Media Effects of the Russian Internet: Analysis of the Social Media News Communities

The master's thesis of A. Baychibaev "Media Effects of the Russian Internet: Analysis of the Social Media News Communities" is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of the Selective Exposure and its implementation in Russian online media and their official communities in social networks. To achieve research tasks, the author uses the following methods: content analysis, online survey method with further statistical analysis, as well as statistical analysis of publications in the media and subscribers in news communities on social networks. The author tests several hypotheses. The first hypothesis is about the presence of the phenomenon of Selective Exposure in Russian social networks. The second hypotesis states that the media act as an actor in a process of Selective Exposure. The third hypothesis states that the recipients of information also act as actors in the process of Selective Exposure. In other words, after proving all the hypotheses described in the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the classical understanding of Selective Exposure is not accurate for studies conducted in the era of new media, and the term should not be understood as a pattern of information consumer behavior, but as a bi-directional process of delineation of media influence. The work includes two blocks: a theoretical analysis of the relevant literature and theoretical basis and an empirical study. Key words: media effects, media effects limitation, media influence, medical action, selective perception