to take into account the opinion of society and dynamically respond to public requests. Through online work with citizens, the state has the opportunity to develop a new agenda in public policy, as well as to control lower levels of government ^[15]. State Internet projects also have a symbolic meaning, since they contribute to increasing the legitimacy of the political regime, indicate that the latter "hears" society and takes it into account in decision-making ^[16]. Social networks objectively contribute to raising awareness of civil society about the state of affairs in the authorities, lead to a decrease in the information vacuum between society and the authorities ^[17].

Meanwhile, according to A. S. Tumanova and A. A. Safonov, information and communication technologies bring not only positive colors to the palette of relations between the state and society. Free communication challenges traditional power relations based on the idea of the hierarchy of public institutions and the desire to preserve this unification. The connection it creates between people lays the foundations for alternative social mobilization, expressed in protest actions and other forms that increase the conflict of the social system. As a result, free interaction in networks is combined with strict measures of control over civil society and the actions of its activists in the virtual space. The public authorities seek to control public discussions, supporting relatively safe, and often not the most important topics, trying to stimulate economic activity, while limiting the political potential of the virtual space. In addition, information transfer technologies using social networks are often used to manipulate public opinion: there is a shift in emphasis in the perception of the surrounding world from scientific, educational and cultural to entertainment and reference, which generates a superficial perception of information. This model of communication with society is more typical for countries with an authoritarian political system, where the state apparatus uses technology as a way of obtaining information from society and influencing it, does not make it an accomplice in shaping the political agenda ^[15].

The view of foreign scientists on the problem of the relevance of online communication of authorities with society is interesting.

Yohai Benkler in his work "The Wealth of Networks: how public production changes markets and freedom" considers network communication as a qualitatively new system of interaction, which is characterized by active audience involvement and thereby gives state-owned media the opportunity to diversify their content, making it more interesting to the public ^[18].

In the studies of I. Mergel ^[19], J. Bartot, P. Jagar, J. Grimes ^[20] and J. It is assumed that social networks contribute to the joint production of services and public policy, the development of crowdsourcing platforms that allow any resident to leave proposals for the development of the territory in which they live ^[22].

Thus, most researchers, both foreign and domestic, note the positive aspects of the use of modern online communication technologies by authorities when building interaction with citizens.

The fundamental document establishing the standards of openness of public authorities in Russia is the Concept of openness of federal executive authorities, approved in 2014 by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation [Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 30.01.2014 No. 93-r "On approval of the Concept of openness of Federal executive Authorities" (ed. of 30.01.2014)], ^{[23, p. 161]}. In order to achieve information openness, public authorities should provide multi-channel access to public resources, build a feedback system with civil society, reflect socially significant results of the activities of ministries and departments, as well as bring information about the work of departments to citizens in understandable formats. The information openness of the authorities will increase the transparency of the activities and satisfaction of citizens with the quality of public administration, expand the possibilities of direct participation of civil society in the development and examination of decisions of the authorities and will allow to develop mechanisms of public control over the activities of ministries and departments ^[24].

The assessment of the quality of openness of public authorities is carried out annually, however, the research mainly concerns issues related to data posted on the websites of public authorities. At the same time, posting information on websites is not the only way that executive authorities use to interact with society. Many federal executive authorities have official accounts in social networks and use them as a communication channel, since social networks have a wide audience of users ^[24].

The discussion on the mandatory maintenance by authorities of official accounts in social networks began in mid-2020.

In July 2020, the report of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation "Openness of the state in Russia-2020" is published. According to the evaluation results, not a single agency received the maximum result. In August of the same year, the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber Alexey Kudrin presented this report to the President of the Russian Federation. Immediately after that, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko instructed the federal executive authorities (FOIV) to pay attention to the recommendations of the Accounts Chamber on the development of openness. Already at the end of 2020, the Accounting Chamber held a series of methodological meetings on the openness of the FOIV with responsible employees of these departments. Instagram Facebook, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, Twitter and YouTube were also ordered by the Government of St. Petersburg to create accounts in six social networks.

In February 2021, a bill was introduced to the State Duma that establishes the obligation of state bodies to maintain official accounts on social networks, post relevant information in them and track feedback from users. According to the results of the report "Openness of the state in Russia-2021", 62 FOIV improved their positions in the openness rating, the number of departments with a high degree of openness increased from 3 to 21. In May 2021, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill obliging the authorities to maintain accounts in social networks. And finally, in August 2022, a draft Government decree was issued: the creation of official pages of authorities in VKontakte and Odnoklassniki [Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 2523-r of September 2, 2022]. The chronicle of the openness of the authorities of the Russian Federation is presented in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Chronicle of the openness of the authorities of the Russian Federation according to the analysts of the PR News agency

In 2022, the PR News agency conducted an analysis of the representation of FOIV in social networks, a total of 63 official accounts in VKontakte. According to the study, the leaders in the number of subscribers were the Ministry of Defense (737 thousand), the Ministry of Education (570 thousand), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (464 thousand) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (349 thousand). The results of the analysis are presented in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Analysis of the representation of authorities in the VKontakte social network (according to the PR News agency)

The presented analysis reflects the quantitative characteristics of the use of social networks by public authorities.

