Bloggers and the state: effectiveness or opposition

Abstract

Despite the fact that the need for more use of social networks is growing, it is difficult for government agencies to communicate with the public. On the other hand, individual Internet users quickly gain hundreds of thousands of subscribers on social networks. The article gives a data analysis of how people in Kazakhstan use social networks and empirical studies of what bloggers, journalists, and editors do. It also gives the expert interviews of press secretaries, press officers, and press attachés of state bodies as a counterpoint. By «virtual battle,» the authors mean the complex relationship between bloggers, journalists, and representatives of government agencies and their press services. State institutions need to apply modern methods, approaches, and formats to the information and ideological work of the state. Now we live in a different society – nothing can be hidden from prying eyes. The Internet and social networks react much faster than the official authorities.