Speaking of qualitative indicators, it is necessary to analyze the content strategies used by the authorities to work with their target audience. At the initial stage of conducting state-owned publications, an information and news strategy was used for the most part. It is worth noting that this type of content is the most difficult in terms of audience perception. Further, this strategy is transformed into an explanatory and educational one, characterized by explanations about a particular event, a format of cards appears to enhance visual perception. This format of publications causes the greatest response from the audience, involving it in the work of the state-owned website. In parallel with the explanatory and educational strategy, there is a personalized strategy, which is characterized by narration on behalf of a representative of a government agency, concretization of cases, events, etc.

Recently, the term "customization" has become popular in the world, implying the process of individualization and personalization of a phenomenon.

Foreign experts emphasized the strategic nature of customization, suggesting that it should be considered a strategy that creates the value of a particular interaction between the manufacturer and the consumer. To date, customization is the main marketing strategy ^[25].

It can be argued that customization goes beyond production. The strategy and tactics of customization are being implemented in various aspects of the modern company's activities, including in the field of content in social networks ^[25].

The most effective approach to maintaining state–owned websites is a customized content strategy. It is designed and planned in detail, is distinguished by the uniqueness of the presentation of information and the maximum involvement of the user in communication with the authority. This is achieved by conducting live broadcasts, the maximum number of comments and other types of active communication with the audience. The transformation and characterization of the content strategies of federal executive authorities is presented in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. FOIV content strategies (based on PR News agency analytics)

An expert survey was conducted to study the place and role of social networks as one of the channels of interaction between authorities and the population. The expert group included the heads of press services and departments responsible for the information policy of the state agency.

Due to the high qualification and competence of the interviewees, the expert survey provides reasonable and reliable data.

The expert survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire, which includes 15 questions concerning the choice of the main channels of interaction with target groups, the specifics of the use of social networks in the work of the authority, as well as the impact of feedback through social networks on the activities of executive authorities.

According to the results of the study, the main channels of interaction between authorities and target groups are social networks, the official website and publications in traditional media.

When asked through which channel citizens most often apply to the authority, most of the press secretaries, first of all, note social media accounts and personal appeals to the authority.

In addition, the experts were asked whether publications in social networks concerning their activities have an impact on the authorities. Experts noted that the messages have a significant impact on the activities of state authorities.

Also, during the survey, it was found that when interacting with the target audience, electronic means of communication, in particular, social media, are a priority.

And finally, all experts agreed that today the interaction of federal executive authorities is shifting to the digital sector.

As part of the study of this topic, it is appropriate to raise the issue of the use of Artificial Intelligence to solve existing problems of openness of the activities of state authorities of the Russian Federation and subjects of the Russian Federation. Such practice could become an effective tool for solving the identified problems of society. In addition, the capabilities of modern Artificial Intelligence tools allow you to create unique, customized content that is maximally adaptive to a specific target audience.

In 2019 , the decree of the President of the Russian Federation approved the National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence for the period up to 2030. The main purpose of the document is to ensure the growth of demand in Russia on products created on the basis of Artificial intelligence. Moreover, among consumers, the authors of the Strategy named not only citizens and organizations, but also public authorities ^[26].

To date, Artificial Intelligence technologies (information systems and solutions based on Artificial Intelligence) for the public sector of the regions largely remain "abstract, obscure and remote" entities that have almost no applied value for solving current problems of managing the socio-economic situation ^[27].

In February 2022, the Center for Strategic Research Foundation conducted a study "Prospects and Problems of Using Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the Regions of the Russian Federation" within the framework of the Association's activities on the dissemination of Artificial Intelligence technologies in the public sector. According to its results, the greatest positive expectations for the penetration rate of Artificial Intelligence technologies are associated with the use of Artificial Intelligence in the social sphere, branches of the real economy (industrial sectors) and the sphere of management activities of state bodies. The integral paradigm of positive expectations is based on the belief that Artificial Intelligence will allow public authorities and local governments to ensure the necessary level of efficiency at high rates of increasing information and communication complexity of management tasks and interaction with the population and economic entities.

Conclusions.

Social media accounts are an effective tool for political positioning, allowing you to solve the following key communication tasks:

- raising awareness of the audience about the programs and projects being implemented;

- broadcasting of ideological content in popular and effective formats, which helps to increase the credibility of materials;

- reducing the distance between the authorities and residents, collecting feedback and, as a result, prompt response to crises, prevention of conflict communication, including the wishes and suggestions of the audience in the information policy.

To solve the problem of increasing the effectiveness of communication in social networks, the authorities are recommended to use a customized content strategy that promotes targeted presentation of information, maximum audience involvement in online communication and receiving feedback from content consumers.

In addition, taking into account the rapid development of digital technologies, it is advisable to recommend to the authorities the active introduction of Artificial Intelligence into network communications.   

Thus, today the executive authorities, when organizing interaction with their audience through social networks, use all kinds of business approaches and tools.

It can be concluded that the executive authorities of Russia are reaching a new level of communication. There is a borrowing and adaptation of business communication strategies for the purposes of positioning government agencies. All this helps to increase the loyalty and trust of the audience to the authorities.